Press for redwood
“The finely tuned ensemble, directed by Mikhaela Mahony, gets constant laughs...”
“In “Redwood,” Brittany K. Allen’s crisp comedy at Off Off Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, a willowy comic virtuoso, plays Stevie…who is wry and knowing, with a sense of infinite openness that makes the audience see the world through his eyes. In Allen’s most acute touch, she brings the family’s first enslaved forebear, Alameda (Bryn Carter), onstage in the final scene to rail, as a spirit, at her descendants. Alameda hates the idea of her Black family members embracing their (distant) white cousin (Drew Lewis). But Stevie, as delicate and melancholy as a Pierrot and twice as confident, does not hear her curses. He raises a glass to the past, and he carries on.”
Helen Shaw in The New Yorker
“Best Theater of 2023”
8) Redwood (Ensemble Studio Theatre) The brilliant Brittany K. Allen wrote and starred in EST’s shrewd new comedy Redwood, which followed an interracial couple thrown into turmoil after the discovery of a horrific connection in their respective family histories. How else to confront the traumatic contradictions of America’s history than through comedy? Allen finds biting laughs as the couple, Meg and Drew, face down impossible questions and try to find a way forward. In the play’s devastating finale, Meg senses the presence of a long-ago ancestor and understands—for a moment—that she carries a history Drew can never fully grasp, leaving us with the recognition that certain gulfs can never truly be bridged.
Joey Sims for Transitions
“Director Mikhaela Mahony masterfully balances serious themes while drawing complex, humorous performances from the cast.”
“With an astute ear for language and a keen awareness of perspectives of folks from different backgrounds, Allen has done a remarkable job of furthering our ongoing conversation about race in a tightly plotted play that provokes serious conversation even as it makes us laugh out loud…It’s a brilliant setup, and it’s also no small feat that, given the play’s emotionally charged references to slavery, Allen has created a funny play about how we do and don’t confront the worst parts of our history and ourselves. With its four unforgettable final words, Redwood (the play is named for one of America’s oldest, tallest, most resilient conifers) dares us to listen to the past and come to terms with our nation’s own fraught family tree.”
Pete Hempstead for TheatreMania
Press for Dear Erich
“...it’s a simple and fluid production, sensitively directed by Mikhaela Mahony.”
“The two-act work deftly shifts between present-day scenes of the aging Erich; flashbacks to his college days in Chicago; and earlier scenes in Germany, in which the headstrong young man refuses to go into the family scrap metal business, determined to pursue an American education...You care about these characters. And the cast is gifted.”
Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times
“First-Rate Direction”
“The opera is full of these emotional peaks and valleys and the ensemble as a whole navigated and immersed us in this arc perfectly…Characters shifted time periods quickly using minimal props to create specific settings. Mahony gave us enough information and allowed our imaginations to fill in the blanks…Mahony also had a strong sense of stillness and when to simply trust the music and dramatic moment. The lighting, as designed by Susan Roth, also allowed for the transitions to work seamlessly.”
David Salazar in Opera Wire
Press for dido of Idaho
“Under Mikhaela Mahony’s direction, Dido of Idaho is hilariously off-kilter and engrossing”
“The characters swap witty dialogue that draws its edge from our contemporary cultural lexicon (from TED talks to wokeness), while nodding to the classic tale being referenced...watching them — particularly the wonderfully inelegant Ms. Khosh — is a delight.”
Maya Philips in The New York Times
“Given a project full of risky physicality, twisty plot turns and obscure references, director Mikhaela Mahony and her dynamic company provide a powerhouse interpretation of Rosebrock’s clever script.”
Stanford Friedman in Off Off Online
Other writing
Essay on the founding vision and inaugural season of Double Feature, January 2024
Review of The Medium from Voce di Meche, November 2019
A thoughtful blog post on As You Like It in March 2019 BWOG
Profile on Rigoletto in the Chautauquan Daily in August 2016
A piece on F*It Club’s Spring Fling, featuring a review of Verjeena by Mara Nelson-Greenberg
A feature on The Fantasticks in the Chautauquan Daily in August 2019
Review of Othello with King’s Crown Shakespeare, December 2009 in BWOG