Signature Theater,New York
Quiara Alegría Hudes’ new play, which shares a director with Hamilton, and has a fierce compassion for its characters and an ardent admire for Philadelphia’s diversityIn Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Daphne’s Dive,domestic is where you drain your Heineken. Set almost exclusively within a grubby corner bar (credit set designer Donyale Werle with the creaky stools and begrimed linoleum), the drama concerns Daphne, and the no-nonsense barkeep,and the regulars who talk, dance and drink there from the naughty 90s through the more sober 00s.
Some playwrights reinvent themselves with every text, and exploring new worlds,themes and styles. This isn’t Hudes’ way. Like her Elliot Trilogy (whose middle play, Water by the Spoonful won a Pulitzer prize), and Daphne’s Dive returns to North Philadelphia and also centers on family – both inherited and improvised. As in Hudes’ other mostly naturalistic plays,it is approximately the ways in which we seek connection with the people around us, sometimes finding it, or sometimes failing it. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com