New Jerusalem
Stage West, Fort Worth, (817) 784-9378
Debates about the nature of God “are not inherently entertaining,” said the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But while David Ives’s play about the philosopher Baruch Spinoza explores “some of the largest questions that can be examined,” director Jerry Russell’s “superb” ensemble keeps the emotional intensity high.
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A Number
BackStage Theatre Co., Chicago, (312) 772-2782
Caryl Churchill’s play uses the possibility of human cloning as a “lens for viewing parent-child relations,” said Time Out Chicago. Tony Bozzuto excels at playing three different people with the same DNA, and Patrick Blashill “is nicely understated” as a failed dad who wants to “scrap it and start over again.”
Future Motive Power
Old Mint, San Francisco, (415) 967-1574
The Mugwumpin troupe has turned the life of Nikola Tesla into a “loopy, partly surreal” piece of experimental theater, said the San Francisco Examiner. As Tesla, Christopher W. White tinkers obsessively with alternating electric current while rival Thomas Edison explores a second path. White “ably projects” his character’s “messianic zeal.”
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Aug. 11 editorial cartoonsCartoons Monday’s political cartoons include solar power shunned by Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin's appetite for Ukraine, and another distraction from the Epstein files
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Celebrating Cézanne in Aix-en-ProvenceThe Week Recommends The beautiful city is paying tribute to its most famous son with a series of cultural events
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Crossword: August 11, 2025The Week's daily crossword
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If/Thenfeature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
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Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
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Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
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The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
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Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
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The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
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No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
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The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.