Variety

Since the 1990s, scores of women in Juarez, Mexico have been mutilated, raped, and murdered at such a rate that some have called it an epidemic of femicide—killing women and girls solely because they are women. Isaac Gomez’s play “the way she spoke,” produced Off Broadway by Audible and starring Kate del Castillo, confronts the subject head-on with a story about a playwright who goes to Juarez to understand what has happened there.

But despite its important, difficult subject matter and its att

With the rumbling of semis careening by and the sound of Middle Eastern music in the distance, “The Jungle” aims to vividly immerse audiences into the world of the real-life migrant and refugee camp of the same name. By telling the story of the Jungle’s creation in Calais, France, in 2015, and its eventual destruction in 2016, it hopes to bring attention to the ongoing European refugee crisis. But in spite of exquisite design and a substantial production (co-directed by Stephen Daldry), the play

After a disastrous foray into the world of Joan of Arc with the musical “Joan of Arc: Into the Fire,” the Public Theater makes an ill-advised return to the subject with its new production of Jane Anderson’s play “Mother of the Maid” — the story of Joan’s beleaguered mom, fiercely played by the commanding Glenn Close. Focusing on the complex travails of parenting, the play still comes down to women suffering grittily. But it’s a tiresome road to that inevitable outcome.

Here, Isabelle Arc (Close

What’s the collective noun for a group of Betties? Based on Jen Silverman’s play, “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties,” perhaps “a rage of Betties” would suit. When these five Betties gather, they roar, ruminate and revolt, each experiencing a transformation thanks to theater (and each other). With touches of absurdity, this play about self-discovery and change can feel thin and representative at times, but the 90-minute journey remains a wacky romp underpinned with emotion.

The Betties come

Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub’s musicalized “Twelfth Night” is the kind of outdoor summer theater that transcends bad weather. Even if the skies crackle with lightning and showers soak you in your seat (as happened to this critic), you’ll still leave Central Park’s Delacorte Theater beaming. The co-creators take Shakespeare’s themes and wrap them in an ebullient package, making sure everything about this production — from the inclusive casting to the use of American Sign Language to the invit