Press

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SELECTED PRESS QUOTES

“…. The script, by Leah Winkler… effectively skewers the false personas and banal self-descriptions on dating Web sites while underscoring the longing….These appealing young actors have grown up with the Net. For us dinosaurs, it’s a relief to know that apparently it hasn’t made mating any easier.”. – THE NEW YORK TIMES (For the INTERNET) 

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This satirical comedy had the audience roaring with laugher that became nervous as it revealed the shocking (and infuriating) truths about Japanese Concubines. A sharp and entertaining cultural lesson that delivered a perspective that we need to hear.” -Times Square Chronicles (for Double Suicide at Ueno Park!!!)

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“Ms. Winkler’s writing is so simple but exquisite in its execution.  In twenty minutes the sad lives of the girls are deftly dramatized with a compelling range of emotion. Visually Stunning…a vivid masterpiece”.-Theatrescene.net (For Double Suicide at Ueno Park!!!)

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Wonderfully, violently, crudely and delightfully subversive. The play snipes at old, but abiding notions of femininity, the fetishization of geishas, ritual suicide and other destructive tropes that linger around the Western idea of Japan, with deadly precision.” –Stage Buddy ((For Double Suicide at Ueno Park!!!) 

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“Double Suicide At Ueno Park by Leah Nanako Winkler, directed by John Giampietro intriguingly roasts the Japanese feudal aesthetic of renunciation of the world…tragedy is not often this funny.  Ditto for clever subversion…. and this all leads to the inevitable brilliance of this piece. “-Ny Theater Now

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“Certainly the most imaginative entry in the series is Double Suicide at Ueno Park…Leah Nanako Winkler, takes a crowbar to the traditional image of the Japanese geisha. (Anyone who thinks Arthur Golden’s popular novelMemoirs of a Geisha is the last word on the subject is in for a stabbing shock.) Winkler has a gift for savage satire that makes me eager to see what she does next, and, in John Giampietro, she has a director who is totally on her wavelength.”- Lighting And Sound America

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This offbeat story of two Japanese courtesans takes  a few chances that pay off” -New York Times (For Double Suicide at Ueno Park!!!)

“ (Flying Snakes)….lets the audience have its fun while also giving them something to think about”-FLAVORPILL

“The narratives that fill their cyberscape are familiar ones: stories of love, of loss, of misunderstandings, of loneliness…..beneath the slick interfaces this is a seething, vibrant world full of people longing to be seen and heard…. creates this world with the deeply-felt conviction of those who inhabit it every day. In form the piece mirrors its subject matter’s diversity by utilizing a pastiche of dance, movement, video, scenes, and songs. While certainly frenetic at times, the piece never loses focus, and all of these disparate elements flow together seamlessly to give the impression of a single, dynamic landscape..” - NYTHEATRE.COM (THE INTERNET)

There have been numerous pieces of theatre, film, television, and literature that have embarked on a journey into the psychologically violent depths of the social impact of female body image on the lives of women and young girls. Big Girls Club (The Happy Happy Dance Princess Show), part of The Brick’s Antidepressant Festival this summer, is maybe the most direct and biting I have experienced. -NYTHEATRE.COM

There is enough story in every moment to fill a thousand blogs.,.. The show itself is great, but what’s more impressive is the way one feels after the show…..the audience is left thinking about which member of the cast most resembles them…and how long it’s been since they cleared their web history”- BROADWAY WORLD (THE INTERNET)

“…..delight in railing against the theater elite….rich whites and trust-fund kids ….. sticking a hot poker in the ass of the one-percent.” THE VILLAGE VOICE

 

“(Flying Snakes In 3-D) ….an ambitious and entertaining night of theater. Expect to laugh and have fun. All of these parody moments were entertaining and wonderful to watch. The subtle references to why doing theater is hard was refreshing….. Maybe we needed that bash. ”- THEATER IN THE NOW

 “Delightfully cheesy “special effects”, great acting, and a fast-paced, literate script propel us into the epic struggle of heart vs. pocketbook, dreams vs. the rent is due….A clever piece of theater about theater, FLYING SNAKES IN 3D!! is a wonderful way to pass sixty minutes and laugh till it hurts.”- eljnyc

 “The gentrification of New York’s theater scene gets confronted, tackled, and beaten in this rough comedy of politics and passion”-The Fifth Wall 

 “…groundbreaking, innovative, highly original show. The real message of Flying Snakes in 3D came to you later….wrapped up in layer upon layer of smart, thoughtful, good theatre..that was by the people, of the people and for the people”-THE HAPPIEST MEDIUM

 “Only Everywhere Theatre Group can successfully juxtapose the struggling artist message with a science fiction narrative about snakes…be spellbound by this piece…the tenacity and spirit of the company members, and the rawness and camp rolled together. “-NEW YORK THEATRE REVIEW

 “I’m in agreement, often passionate agreement, with almost all of the sentiments, convictions, and frustrations that underlie Everywhere Theatre Group’s Flying Snakes in 3-D”-NYTHEATRE.COM

 “…All in good fun. The play features imaginative video sequences by Chase Voorhees and you even get to pelt the actors with rubber snakes. In one particularly jarring juxtaposition, a (Winkler’s) candid monologue about her love for theater is spliced with a histrionic scene in which the two scientists accuse each other of creating the killer king cobras.”- Stage And Cinema

 “A hilarious and unexpectedly touching story of why we make theatre and how to save the world from killer flying snakes….heartfelt ….a refreshingly original piece of theatre that is pretty damn funny, yet still asks the audience to take an honest emotional journey and really see the artist behind the crazy characters on stage….  pretty freakin’ fantastic. ”-THE EASY

“Weirdly, Flying Snakes in 3D!! may well be the show that generated the most interesting discussion thissummer in New York.”- Culturebot

“…Sydney Black veers sharply into self-reflective parody….Winkler’s absurdist comedy deftly handles these collective fourth wall-shattering moments without spiraling into cheap pastiche.”- Sun Sentinel
 “This ambitious piece of original theater, written and directed by Leah Winkler, feels, at times, like a cubist episode of the Twilight Zone. Winkler creates a kind of echo chamber of memory, combining scraps of movement with live music and text to investigate the suicide of a frustrated composer. The music, performed by a trio of musicians on stage, is brilliant and performances by Marc Szewczyk and Robin Darling are effective.  ……it’ll stick with you when other Fringe shows are just a blur” David Hoppe, Nuvo News Weekly

SELECTED PRESS:

Kilroys List Spotlights 53 Works by Women and Trans Playwrights Deserving Production in IndieWire 

Leah interviewed on NPR 

Sam French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival Winners Announced on Backstage

Playwrights Horizons Announces Resident Company Program on American Theatre Magazine

“Love among Leah Winkler’s Webbies” in THE NEW YORK TIMES

Leah Nanako Winkler, The Mikado, and This American Moment in Howlround 

Leah interviewed by NEW YORK POST 

Featured on 99 AND UNDER THE RADAR: A LOOK AT INDIE THEATER’S MOVERS AND SHAKERS on BROADWAY WORLD

“THOUGHTS ON WHY WE MUST TALK ABOUT CLASS” on Culturebot

“Check out Artist’s Bodies: Talking About How Performers Look” on CultureBot

Nice review of SYDNEY BLACK on the Sun Sentinel

Nice review of SYDNEY BLACK on Florida Theater On Stage

Featured on “Why I Appreciate Honest Theater” by Michael Roderick

Theatre is Easy review of Flying Snakes in 3-D!!!!

Snakes featured on The Examiner 

Adam Szymkowicz interviews me

Theatre In The Now spotlight on Everywhere Theatre Group