by clare barron. world premiere. premiered: playwrights horizons, nyc. may 2018. directed and choreographed by lee sunday evans. sets: arnulfo maldonado. costumes: asta bennie hostetter. lights: barbara samuels. sound: brandon wolcott. photography: arnulfo maldonado, joan marcus.
"...'Dance Nation' conjures the passionate ambivalence of early adolescence with such being-there sharpness and poignancy that you’re not sure whether to cringe, cry or roar with happiness...Arnulfo Maldonado’s dance-studio set has room for the emergence of a surreal, fairy-tale moon and a curtain-windowed corridor, from which emerges the sound of fractious adults. . " -- on DANCE NATION, The New York Times. NY Times Critic's Pick.
"Don’t be fooled by the exuberant opening number: Dance Nation is out for blood. Right after we watch eight competitive preteen dancers perform an Anything Goes–style tap routine in matching nautical outfits, one of the little sailors is torpedoed by a compound fracture—and that’s just the first of many harsh surprises in Clare Barron’s riotous, rattling, sensational new play." -- on DANCE NATION, Time Out New York. TONY Recommended, Five Stars.
