Jan Ewing

Ewing Reviewing 2018 Jan Ewing

As you read this, there are hundreds of plays being performed Off- and Off-Off-Broadway in New York City. In churches, store fronts, basements, bars, closets, cafe-toriums, drawing rooms, restaurants, entry halls, bedrooms, supper clubs, maybe a tiny theater or two, and any other space that can hold a few chairs, someone is acting their heart out, hoping against hope to attract enough attention to keep going. Since April of 2018, we've written one hundred thirty-seven reviews of works chosen almost entirely at random. We saw things that were absolutely amazing (some playing only once), competing with dozens of other performances going on every minute. An enormous amount of superb theater work is vanishing every day. We need to keep a record. This book is a small beginning, a miniscule selection of the vast number of dramas, comedies, musicals, readings, improvisations, concerts and operas available to us every day-certainly, an embarrassment of riches. Most of these works won't be remembered; a few, will. For a moment in 2018, however, each one came alive. I hope I've been able to capture the brilliance of some of those shining moments in these pages.