A RECOVERY GROUP WHERE
LITTLE IS REVEALED
AND LESS IS RESOLVED

Superb performances anchor a script
that withholds more than it delivers

In the 1980s, film snobs treated TV like it had crashed the gala in sweatpants. In the 1990s, vinyl purists and digital nerds debated as if civilization hinged on compression. Theatre is the same: one extreme camp likes spectacle, the other insists “real theatre” needs only a script and gifted actors. Me? I’ll take fireworks, whispers, and everything in between as long as it grabs me and doesn’t let go. The world premiere of The Dinosaurs, a new drama by Jacob Perkins, directed by Les Waters at Playwrights Horizons, unfortunately didn’t.

April Matthis, Mallory Portnoy, Maria Elena Ramirez, Elizabeth Marvel

Set within the familiar ritual of a recovery group that meets on Saturday, week after week over many years, the play touches all the clichés. There are cheap folding chairs arranged in a semicircle, boxed coffee, pastries, and the usual mantras like “it’s your commitment,” “we stay when we’re ready to listen,” and the Serenity Prayer hovering in the air. The scenic work by dots is so faithful to real life it practically asks you to stack the chairs afterward.

April Matthis, Kathleen Chalfant, and Elizabeth Marvel

We watch six women come in and out the room, chit-chat mostly in short, broken sentences, with few anecdotes that hint at turmoil that remains permanently offstage. Jolly, also known at times as June, is portrayed brilliantly by Kathleen Chalfant. She functions as the group’s memory, holding the history of shared struggle. Opposite her is Joan, played by another remarkable actress, Elizabeth Marvel. Marvel gives Joan a restless emotional undercurrent; where Jolly feels rooted, Joan seems wrestling with control, doubt, and the longing for reinvention.

Keilly McQuail

April Matthis is Jane, a practical woman whose steadiness also masks internal storms. Matthis and Marvel exchange almost nothing in terms of meaningful sentences, but their constant tiny bursts of dialogue form the seamless, perfectly acted foundation of every conversation. Mallory Portnoy is also excellent as Janet; she embodies a woman still negotiating her place in the circle and in her own life but her dialogue, again, is trite. I’ll give you an example: at one point, she describes a dream, evoking a journey. She is in the back of a car and she has a duffel bag, the obvious symbol of accumulated possessions, routines, memories, and burdens. There is a driver who gives not-too-cryptic instructions, such as “You can chuck it out the window any time… You won’t be needing any of it where we’re headed,” while she goes through each item. Has a dream ever been this literal?

Maria Elena Ramirez and Elizabeth Marvel

Keilly McQuail is Buddy-Reina and she brings plenty of nervousness and humor to her role, shaping a difficult character, the newcomer. Maria Elena Ramirez rounds out the ensemble; together, the actors give it everything, painting a collective portrait, yet the script feels absent. It sounds as if Perkins took more time fitting each fragment of dialogue, each broken phrase, as if they were parts of an intricate puzzle but forgot the big picture. Costumes by Oana Botez inject some color into the bleak setting, while lighting by Yuki Link and sound by Palmer Hefferan are functional and minimalistic, preserving the naturalism of the play.

April Matthis, Mallory Portnoy, Maria Elena Ramirez, and Elizabeth Marvel

The Dinosaurs should have honored the silent heroism of showing up, week after week, year after year, and leave us with something meaningful. Instead, it opens lots of doors and leaves them ajar. Still, if you love expertly acted ensemble work, it delivers in spades.

Mallory Portnoy and Maria Elena Ramirez

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photos by Julia Cervantes

The Dinosaurs
Playwrights Horizons
Judith O. Rubin Theater, 416 West 42nd Street
75 minutes, no intermission
ends on March 8, 2026
for tickets, visit Playwrights Horizons

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