The Play's the Thing

It kind of amazes me that Joshua Harmon has had so many plays produced in such a short period of time. This is not a knock at the quality of his writing or his talent. It's more about content and context. In an ever-changing theater landscape, where theater companies seem to be moving away from plays about affluent white people with affluent white problems, Harmon's plays seem like relics. (Although it's telling that they're produced by companies like Roundabout and Lincoln Center and not more adventurous companies like MCC or even Playwrights Horizons.) His latest offering, Skintight , which opened at, you guessed it, Roundabout, is yet another entry that focuses on very rich white people and their first world problems. Is there still a place in 2018 for a play like Skintight , that revolves around an incredibly wealthy Jewish clothing designer (think Calvin Klein), Elliot, his wealthy lawyer daughter, her over-privileged gay 20 year old son (he's studying Quee...

There is much to like about Admissions : it's proof that playwright Joshua Harmon can be versatile in his subject matter and writing and the acting, lead by Jessica Hecht at her best, is uniformly excellent. The play grips you for 90 entertaining minutes. But it is yet another entry in the "let's be as timely and relevant as possible" catalog that has consumed the New York theater scene this season. And look, I have said multiple times that good theater should reflect the time in which it is written, and that is a product of what's happening in the world. However, between Relevance , Kings, and now Admissions, I am tired of every playwright standing on a soap box to prove he or she is the most with it, the most "woke," as the kids would say. Just write a play, just tell a story, let us find meaning. However, what Admissions also does right is engage the audience in a dialogue of ideas, and it left my boyfriend and I with much to discuss after the fi...