Alex Simmons

A TRIAL FOR LENNY—AND SOMETIMES THE VIEWER A courtroom drama that probes language, censorship, and the cost of pushing boundaries Unique among the performing arts, standup comedy is the only craft that cannot be sharpened without an audience. And, ironically, the only performing art that we allow, even expect, to deeply offend. Who ever heard…

LET’S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN AND AGAIN A high-energy revival proves this cult classic still knows how to party Unless you grew up in a monastery, had a severely conservative upbringing, or are just too young, you’ve probably seen or at least heard of the drag-tastic cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Maybe…

MAY THE FUNNY FORCE BE WITH YOU A solo show that blasts fandom toxicity into hyperspace Plot a course, prime the hyperdrive, and punch it, Chewie! A sci-fi multimedia solo show lands in the 2026 FRIGID New York City Fringe Festival. “Ahsoka Tano is arguably one of the most Millennial Star Wars characters to ever…

A DANGEROUS STORY, TOLD FROM THE OTHER SIDE A provocative two-hander that shifts the lens onto the older man in a fraught relationship Teacher-student affairs are a classic subject of drama for novels, stage, screen, and beyond, from works like The History Boys to Parallel Lines to Notes on a Scandal. First staged in 2020…

A FEMINIST REFRAME Peculiar Works Project’s ambitious reimagining offers striking ideas but struggles to make its case with uneven execution Alessandra Lopez There’s an ancient folktale of a hero who arranges a proper burial for a corpse, whose spirit—the “grateful dead”—would later come to the hero’s aid. A common story passed around to emphasize the…

BIGFOOT! BRINGS DOWNTOWN MUSICAL MISCHIEF UPTOWN A raunchy, campy comedy with big laughs, big fur, and a surprisingly sharp anti-capitalist bite It’s not every day downtown theater energy comes uptown; when it does, it’s almost always sanitized and robbed of the charm and authenticity that made it so deliciously twisted in the first place. Luckily,…

One of the great pleasures of New York City is that it’s a place where it feels perfectly normal to hear someone say, “I’m headed to SoHo to see an adult Christmas puppet show,” and mean it sincerely. Now in its 26th year, Basil Twist’s Puppet Parlor, playing at HERE Arts Center, has become exactly…

A TIME WARP TO THE 1970s WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, REFRACTED THROUGH 2025 EYES STILL SQUINTING TOWARDS EQUALITY “Why does it feel somehow like it’s all slipping away? And how do we get it back?” Susannah Flood That’s one of the questions posed about the condition of gender equality in 2025 America at the start of Liberation,…