Maybe the Best Small Play Off-Broadway This Year, and It Closes Sunday
It's called Human Things. Two couples, one South Pacific atoll and a storm that resets the stage at intermission, with two-time Tony winner Victoria Clark among just four actors in a small room on West 86th Street.
⏳ Final Week on West 86th Street
🏝️ Birds, a Shipwreck and a Very Large Egg
Greg and Margaret are living on an atoll in the South Pacific. Margaret is studying a shrinking population of migratory birds. Greg isn't quite sure what he's doing there, but he's doing his best. Then an older couple, Darce and Bo, run their boat, the Hula-Hoop, onto the coral reef. A typhoon follows them in, and the wreckage turns up a huge, spiny gold egg that nobody can explain. Playwright Joshua Owen has described the play as being about "a person who's paying attention and recognizes that these are perhaps not great times, but knowing you still have to live your life."
🔦 The Room Is Small. The Storm Isn't.
The West End Theatre sits inside the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, and the play is staged in traverse, with the audience on both sides of the island. When the typhoon hits, the tent overhead billows and shakes under Reza Behjat's lighting and Ian Scot's sound. At intermission the audience is sent out while the set is rebuilt as the storm's aftermath, and when you walk back in you find out who made it through. Two-time Tony winner Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) plays Darce opposite Tony nominee Michael Mulheren as Bo, with Rebeca Robles and Ben Rosenfield as the younger couple. Critics have quibbled with how many big ideas the script juggles, but The Knockturnal called it "the best kind of small play," and Clark's second act keeps getting singled out. After Sunday's matinee, this island is gone.
⏳ The Last Shows, Tickets and Access
This is the final week of a limited run. Human Things closes with a 2:00 PM matinee on Sunday, October 25. Until then, evening shows are at 7:00 PM through Friday, and Saturday has a 2:00 PM matinee and a 7:00 PM show. Tickets start at $49 at the show's box office. The play runs 1 hour 55 minutes with one intermission. It's recommended for ages 13 and up and uses strong language, stage blood and strobe lighting. The main entrance has several stone steps. The wheelchair-accessible entrance is on West End Avenue, through the sanctuary, with an elevator inside.
🍝 Before or After, on Amsterdam Avenue
Amsterdam Avenue is a short walk east, past Broadway. Barney Greengrass, at West 86th Street, has been slicing smoked fish since 1908. It opens at 8:30 AM and stays open until 5:00 PM on weekends, which covers both sides of a Saturday or Sunday matinee. Before a 7:00 PM curtain, Celeste near West 85th Street starts dinner service at 4:30 PM with handmade pasta and brick-oven pizza. Evening shows let out around 9:00 PM, and Hi Life Bar & Grill at West 83rd Street stays open until midnight.
