Lucas Hnath - DANA H

The play starts previews this evening - making its World Premiere at Kirk Douglas Theater. Super curious how the play is. I already got tickets but would love to hear how the show is. Lucas is an exceptional playwright

Updated On: 5/26/19 at 07:56 PM

also, how long is the show? its still listed as TBD on the CTG website

Reviews have been really strong - looking forward to seeing this next week



https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-dana-h-review-20190604-story.html

VernonGersch said: "also, how long is the show?its still listed as TBD on the CTG website"



The play runs about 75 minutes or so.

I saw this last week and I will say its interesting, fascinating and I found it ultimately to be disappointing or less than satisfying. I kept sitting there thinking, “You know, the Lifetime movie version of this story would ultimately be better than this.” Even a storytelling version of it on The Moth or something would have felt more fulfilling.

I think my biggest critique of the show is that it’s too small. I wanted it to be include more of her family and to me, it felt like a little bit of a cop out for the playwright to be telling a story that’s obviously so personal — where he’s mentioned multiple times — and then not put more of himself into it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s worth seeing, but considering how riveted I was at the start, I expected to like it more by the end. It just didn’t all work for me.

Just announced for a winter 2020 production at the Vineyard Off-Broadway starring Deirdre O'Connell.

I know this show will be divisive, but I'm happy that (imo) this extraordinary show gets a chance to run in NYC.

Updated On: 8/2/19 at 05:56 PM

Jarethan said: "tjjster said: "VernonGersch said: "also, how long is the show?its still listed as TBD on the CTG website"



The play runs about 75 minutes or so.

Is he incapable of writing anything more than 75 minutes. I think of them as playlets.

"

There's nothing wrong with shorter plays. I don't think Mamet's written anything longer than an hour and a half. It's also his style to pack huge amounts of text into a short amount of time. Any longer than 75 minutes would be fatiguing.

He has an early work called Issac's Eye that's two acts. I don't know how long that one runs, but maybe he tested the two-act structure and it didn't work out for him.

Jarethan said: "Is he incapable of writing anything more than 75 minutes. I think of them as playlets."

You rather he pad them out with extra nonsense so you feel you got your $$$ worth?

"To be fair, I feel as if he technically didn't write this play. Maybe reorganized some interviews with some staging, but I wouldn't claim it as written."


It's pretty tightly constructed. Often with cuts mid-sentence. The interviews were constructed at his insistence. In the style he devised. And there's more to the play than just the interviews. I think he very much wrote it... or if you want to fuss... "authored" it.



This knocked me out of my chair when I saw it. I was deeply moved and maybe even a little transformed. It also really exceeded my expectations. And it definitely felt like a whole play. In fact, I haven't seen a play of his (and I haven't enjoyed all of them) that didn't feel like a whole meal. I felt a few of them weren't enjoyable meals but I never felt myself wanting more.