Review Roundup: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' GLORIA Opens Off-Broadway

Vineyard Theatre's world-premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' newest play GLORIA opened this week.

Evan Cabnet directs GLORIA, with a cast that includes Jeanine Serralles, Jennifer Kim, Catherine Combs, Kyle Beltran, Michael Crane and Ryan Spahn.

The latest work from the writer of such acclaimed plays as AN OCTOROON, APPROPRIATE, WAR and NEIGHBORS, GLORIA is Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins' funny, trenchant and powerful new play that follows an ambitious group of editorial assistants at a notorious Manhattan magazine, each of whom hopes for a starry life of letters and a book deal before they turn 30. But when an ordinary humdrum workday becomes anything but, the stakes for who will get to tell their own story become higher than ever.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Anyone who's ever worked for a big Manhattan magazine will find much to savor and shudder over in "Gloria," Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's whip-smart satire of fear and loathing in a beleaguered industry under siege...Everyone else - or at least everyone with a tonic streak of cynicism - is likely to appreciate Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins's depiction of the cannibal culture cycles that grip and warp Americans' attention these days...Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins, a young chameleon playwright with a cold but twinkling eye, may have exaggerated certain aspects of this portrait of a profession in flux for comic rhythm and snap. But he brings an anthropological accuracy to his depiction of the hierarchies, language and rites of obeisance and humiliation in one small, intensely stratified world.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a playwright on a roll, displaying diversity with this contemporary work that's a world away from his sly, slavery-themed "An Octoroon." The new play isn't as daring or deep, but it's dexterous and entertaining...Director Evan Cabnet has assembled a terrific cast of newcomers and seasoned stage pros. Most play more than one role and impress in each..."

Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter: To say that the new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins starts in one direction and then goes somewhere completely different is an understatement. This latest effort by the 30-year-old author of such acclaimed works as Appropriate, Neighbors and An Octoroon begins as a sharply observed satirical comedy depicting the tensely humorous interactions among a group of ambitious young editorial assistant...The complicated action is expertly staged by Evan Cabnet, who also elicits superb performances from the ensemble. The standout is Crane, whose relatively mature Lorin represents the sole voice of reason...A rare example of a contemporary play that keeps us constantly guessing where it's headed, Gloria is a work not to be easily forgotten.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: If Sartre were writing today, he might set one of his plays in the Manhattan offices of a national magazine with cultural pretensions, a living hell depicted in all its chic horror by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins in "Gloria." Under Evan Cabnet's barbed direction at theVineyard Theater, a smart cast applies cutting wit to satirize five ruthlessly ambitious editorial assistants and the social outcast they make the butt of their jokes. The humor is dark and cruel, but terribly funny - until it suddenly isn't. At which point, the comedy jumps the rails and doesn't get back on track - until it suddenly does.

Adam Feldman, Time Out NY: Print-media worker bees are a miserable hive of ambition and self-involvement in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's cunningly structured Gloria, set in the office of a once-great magazine that has been running on fumes for years...Those who saw Jacobs-Jenkins's extraordinary An Octoroon last year may not be surprised when Gloria takes a sudden swerve from knowing workplace comedy into a wider lane of social comment. The play's satirical streak-its sic transit gloria mundi attitude toward the media and the way it distorts us into frenzy-is accented (and sometimes stressed too hard) in Evan Cabnet's direction. But the play has powerful things to say about how we tune in and tune out. After the shock, it's the human touches that linger.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: It's not just "Game of Thrones" that boasts jaw-dropping shockers -- the new play "Gloria" has such a fantastic moment, it's killing me that I can't spill the beans. All you need to know is that the bitingly funny and fierce "Gloria" is one of the year's best shows. What playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins says about American society, the media and how we package celebrity and tragedy is as spot-on as it is depressing...Director Evan Cabnet keeps the pace at a brilliant clip and his cast is terrific..."Gloria" is an adrenaline rush of a show, but it also makes you think. Let's just say it hits the bull's-eye.

Check back for updates!

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

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