Jonah

 Jonah
Roundabout at Laura Pels Theatre
Harold & Miriam Stenberg Center for Theatre
January 20, 2024 

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Jonah is mesmerizing.  Playwright Rachel Bonds has skillfully crafted this piece to keep her audience fully engaged.  Each scene takes the characters through vital experiences that shape them, scar them, and propel them forward.  It is through the linking of these events that a tender story evolves.  Director Danya Taymor works with a phenomenal cast to convey this story clearly and truthfully. 

Anna (played by Gabby Beans) meets Jonah (played by Hagan Oliveras) outside her dorm room one night.  He follows her.  He waits for her.  Their connection is visceral and mutual.  We later meet Danny (played by Samuel Henry Levine), Ana’s step-brother.  After Ana’s mother passes away, Danny protects her from his father, but never comes to terms with the abuse he experienced.  When Ana meets Steven (played by Jon Zdrojeski) years later at a writers’ retreat, she faces her past, the harm inflicted upon her by Danny, and the joy and intimacy she only dreamed about with Jonah. 

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

Gabby Beans is remarkable as Ana.  Her character shifts in age from scene to scene, and Ms. Beans fully embodies each phase of this character’s experiences.  She portrays different aspects of Ana in the way she relates to the three male characters in the story.  All are genuine and grounded relationships.  There is an innocence shared between her and Hagar Oliveras’ Jonah, a strong bond, based on fear and need, between her and Samuel Henry Levine’s Danny, and a vulnerability that connects her to John Zdrojeski’s Steven.  These relationship are powerful, and the performances are riveting. 

It is in the final moment of the play that everything pulls together.  It is satisfying and healing.  It is a beautifully written moment, succinctly directed, and perfectly performed.  

Jonah is playing at the Laura Pels Theatre through March 10.  Don’t miss it!  

Domenick Danza

Pass Over

Pass Over

August Wilson Theatre

August 11, 2021

Antionette Chinonye Nwandu’s play Pass Over is a brilliantly crafted piece of theatre.  There is no better way to reopen Broadway than with this masterwork, giving us all a chance to look at ourselves and “pass over’ into a hopeful post-pandemic existence.  Director Danya Taymor brings light to every essential moment in this production, allowing the audience to bathe in every one of Ms. Nwandu’s metaphors, and dive deeply into her superb writing.  

Photo courtsey of Pass Over

Moses (played by Jon Michael Hill) and Kitch (played by Namir Smallwood) rise to another morning on their street, imagining passing over to a different life.  They joke about their top ten list of things they’d have and do there.  When a white man (played by Gabriel Ebert) loses his way and finds himself on Moses and Kitch’s street, he offers them food and pleasant conversation.  Kitch is eager to partake, but Moses is skeptical, even though the food includes Moses’ number one favorite from his top ten list.  The mood abruptly shifts as the reality of the street returns.  A police officer (also played by Gabriel Ebert) enters and reminds the men of their place on the street.  When the next day begins, Moses is unwilling to play the top ten game.  He is driven to live up to his name and devise a plan to lead Kitch to the promised land. 

Jon Michael Hill & Namir Smallwood
Photo courtesy of Pass Over

Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood maintain a tight, steady rhythm throughout the piece.  These
two skilled actors fill the repetition in the writing with rich subtext so it never has the same meaning.  Mr. Hill plays a strong leader and Mr. Smallwood his eager follower.  They do not leave the stage for ninety minute, and are mesmerizing for every second of that time.  When Gabriel Ebert enters, the rhythm shifts.  He lures the two characters and the audience down a very threatening path, and does not falter on his charm or timing as the mood darkens.  

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu has written a play filled with stark reality, poetic dialogue, and bold metaphor.  She holds up a mirror that you cannot avoid looking in and seeing truth.  Pass Over is playing on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre.  Get a ticket right away! 

Domenick Danza