Not-So-Affordable Healthcare

It was very exciting to end 2013 with my first article for The Guardian, a website whose news and cultural coverage have become must-reads for me. I only wish I had more enthusiasm for the brave new healthcare world the U.S. is about the embark on. Obamacare has made healthcare coverage less expensive than it was but still a bit shy of affordable for me.

The Year That Was

Sage Snakechalmer and her reflection in Private Dancer.

It's been a year of extremes, at least in theatergoing. I wrote my first five-star review for Time Out New York—about the rhythmically rich Gertrude Stein Saints! at the New York International Fringe Festival—and, before the year was out, I would write my first one-star review—the poorly conceived and acted Private Dancer (above).

And Away We Go...But Not Quickly Enough

The cast of And Away We Go

The plucky little Pearl Theatre Company has survived 30 years in the Off Broadway trenches, an amazing feat. To mark the occasion, Terrence McNally was commissioned to write a play that pays tribute to actors throughout the ages, since the Pearl's mission is reviving classic plays. Unfortunately, And Away We Go too often feels like an obligatory assignment. And it's about a half hour too long. Would that the Pearl had just revived one of those classic plays.