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Helen Shaw

@helenshaw.bsky.social
7.3K followers 780 following 202 posts

Theater critic at the New York Times. Tell me if you’ve seen something good!

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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
1 more night for the delightfully unhinged “With Everything Going On Right Now” at Under St. Marks… it’s a deadly serious musical about issues including Politics, Race and dating West Village Guys; trust these artists, they’ve done Research (🎶research! research!🎶) tickets.frigid.nyc/event/6897:1...
tickets.frigid.nyc
With Everything Going On Right Now
PROJECT PROJECT has spent the past two months interviewing people about everything that’s going on right now. We’ve asked people from all over New York questions about how th
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The transfixing performer Tiresias is at Joe’s Pub on Thursday with “cryptochrome,” a sung odyssey through various animal senses: a butterfly can see in ultraviolet, a hawk can feel the earth’s magnetic field. It blew my mind in 2023; this is a thrilling chance to experience it again
A head covered in butterflies to the point that there’s confusion about whether the head itself is human
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Soraya said she would get the damn flowers herself
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
🚨GREAT SHOW: the shaggy-dog noir (dressed as a lecture) “Michael Haggerty’s Where Were You” by Dan Hasse, which “stages” a “lost” doc about 9/11. Is it true? 🤷‍♂️ Hasse shares a Nathan Fieldery, double-strength irony w William Sydney; an exciting new theatrical school is clearly here (til Wed at JACK)
A poster that consists of a pencil sketch of a white man with glasses with information about Michael Haggerty’s Where Were You
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Absolutely delighted by Isaiah Stavchansky’s “Constantinople; or the Hair Plug Play” at JACK…precise, surprising, capacious stuff. Also a killlller cast. Only one more show with tickets left; man, I really hope this comes back www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...
zeffy.com
Constantinople; or, The Hair Plug Play
Three friends go on a pilgrimage to Istanbul to get hair transplants. What begins as a weekend of pokes and jests soon gives way to old wounds, buried…
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Scottish cat lays trap
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The Sauna theater at Edinburgh Fringe really demonstrates which critics are brave and which ones are great big chickens, who did not want to do it, no thank you (me) exeuntmagazine.substack.com/p/sauna-thea...
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
Can the Sauna Theatre cure our critic's terror... of saunas?
The things Andrzej Łukowski will do for art
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Edinburgh weirdness survives, according to Arifa Akbar at the Guardian www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/a...
theguardian.com
My Edinburgh fringe odyssey: ‘The nudity is expressive, shocking – sometimes harrowing’
There are 3,649 shows at the fringe this year, but how many embody its spirit of radical experimentation? I took a journey through foam, lube and gore to find out ...
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The Vincentelli and Green show goes to the country
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Beautiful all the way through
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The people who commented that most of LA isn’t like this, and that I, an ignorant British / East Coaster, know nothing about the city, are quite right. I will only add that Homer almost certainly knew nothing first hand about Ithaca. It was all hearsay and tropes.
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Richard M. Nixon @dicknixon.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
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Laura Lippman @lauralippman.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Good morning, Bluesky. “What I do know is that people have always made and will always make art. Part of possessing a consciousness is wanting to be known while also living with the fundamental mysteriousness of human beings, including ourselves.” The Perfect Moment, Isaac Butler
The Domino Sugar plant shrouded in smoke; a dog saying “This is fine” has been super-imposed on the photo.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Hudson Valley Shakespeare is an absolutely beautiful spot to see a very touching, very real Kurt Rhoads playing Lear….after the smoke clears, of course www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/t...
nytimes.com
At Hudson Valley Shakespeare, a ‘King Lear’ Worth Traveling For
A beautifully observed version of a man’s final act, along with a lively staging of “As You Like It,” engage the surrounding mountains in conversation.
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Michael Schulman @michaelschulman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball” is closing on Aug. 8. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen on Broadway, and I do not even like the musical “Cats”! Go if you can. Now and forever. Meow.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Is it a sign that the "eerie" theme in Lost Boys sounds like "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You" from The Mask of Zorro? And by "a sign," I mean it's proof we need a TMOZ musical with ALB as young Zorro and Antonio Banderas as Zorro-prime youtu.be/VonpKXPDxZ0?... www.tiktok.com/@abitmorerou...
Ali Louis Bourzgui (who is playing David in the Lost Boys) is out of costume: here he is wearing black leather jacket and pants, as he holds onto the door handle of the Palacea promotional image for The Mask of Zorro movie: Antonio Banderas, looking more beautiful than fire itself, stares out of a deep darkness while Anthony Hopkins, playing his mentor and the original Zorro, gazes at us over his shoulder. Anthony Hopkins is in his "Antonio Hopkins" look here, which includes long grey hair and, shall we say, a pronounced tan
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Philip Hartman's black-and-white "No Picnic" is at Film Forum til July 9: it's a punk As You Like It set in the sweltering streets and basement bars of the 1986 East Village. What if Jaques serviced jukeboxes and fell for Phoebe? Peter Hutton shoots NYC like it's Rome after the War. Gorgeous
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Lawrence!!!! Truly the best place; wish I were there for this
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Clubbed Thumb's 3rd show is Bailey Williams's superb The Family Dog, which I so hope will return next season. It's family comedy with thorns: wise, funny, mean, sacred. The levels of MOM! PLEASE! & DAD STOP TEXTING are off the charts. Sold out, but here's a waitlist clubbedthumb-waitlist.lovable.app
Did somebody say biscuit? A guy in a green sweatshirt stands on a couch yelling about something (football), while various family members surround him, looking down at their (mimed) phones. In the archway, a man peeks around the corner: this actor is playing the family dog, who is not supposed to have biscuits but for some reason everyone keeps saying that word.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
🖤 the obituary of one of the artist-founders of PS122, Charles Dennis...PS122 (now Performance Space New York) plans an Oct. memorial, but perhaps they'll also bring back Avant-Garde-Arama to honor his "punk wildness"...🖤 performancespacenewyork.org/in-memory-of... www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/t...
nytimes.com
Charles Dennis, a Founder of the Avant-Garde Space P.S. 122, Dies at 77
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Adam Thompson @adamtrot.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
I think a lot about this rendition of Talking Heads' "Dream Operator" that he recorded with Maggie Siff during the lockdown: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_CO...
youtube.com
Dito van Reigersberg, Maggie Siff, Alex Bechtel: Dream Operator
YouTube video by People's Light
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Dito van Reigersberg, touchstone artist for so many of us www.nytimes.com/2026/06/13/t...
A black and white still of a video, capturing a man in a silk off the shoulder dress, pony tail, and top hat…mid-shimmy.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The Clubbed Thumb people just added a Fri matinee for Derangements, which is the first show to reduce me to helpless gasping laughter this year. When I say playwright Nadja Leonhard-Hooper has EXACTLY matched Danny Wolohan’s freak, I know some of you understand what’s at stake. Get on the waitlist
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
The show in New York right now that I’m recommending the most is not on Broadway; it’s actually Morgan Bassichis’s “Can I Be Frank?”… I tried to think about how it works www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/t...
nytimes.com
For This Performer, Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Tragedy
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Michael Paulson and I did a Reddit AMA this afternoon, and he talked seriously about the terrible winds facing Broadway production while I failed to be normal about AI. www.reddit.com/r/Broadway/c...
reddit.com
From the Broadway community on Reddit: 2026 Tony Awards: We're Helen Shaw and Michael Paulson, and we cover theater for The New York Times. Ask us anything!
Explore this post and more from the Broadway community
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Michael Schulman @michaelschulman.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
This week in Talk of the Town: Shakespeare in the Park kicks off with "Romeo and Juliet," but with a twist—each performance ends with a real-life wedding onstage. I was there for the first one. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
The Happy Ending Romeo and Juliet Didn’t Get
This year’s Shakespeare in the Park production puts the star-crossed lovers on the U.S.-Mexico border. And there’s another twist—each performance ends with a real-life wedding.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Jordan Baum’s excellent, trippy, anthology-style “21st Century Princess” is @ Collapsable Hole, and it’s delish. A Wellmanian romp taking the secret Mickey out of the happiest place on earth, it’s a series of vignettes of small world orderliness, erotic connection and line-standing psychosis…(cont)
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 23/05/2026
This whole interview is incredible (h/t @cheatlines.co)
cracked.com
The Irrepressibly Chaotic World of Tracy Morgan, According to ‘30 Rock’s Grizz and Dot Com
He might not have made them better men, but the show certainly did
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
It’s here!!
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Shauna Kelly and Theresa Buchheister in downtown Lawrence, getting ready to talk about Shauna’s book I’ve Got the Shakes about Richard Foreman…
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Michael Schulman @michaelschulman.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
My profile of Laurie Metcalf is in this week's New Yorker. We talked about Steppenwolf, "Roseanne," and her tremendous performance in "Death of a Salesman"—as well as her partnership with the once-cancelled producer Scott Rudin and her role in his Broadway comeback. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Laurie Metcalf’s Third Act
The once cancelled producer Scott Rudin has staked his own comeback on making her the First Lady of American Theatre.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
I love this show, and this great piece by Erik Piepenburg shows you exactly why. The most deliriously entertaining experience you will ever have filling out a grant www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/t...
nytimes.com
The Show That Gives ‘Running Time’ a New Meaning
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I have accidentally seen a very good show that I'm terrified to spoil. I don't even believe in spoilers, but even this pathetic hinting-around that I'm doing is a betrayal of this totally non-slippery, above-board, don't-worry-about-it hour of non-creepy frolic at JACK www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...
zeffy.com
Single Family Home Week Two
In what can only be described as a task for ten men, minimum, William Sydney tells the story of his father's life, keeping rigorously to the facts.Week One Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketi...
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
R.I.P. He wrote one of my favorite plays, "On the Verge," in addition to his stellar TV work. Eric Overmyer Dies: ‘Bosch’ Creator, ‘Treme’ Co-Creator & ‘Homicide’ Writer-Producer Was 74 deadline.com/2026/03/eric...
deadline.com
Eric Overmyer Dead: 'Bosch' Creator, 'Treme' Co-Creator
Eric Overmyer, a veteran TV writer-producer who created Bosch and co-created Bosch: Legacy and Treme, died March 16 after an illness.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I missed that the wonderful Billy McEntee is one of this year’s George Jean Nathan Award winners!!!! Bravo, Billy! english.cornell.edu/news/2024-25...
english.cornell.edu
2024-25 Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism winners announced
Masi Asare of Northwestern University and arts journalist Billy McEntee have been named winners of the 2024-25 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
😍
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Still floored by Kramer/Fauci at Skirball…grabbed random people today and insisted they see it. Daniel Fish directs Will Brill, Thomas Jay Ryan, Jenny Seastone Stern, Greig Sargent…as they repeat a Kramer/Fauci CSPAN appearance. Verbatim theatre vibrating at extraordinary emotional frequencies…💐💐💐💐💐
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
"Mano a Mano" at La Mama is what happens when too much knowledge about Middle English poetry achieves hyperdensity — then explodes out of composer/performer Paul Pinto's head as a one-man(o) opera. It's deranged (complimentary)...imagine King Arthur's court trapped in the Hellraiser dimension 🧵
A man with a grey beard and goat horns sings what is obviously some very heavy metal
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
absolutely incredible analysis of sheep-on-film here from Jackson McHenry, gets below the wool to the meat beneath www.vulture.com/article/shee...
vulture.com
The Best Parts of Period Dramas Are the Sheep
If they aren’t featured in your movie set in the British countryside, I don’t want it.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Wow…a wonderful project and resource www.torchesnyc.org
torchesnyc.org
HOME | TORCHES NYC
Welcome to the official website of TORCHES, founded and led by Kristin Marting. 30+ Years of Downtown Performance in NYC (1990s–2020s). 30+ Video Oral Histories and a Thematically Structured Book.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
rare overlap between "we watched this guy maybe possibly urinate onto the set in Richard III at BAM" and DCU news www.vulture.com/article/man-...
vulture.com
Man of Tomorrow Makes Lars Eidinger Its Brainiac
James Gunn welcomes both Brainiac and Eidinger into the DCU.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Much to my regret I only saw Emily Breeze's "Are the Bennet Girls OK" at Bedlam last night--they close on Sunday, and so the tickets are now TIGHT and also, lbr, pricy. But it's gorgeous! I had clocked it was an Austen-in-modern-idiom project and thought, oh, we've seen those already...(1/7)
Lizzie (Elyse Steingold), wearing blue, and Kitty Bennet (Violeta Picayo), in mauve, sit by a staircase reading a letter that is about to disappoint them, perhaps because it says the remaining tickets to their show are one hundred and eighty nine dollars.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
I was fascinated to read this conversation between playwright Chris Gabo and Stephen Adly Guirgis since I saw Gabo's "The Surgeon and Her Daughters" at Theatre 154 last week and was having trouble placing some of its strategies... (1/7) www.americantheatre.org/2025/12/14/o...
americantheatre.org
On the Real With Stephen Adly Guirgis and Chris Gabo
The 2 playwrights compare notes on what they learned from TV writing, what they owe their community, and Gabo's new play 'The Surgeon and Her Daughters.'
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I was just thinking how it was a bummer that the Cherry Lane Mentor Project was no more, and then This! Great! News! playbill.com/article/cher...
playbill.com
Cherry Lane Theatre Partners With Annie Baker to Launch Playwrights Collective
The Off-Broadway theatre and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Memory Speaks in “Marjorie Prime” and “Anna Christie”
June Squibb sparkles opposite Cynthia Nixon in a futuristic drama, and Michelle Williams loses her way in Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winner.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
One of the things I love most about writing "top ten" lists is the absurdity. 1) you are constantly trying to sneak other shows in, because it's really more of a top 30, and comparison is invidious 2) your group chat thinks you're deranged 3) but you are 100% right www.newyorker.com/culture/2025...
newyorker.com
The Best Theatre of 2025
It was a banner year for generation-defining performance, both up- and downtown.
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Adam Feldman @feldmanadam.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Start spreading the news! I am thrilled to announce the debut of Sitting Ovations, my new YouTube podcast for Time Out. Each week, I will sit down with the creators of current plays and musicals that I've admired to discuss them at greater length and in deeper detail. www.timeout.com/newyork/news...
timeout.com
Time Out's new theater podcast, Sitting Ovations, launches today
Critic Adam Feldman hosts a weekly chat with top Broadway artists
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Today at 2 is the last performance of "Initiative" at the Public....I'm sorry not to have written about it (this has been a odd few weeks), but I so admired its ambition and frequent beauty. Else Went's five hour show about a "coastal podunk" teenage existence had me riveted for long sections (1/5)
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Adam Feldman @feldmanadam.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
In honor of World AIDS Day, I'd like to share a story that breaks my heart whenever I tell it. Please read it. It's the story of David Carroll.
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Helen Shaw @helenshaw.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Loss upon loss www.newyorker.com/culture/post...
newyorker.com
Tom Stoppard’s Radical Invitation
The playwright offered a kind of on-ramp to the literary canon, a way into a life of unabashed, unstoppable thinking.
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