The Play's the Thing

For me, Playwrights Horizons is best described by a lyric from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park With George (that, coincidentally, originated at the non-profit), "what matters is the means not the ends." I often admire how diverse their slate of artists tend to be, and how interesting, compelling, and exciting their offerings sound. And make no mistake, they have produced plays I love, by playwrights and artists I idolize. And then often times, the shows don't deliver on their promise. Especially this season. Sarah Ruhl's For Peter Pan On Her Seventieth Birthday felt half-baked, like a poor attempt at Annie Baker's brilliant mundanity, and Max Posner's The Treasurer, although anchored by a terrific performance by Peter Friedman, was a bore.  Their third offering of the 2017-2018 season is Robert O'Hara's Mankind . O'Hara imagines a future where women have become extinct due to the tre...