Email Author Alexis Soloski

2008 Stories by Alexis Soloski

• A Light Lunch and Here Comes the Change Bid Farewell to the Bush Era

  published December 31, 2008

  Before George W. Bush departs from office on January 20, he will have issued numerous, last-minute executive orders. Likely inclusions: diktats... More >>

• SCANNING THE HORIZONS

  published December 31, 2008

  Now in its fifth year, Mark Russell’s marvelous festival, Under the Radar, is officially on the radar, provided you’re either a... More >>

• MIND THE GAP

  published December 31, 2008

  If America and England are indeed two nations divided by a common language, The Bridge Project, a new theatrical initiative, seeks to improve... More >>

• CHECK IN

  published December 31, 2008

  Blintzes, kugel, tzimmes, shav, kreplach—the Catskills resorts of old didn’t skimp on hearty, unlimited fare. And Richard... More >>

• SPECIAL DELIVERY

  published December 31, 2008

  Young Jean Lee’s previous plays have deemed Asian-Americans “more or less retarded,” treated hipster audiences to screeds on their... More >>

• DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE

  published December 31, 2008

  In the past several years, New York’s been inundated with versions of Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 Hedda Gabler, a play Max Beerbohm described as... More >>

• DOG DAYS

  published December 31, 2008

  Considering the surge of pet-grooming salons and Doggie Day Cares in Manhattan, canines and their owners no longer have any excuse for poor... More >>

• END TIMES

  published December 31, 2008

  Last year, monologuist Mike Daisey claimed that theater had failed America, now Kiran Rikhye has taken the condemnation one step further,... More >>

• Mesopotamian Masterpiece

  published December 31, 2008

  Homoerotics, randy goddesses, fearsome monsters—let no one say that the classics lack for action. Now Gilgamesh, perhaps our earliest example... More >>

• Vile Italians in Women Beware Women and Caligula

  published December 24, 2008

  As George W. Bush's reign nears its inglorious end, many believe that his presidency ranks among the worst ever: Worse than corrupt Warren G.... More >>

• Robert Woodruff Helms a Grim Look at London's Future in Chair

  published December 17, 2008

  Saved, Edward Bond's best-known play, abounds in anomie, brutality, and infanticide, but ends quietly, as a young man mends a chair, a... More >>

• NACL's Odd Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes Is a Study in Confusion

  published December 17, 2008

  The Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes, a performance piece by the North American Cultural Laboratory, does indeed pose many mysteries: Why... More >>

• The Black Monk Would Benefit From Vow of Silence

  published December 10, 2008

  Recently, in Shakespeare in the Park's Romeo and Juliet, Austin Pendleton played "the ghostly friar" Laurence. Now he's acting another,... More >>

• Cheeky WWII Comedy Improbable Frequency Employs Exhausting Wordplay, Awful Puns

  published December 10, 2008

  The Irish Republic remained neutral during World War II, though its government did declare a state of emergency. Improbable Frequency, a... More >>

• John Cassavetes Meets Ivo van Hove at BAM in Opening Night

  published December 10, 2008

  "We must never forget," intones an actress in the midst of Opening Night, "this is only a play." How wrong she is. Any production by the... More >>

• Downtown's Ohio Theatre Likely to Close

  published December 10, 2008

  Before 66 Wooster Street became the Ohio Theatre and various apartments, it had a former life as a textile factory. Theatrical legend has it that... More >>

• BAD SANTA

  published December 10, 2008

  We’ve never really believed in Santa—a Jewish upbringing does tend to discourage it—but we’ve always imagined him as a portly... More >>

• I AM LEGACY

  published December 10, 2008

  As The Dining Room is one of A.R. Gurney’s best plays, perhaps he has some interest in the alimentary. But his latest play, at the... More >>

• FRENCH KISS

  published December 10, 2008

  We tend alarmingly toward Anglophilia—at least that’s how we explain the cupboards full of PG Tips and Licorice All-Sorts. But... More >>

• IN THE NUDE

  published December 10, 2008

  Imagine our shock and disappointment that this evening of one-act plays does not in fact feature physical nudity (though there is one... More >>

• DANCE OF THE HALVAH FAIRY?

  published December 10, 2008

  What can we expect from a Jewish version of The Nutcracker? Well, a Hanukkah party should likely replace the Christmas one—and perhaps... More >>

• RETURN TO BEDFORD FALLS

  published December 10, 2008

  Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings, and every year bell-ringing season recurs, so does Jason Grossman with his one-man adaptation of... More >>

• Billyburg Rage, Taking Over

  published December 3, 2008

  Writer-actor Danny Hoch has a complicated relationship with his audience. Late in Taking Over, his new solo show at the Public Theater,... More >>

• The Debate Society Tries a Downtown Drive-In, Finds Cape Disappointment

  published December 3, 2008

  New York City lost its last drive-in, the Bronx's Whitestone, in the mid-1980s. With Cape Disappointment, playing at P.S.122, the Debate... More >>

• Opening Night: John Cassavetes Meets Ivo van Hove at BAM

  published December 3, 2008

  We must never forget,” intones an actress in the midst of Opening Night, “this is only a play.” How wrong she... More >>