The Fire Room

The play opens with a monologue by “The Administrator,” a sprightly office manager of purgatory (Rachel Grate), recounting Dido’s mythic story. The love-tortured Queen of Carthage, whose unrequited love from Aeneas drives her to self-immolation, installs the thematic concerns of the play, as The Administrator’s assistants (Maricella Ibarra, Marissa Moses and Sena Ramirez) cull through stacks of messages from the dead. The play exists in transitional space, in a sort of bureaucratic love-purgatory, where the paradoxes and ironies of love materialize into beautiful and sad and funny scenes between characters whose cosmic longings converge into the humanly particular. There are the manic appetites of Charlie (Jim Senti), who obsessivel... full review

Lovely and haunting, movement beautifully integrated with the textual storytelling. I can't wait to see more from this company! And one of the most intriguing set designs I've seen at the Fringe!... full review

so creative, poignant, and funny... full review

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know, love, and have worked with many of the artists in this show. I also know, love, and have worked with many of their unearthly talents and sensibly human habits over the years. It would be as easy to shower praise on these beautiful souls as it would be to harp on their foibles. That being said: BY ALL THAT IS HOLY, SEE THIS SHOW. Fringe is nearly over, this show closes tonight, I take full responsibility for not leaving my apartment sooner, but this show must and should and will be seen, and the Fringe cast is, by far, the best embodiment this text could hope to find. Meghan Brown's script is rich and luscious, moving and incisive, witty and unutterably sad. The setting is ingenious, the exposition minimal an... full review

I'm a little biased since Meghan is a member of Fell Swoop Playwrights, but The Fire Room is lovely. It's full of elegant staging and language and strong storytelling. It's both easily accessible and wildly imaginative. This production is a distinctive addition to The Fringe and one of the more theatrically adventurous shows I've seen in the festival.... full review