‘BECKY SHAW’: Patrick Ball & Lauren Patten. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

BECKY SHAW
By Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by Trip Cullman
Through June 14, 2026
Second Stage at The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
https://2st.com/

By Scott Harrah

Second Stage’s outstanding revival of Becky Shaw centers on an emotionally volatile family and what happens when a blind date sets off a chain reaction of chaos. As a result, family secrets slowly surface, exposing uncomfortable truths with caustic wit.

Playwright Gina Gionfriddo’s acerbic, darkly comic play debuted Off Broadway at Second Stage in 2008 and later became a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Here, characters carefully manage how they come across to others, until that control begins to crack. Becky Shaw unfolds as a tightly coiled dramedy, where tension stems not only from what is said, but also from what is avoided, misheard, or ignored. Ultimately, it becomes a portrait of relationships shaped by deflection, control, and emotional instability. The outstanding cast leans into that instability with precision.

A family on edge

The story begins before Suzanna Slater (Lauren Patten) is married, as she meets with her newly widowed mother, Susan (Linda Emond), alongside Max (Alden Ehrenreich), a troubled young man who was taken in by the family years earlier. Suzanna’s father has just died, and everyone is already on edge. Here, grief manifests as tension rather than shared family anguish.

As the conversation unfolds, Max comes across as disarmingly likable, but he quickly grows uncomfortable when questions turn to his past. Meanwhile, Susan shows little outward sign of mourning and instead complains throughout the evening. What begins as a strained family interaction soon gives way to something more impulsive and revealing, setting the tone for the instability that follows.

The play then jumps forward several months. Suzanna is now married to Andrew (Patrick Ball), and she has set up a blind date between Max and Andrew’s coworker Becky Shaw (Madeline Brewer), a temporary office employee, who enters the story at this point. What begins as an awkward social encounter quickly spirals into a series of messy, destabilizing interactions. As a result, long-buried tensions and contradictions begin to surface, exposing the fragile dynamics at the center of these relationships.

A finely tuned ensemble

Consistently sharp director Trip Cullman has assembled a finely tuned ensemble, with each actor contributing to the play’s carefully controlled instability.

The women, in particular, leave a lasting impression, each delivering sharply defined performances that deepen the play’s emotional complexity. Madeline Brewer gives Becky a layered mix of vulnerability and unpredictability, keeping the audience guessing about her true intentions. Lauren Patten stands out with her precise command of Suzanna’s staccato dialogue and emotional acuity, capturing both her need for control and the rigidity beneath it. Meanwhile, Linda Emond is consistently compelling as Susan. Despite limited stage time, she commands attention with a performance of remarkable authority and nuance that lingers well beyond her final scene.

The men match that intensity with performances that add structure and tension to the ensemble. Patrick Ball (of “The Pitt”) draws early attention as Andrew, fully embracing the character’s conflict-averse nature while revealing the limits of his passivity. Alden Ehrenreich is equally strong as Max, bringing a magnetic unpredictability that gradually exposes the character’s defensiveness and discomfort with intimacy. Together, their performances sustain the production’s uneasy balance and reinforce the instability that drives the play forward.

A sharply observed revival

Like the fragile, volatile relationships it portrays, Becky Shaw offers no easy resolution. None of the characters fully arrives at a place of clarity. Even so, that sense of incompleteness feels deliberate and effective. Anchored by a strong cast and driven by performances that capture both what is said and unsaid, the play lingers. Not because it ties everything together, but because it reflects the unsettled nature of human relationships.

Published April 16, 2026
Reviewed at press performance on April 9, 2026.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Patrick Ball. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Lauren Patten & Alden Ehrenreich. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Alden Ehrenreich. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Madeline Brewer. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Alden Ehrenreich & Madeline Brewer. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Linda Emond. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Lauren Patten & Linda Emond. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BECKY SHAW’: Alden Ehrenreich & Madeline Brewer. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The post ‘Becky Shaw’ revival simmers at Second Stage appeared first on StageZine.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons & Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

MOTHER PLAY: A PLAY IN FIVE EVICTIONS
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Tina Landau
Second Stage at The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th St.
(212) 541-4516
https://2st.com/shows/mother-play

By Scott Harrah

A stellar cast and outstanding performances make Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions one of the year’s must-see dramas. Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright best known for her masterpiece How I Learned to Drive, delves into painful recollections of her own family with shades of Tennessee Williams’ classic memory play The Glass Menagerie.

Like Amanda Wingfield in Glass Menagerie, the narrative centers on a single mother from the South and her unrealistic dreams for her kids. Jessica Lange stars as Phyllis, a strict and demanding mother who wields power over her two teenage children, Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger) and Carl (Jim Parsons).

The plays opens in 1962 in suburb of Washington, D.C. Phyllis and her kids have just moved into a new apartment. Phyllis is a divorcée with a drinking problem. Son Carl, 14, is starting to realize he’s probably gay. Daughter Martha, 12, is also learning she might be gay too, and her mother makes her read—in a passive-aggressive demand—the lesbian classic novel The Well of Loneliness as a cautionary tale.

Jessica Lange gives one of the best performances of her career as Phyllis, a woman who keeps moving her kids into disheveled apartments infested with roaches and mice. Phyllis is not exactly a likable character. She is shrill, demanding, volatile and homophobic, but Ms. Lange gives depth to this villainess with her seamless delivery of rapid-fire dialogue and manic mannerisms. It’s hard to take our eyes off Ms. Lange whenever she’s on the stage, and that’s because her performance is so heartbreaking and engrossing.

Reportedly based on playwright Paula Vogel’s real life, Mother Play is both a dramatic confessional and a portrait of a woman with unrealistic dreams for both herself and her children. The story unfolds in five different scenes spanning the decades or “evictions” as we see the family descend into more grief and all are on the edge of madness. Each attempt by Phyllis to control her children’s lives fails, and she just becomes more domineering and despicable.

Jim Parsons as Carl and Celia Keenan-Bolger are both exceptional and demonstrate a believable brother-and-sister chemistry that truly makes the show worth seeing. They are forced to mix their mother’s drinks and find her chic outfits while they both put up with her constant criticism and disapproval.

Mother Play, performed in one act, is not an easy drama to watch despite its brevity. Ms. Vogel’s portrait of family discord is brutally real, and while the show is not always perfect, director Tina Landau gets such fine performances from the cast that the flaws don’t matter in the end. Mother Play is a trenchant American tragedy for these troubled times.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 12, 2024
Reviewed at April 30, 2024 press  performance

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons & Celia Keenan-Bolger. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Celia Keenan-Bolger & Jim Parsons. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jim Parsons. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MOTHER PLAY’: Jessica Lange. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Mother Play’: Jessica Lange & cast shine appeared first on StageZine.