Category: 2025
Courtney Taylor on Xora Odelle
Dear Xora, After the brilliant, funny, and thought-provoking performance of Traps I saw, I left thinking about the movie “Ratatouille” (Remi WISHES he had the whimsy of this Mouse) and scholar Jack Halberstam’s exploration of chrononormativity, where the timeline pushed upon us – dating, marriage, babies – is an oppressive and cisheteronormative force to be resisted and rethought. In the world of Traps, Woman and Man are pushed through life…
Jess Noel on Tyler Rocio Ecoña
Hi Tyler, Jess Noel from Humble Materials here. Getting ready to head out for Queers in a Thrift Store with Monsters, wearing my finest because I figure this will be a stylish event given the name of the project. Upon arriving at TMoms and scanning the actors’ and audience’s fits, I’m so glad I wore my mini dress, black tights and my black leather motorcycle boots. Everybody looks incredible, I…
Noam Osband on Chris Davis
“To make art in an insane world is the only way to be alive.” Chris, By the time you get to these climactic words at the end of your show, you’ve managed to deftly bring the audience along to this point of view. This performance, which I think will appeal to anyone with artistic ambitions (or anyone who supports and appreciates the struggle of those who do), highlights the absurdity…
Sara Mascelli on Jake Lucas
Dear Jake, Can I just start by saying how much I adore a he/him lesbian reference this Fringe season? One of many queerdo similarities in both of our pieces, I felt strangely close to you as I rollicked through this 80-minute speed run of a queer Austen fantasia. Something about the community that comes with your pop cultural referential quality – the sharp, special kind that only a queer’s queer…
Jack McManus on Fee Pelz-Sharpe
Dear Fee, I’m writing with deep gratitude that this postcards project prompted me to see Emotion/Truth. I don’t remember what exactly I requested when I was being matched with a performance to write about, but I know I asked to see some weird stuff, something not quite like anything I’d seen before. Boy, did your piece deliver in all of the best ways. From the opening scene, when a being…
AZ Espinoza on Jessica Noel
Dear Jess, I had the pleasure of being welcomed to PhillyPACK this past Friday night to see your Fringe show Cass. This venue was new to me, and it was exciting to feel like I was walking into a rich and vibrant arts community that I didn’t know before– I’m always grateful for the way that this festival will do that to you! I came into the space curious, excited…
Rose Luardo on Sara Mascelli
A poem*: Homo hunger Thank you I studied Stalin I wanna be the frat boys They don’t wash their asses Freekydeeky space dyke You’re never too old to be the whore Depression core High camp and homosexuality I want butch femme love to save me And I want bottoming to heal me My sex life is TikTok rage bait I fucking love bridges And I fucking hate when I’m told…
Anne Brashier on Mallory Vance
Dear Mallory and Mary, Thank you for the delightful time spent waiting in the company of strangers. I was worried that I was a bit late, and then realized that time is a loop of an illusion, and we are all just fumbling in darkness. The chance to be still was like settling into a long phone call with a wandering great aunt. You’re just going to be there for…
Mallory Vance on Jaden Alvaro Gines
Dear Jaden, First off, I should admit that I’m not a music person. Not that I don’t love listening to music, but just that actual music, instruments and notes, is a foreign language I don’t speak. So I was understandably nervous coming into a show where you were expecting me to help write a song. I spent the preshow wait fretting over if I even knew what chords make up…
Jaden Alvaro Gines on AZ Espinoza
Dear AZ; This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a reading of your piece Caribbean King through Cannonball and PTC’s Text and Dramaturgy Special Presentation Cohort. Admittedly, I went into the reading a bit blind (mainly because I’m not as familiar with the source material, King Lear, as most playwrights should be- my bad!) and was worried that I might miss important contextual information that would allow me to…
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