Labor
Written & Performed by Stacey Linnartz
Chain Theatre | 312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018
April 3rd, 5th, 12th & 20th
Theatre festivals are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
The FRIGID Festival kicks off tonight in NYC and approximately 65 shows will run in rep at 5 different venues. Shows will run a bit under an hour. There will be one-acts and bits of longer works in progress; dramas, comedies and musicals.
What a glorious day of theatre! Three wildly different shows in three different venues. It’s the closest you get to binge watching live theatre.
Off to the Chain, where I found Stacey Linnartz sitting on a cube center stage as the audience entered reading a book entitled Labor. As Cyndi Lauper fades out, and the lights come up, Linnartz begins to radiate. She has an advance copy of this book, and cannot wait to share it with us. The book details ‘woman’s work’ through the ages. As she discusses various periods, there will be a small costume addition or set change, and we are with your Irish immigrant, suffragette grandma as she goes to vote, or your auntie from Queens who ran numbers, or the Southern belle who was a WAC mechanic who is supposed to have a man fix her car now that the war is over.
Not only was this the perfect addition to a day dedicated to Hands-Off, but Linnartz tour-de-force performance is a masterclass for anyone wanting to do solo work. The vignettes perfectly illustrated each point she was looking to make at the same time showing off her tremendous skill as a performer. Having seen The Threepenny Opera at BAM just a few nights prior, I couldn’t help but think of Bea Arthur. Bea has been a WAC who went on to star as the first Polly Peachum on Broadway. And, of course, went on to be Maude. Maude would love this show. Bea would love this show. I definitely loved this show.
This piece has 2 more performances in NYC’s Frigid Festival. Get to them or be left out in the cold!
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 6th, 2025. All rights reserved.