Ryan Leeds

Self-help is big business. According to a recent study Americans spend 11 billion dollars a year figuring out how to improve themselves.  For the most part, the advice that most books, seminars, and videos offer are  laden with trite suggestions, syrupy psychobabble  and plain old common sense. In many cases, they are written by people without a clinical background–people like Cheryl Strayed.  When you have her life experience, however, you have all the credibility you need. [Read more…] about Theater Review: “Tiny Beautiful Things” is One Big Gift

In the middle of playwright Philip Dawkin’s Charm, one of his characters has a breakdown. While her peers are learning to dance for a tea party at Chicago’s esteemed Drake hotel, Lady (Marky Irene Diven) sits neglected and alone. Her hormone treatment schedule has becoming irregular, causing an identity crisis within herself. “Nobody wants me,” she laments. “I wish everyone would stop looking at me and just touch me. I wanna be touched and be f**ed and be regular. I just. I WANT! Okay?” [Read more…] about Theater Review: Trans Lives Honored in MCC’s “Charm”

Kimberly Senior isn’t afraid to tackle tough topics. The Chicago based director earned critical raves for her guiding hand in the racially charged Broadway play, Disgraced.  She also dealt with the delicate topic of self-slaughter in Chris Gethard’s solo show/sleeper hit, Career Suicide. [Read more…] about Kimberly Senior, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy Walk into a Theatre…

The Son (Peter Friedman) is at a loss. His mother, Ida Armstrong (Deanna Dunagan) has lived longer than she expected. Her husband Ron passed away, leaving her little money and now she is experiencing dementia. Cash strapped and frustrated, the son and his siblings sacrifice their own well beings to ensure that Ida maintains her pampered lifestyle. “My friends are in the Beaverbrook and I’m a Beaverbrook person,” she tells her son.  Beaverbrook it is. Nothing is too good for this manipulative matriarch in Max Posner’s The Treasurer, which recently opened at Playwrights Horizons. [Read more…] about Theater Review: Life is Costly for “The Treasurer”

A song of tension and discord is currently emanating from 59 East 59^th Street theatre in Dan McCormick’s world premiere play, The Violin. [Read more…] about “The Violin” Scratches Out a Complex Tune at 59e59th Theatre

Family cook-outs often conjure a sense of dread, both for family members and outside observers. Polite small talk, Aunt Mary’s barely edible potato salad, and awkward pauses typically prevail under sweltering hot conditions and irksome insects. [Read more…] about Chicago’s Strawdog Theatre Cooks a Crazy Family Gathering

I don’t often recall Geoffrey the giraffe in the middle of a play. If you’re a child of the eighties, you might remember this congenial ungulate as the mascot for Toys R’ us toy stores.  I can vividly picture his star turn in the commercials from Saturday morning cartoons. Various happy children would embrace their joy-giving gadgets and sing, “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R’ us kid. They gotta million toys at Toys R’ Us that I can play with.”  As the commercial ended, Geoffrey sat silhouetted on a bench, staring at the sunset and granting a warm embrace to a child. The campaign was genius. It encouraged kids to put items on their wish list and supplied adults with a heaping dose of childlike wonder. [Read more…] about Theater Review: “For Peter Pan on Her 70th birthday”