Actor Alfredo Narciso is a winsome gentleman, but in Marius von Mayenburg's dark comedy The Ugly One he's magically transformed into Lette, an "unspeakably" repellent engineer with a face so hideous that his wife will only make eye contact with one of his eyes. Lette's grotesque appearance is not accomplished with make-up or masks, but simply with the way others perceive him. The play begins with Lette's discovery that his assistant Karlmann has been chosen to present Lette's new electrical plug at a high-profile convention. Lette had always assumed that he would be the one to introduce his baby to the world, but when he confronts the boss about it, he's rudely awakened. "Your face is unacceptable," Sheffler reluctantly explains. more ›

Anybody who grew up shuttling back and forth between divorced parents will be all too familiar with the stifling setting of Sixty Miles to Silver Lake: the interior of a car, inhabited only by a single dad and his soccer-playing son, who have no choice but to interact with each other on the long slog between the boy's mother's house and the father's depressing apartment. If that sounds like your idea of a fun road trip, then you'll love Dan LeFranc's play, which takes place entirely within the confines of a Volvo stationwagon, driven by a miserable father named Ky, with his petulant son Denny riding shotgun. more ›

One of the most-talked about productions of this theater season has been Sarah Kane's Blasted at the indispensable Soho Rep. First presented in 1995 at the Royal Court in London, Kane's debut sparked enormous controversy for its unblinking depiction of brutality between the three characters: a bigoted, middle-aged English journalist, his unwilling young paramour, and a wild-eyed soldier who crashes into their hotel room to bring the savagery to new heights. more ›

Disinformation is not an easy show to describe, which is a good thing. The first to note is that Reggie Watts, the show’s mad theatrical scientist with Sideshow Bob hair, is one wickedly funny man. In Disinformation he’s supported by a quartet of tireless performers as he coaxes the absurdity out of the corporate bromides, 2012 eschatology, gangsta rap posturing, and commercialized sex that litter the post-modern landscape. Watts prods his subjects obliquely while relating some wildly fantastic stories about secret underground grottos and science fiction camouflage suits like those found in Predator. Mixed with these hilarious monologues, he’s produced a series of bemusing promotional videos for a friendly/sinister corporation called Carnaidesai, a company with a vague purpose but one portentous mission statement: “There’s not much future left, but we’re using all of it!” more ›

Caution: Half the bathrooms at the Tribeca venue currently hosting Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s No Dice are designed for children; the tiny toilets and sinks hover inches above the floor and may give adult users a disorienting sense of vertigo. The actors’ dressing room, which opens directly onto the performance space, is marked with a laminated sign that declares: “No Adults Are Allowed in the Bouncy Castle!” The company inherited these elements from this... more ›

Start sharpening your spurs, gays and gals, because Jake Gyllenhaal is coming to Broadway! If director Mike Nichols has his way, you’ll soon have your chance to stalk the sensitive heartthrob as he flees through the stage door of Farragut North, a new play about presidential campaign hardball penned by a former Howard Dean staffer. According to today’s Post, Gyllenhaal (who made his stage debut in a Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed production of Cats in their parents’ living room) is all-but-confirmed for the cast. But before that, Nichols will shepherd other boldface names to Broadway with a spring revival of Clifford Odets’s The Country Girl, about a washed up wino actor and his beleaguered wife. With Morgan Freeman and our personal favorite Frances McDormand rumored to play the couple, this has Compelling Theatrical Event written all over it. more ›

Adam Bock’s The Thugs is a trenchant little study of office eccentricity currently filling in at Soho Rep. I say “little” not just because the play clocks in and out in under an hour, but also because there really isn’t much in the way of dramatic payoff. Temps come and go, bodies pile up on other floors, somebody gets shoved down the stairs, but ultimately the office manager is always there to drive her staff back to the status quo of their menial tasks. And then it's time to go home. more ›

EVENT: Tonight PowerHouse books is having a signing event for the release of photographer Ron Galella's "Disco Years". This visual diary of the New York club scene in the 70's and 80's is sure to make you nostalgic for Studio 54 - even if that was before your time. more ›

On Sundays, Gothamist runs opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in New York. The views expressed below belong entirely to the author. more ›

Young Jean Lee, Playwright/Director more ›