See it if you want to see 4 superb actresses perform the most wonderful play, terribly sad and funny at the same time. And a wonderful new playwright
Don't see it if you want light fare, musicals or just comedy. Otherwise, go see it.
See it if It is ever remounted here in NY or elsewhere. It’s a beautifully written work of love, family and loss.
Don't see it if Cursing bothers you. There’s a fair amount, all in love. Read more
See it if Mama enlists her strong-willed, dramatic family into cooking a stew. But the family is not what it seems. Great dialog, acting, & tension.
Don't see it if You won't enjoy an all-female family dramedy (the males do not appear onstage), with a lot of arguing, and a surprise ending. Read more
See it if You love great acting, intimate theater, thoughtful and provocative look at black family
Don't see it if You want something big and musical or you don't think black women characters in a kitchen are important enough to rate a play
See it if If you are up for a reality check and seeing how we are all caught up in a cycle and its so hard to break. If you want to see love.
Don't see it if If you are looking for a light and fluffy show!
See it if intense, fast-paced depiction of a family of black women; stages of a black woman's life as she struggles for happiness; stellar acting
Don't see it if you don't like family dramas, depictions of real life experiences; lots of shouting at the beginning, would have liked more joyful moments
See it if you like linear narratives with a twist, plus phenomenal acting and writing.
Don't see it if linear narratives with a twist aren't your cuppa. Read more
See it if The acting is great -- the characters are absorbing, Very close up and dramatic dialogue between female family members in kitchen
Don't see it if You want a more upbeat family drama and not serious relationship drama
"‘Stew’ Takes Deeper Emotions Off the Back Burner: In Zora Howard’s new drama, the kitchen is where the characters reveal their bickering-but-loving true selves."
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"In such moments, Howard's subtext about the precarity and perseverance of black lives, which is threaded delicately elsewhere in the play, threatens to become too obvious. But her intimate 90-minute drama, tautly directed by Colette Robert for page 73, invites a comfortable familiarity, as though we too were in our pajamas at Mama's kitchen table. When a wake-up call finally arrives, it's all the more bracing to bolt upright and face the truth."
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"Zora Howard’s 'Stew' Remixes the Potboiler"
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"For Black Women in America, it's Déjà Vu and 'Stew': Zora Howard's comedy-drama makes its world premiere with Page 73."
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"The finale puts an unfortunate button on 'Stew,' a play otherwise saved from overfamiliarity by vigorous writing, acting, and direction; the closer feels opportunistic, a feel-bad grand gesture that hasn't remotely been earned (and which has a slightly second-hand quality)."
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4/5 Stars. "Playwright Zora Howard debuts Off-Broadway with a tasty kitchen sink-type drama, from the Page 73 non-profit company."
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"In making her professional playwriting debut courtesy of Page 73, Zora Howard has written a powerful kitchen sink drama in 'Stew,' as much about making a literal stew as about the emotional stew the four women in the Tucker family of Mt. Vernon find themselves in."
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"Add to the recipe tasty characters, season it with spicy dialogue, wash it down with a satisfying narrative, and top it off with a superb ensemble and you have 'Stew,' Zora Howard's zesty dramedy."
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