Kraine Theater

"The theater is small and unassuming, but the sound for the performance I viewed was great, the stage was adequate & easily viewed from the middle of the theater, and refreshments were available in the theater during intermission."

"Got to watch “the overwhelming urge to be completely destroyed” at this cozy off-Broadway theater, so felt compelled to share the experience/thoughts)) Yes, it's a little mouthful of a name, but boy is it masterfully picked to pack the essence of the play! Each character personifies the title, and while there's a main character, everyone's storyline received proper attention and development. Intentionally or not, the storylines seem to be united by the theme of expectations, and the prime time is given to exploring, in ever so subtle ways, the expectations around grief. The play seems to be saying (at least when talking to me) that somewhere along the way, we get into our heads an idea about the right way to grieve and mourn, or rather an idea about how that would feel and look. And usually it's the idea that the whole world will tumble down when a loved one is no more, and when that doesn't happen, when the world moves on carelessly, we somehow feel both deceived and deceiving. Why can I still breath? Why am I not more devastated? Did I just smile?!! What's wrong with me? Did I not love the person as deeply as I thought I did? It feels wrong to do anything, because doing anything is part of what used to be normal, but how could there be "normal" without that person being part of it? The characters attempt the normal, but there's a shadow of self-judgment looming over every little thing, action, or smile - each feels like a betrayal, and so they (and we along with them) get into this loop of agonizing about HOW we're mourning, instead of WHOM or WHAT we're grieving. And maybe that's the right way, maybe healthy grieving is about the how, but nobody is there to confirm or deny that, and the uncertainty of it feels like a burden that each character deals with in their own way. Moving on, while every character is distinct and polished (in a way that perfectly showed their roughness), the play doesn't tickle the audience with particularly memorable lines that would imprint on the mind with their uniqueness, and that itself is somewhat memorable - the active choice to avoid cheap impositions of righteous tropes. For instance, there is a couple of monologues throughout the play, that by their very nature create a brief sense of apprehensive anticipation of some profound wisdom coming at you at their end, and when each of them concludes without a forcefully pushed lesson, there is a moment of confusion followed by unexpected relief. It is funny to realize how used we might have become to being preached to, that we can't help but expect any monologue to shape-shift into a self-righteous lecture. And the way Sam Wood (the playwright) doesn't play into that expectation is probably as refreshing as the famous anti-drop right after the build-up to the chorus in Charlie Puth's Attention (in case you aren't too big into songwriting - it is pretty refreshing!). The directing is done especially well, at least to my amateur eye - a big shoutout to Lea Hilsey here. The stage blocking feels organic, and when the lighting is added for the purposes of directing the viewer's attention from scene to scene, it is so well mixed with the blocking and the acting, that the seamlessness of the transitions appears almost like a special effect (which is why I had to highlight that here). All in all, this has been my first play since the pandemic, and it was a perfection of a welcome-back to the theater!"

"I have seen there a show called: " Wild Party" and i have to say the place is exactly like off off Broadway theater look. The crew was amazing and the show was nicely performed full of energy and fun and a lot of cool songs the audience loved it including me regardles of very amateurish performance, but like i said i enjoyed it a lot and crew was fun to watch."

"The theater is nice. It has very good sound and lighting. Open mics are fun. They have a house guitar and keyboard if you don't wanna bring yours."

"Wonderful space with excellent children's show! Show up, kids! Was a great interactive, fun, and unique show! Highly recommend taking your young ones to see it. Tickets are only $10."