Theater Reviews: Off-Broadway Explores the “Chinese Republicans” Women of Manhattan, the Citizens of “Mother Russia” Getting a Taste of Capitalism, and How “The Monsters” Effect Two Damaged Siblings

Chinese Republicans (c) Joan Marcus

Theater: Chinese Republicans 
At the Laura Pels Theatre

Every third Thursday of the month, the “Asian Babes Changing the Game” affinity group of the Friedman Wallace investment bank meet at an upscale Chinese restaurant to check in with each other (and I guess, theoretically, to change the game). The head of the group is the firm’s managing director, Ellen (Jennifer Ikeda), who is excited that her protégé Katie (Anna Zavelson) just got promoted and is on her way up the corporate ladder. Also at the lunch are Iris (Jully Lee), a software engineer whose work visa is about to run out, and the Alpha of the group, Phyllis (Jodi Long), who was the first Asian woman to become an executive in the field. At these lunches, sharing ideas quickly devolves into bitching sessions, especially about how they feel compartmentalized and how to stand out at work. When Katie arrives at the next lunch to announce she is being tapped for another position in the APAC market (which is why she is practicing her Mandarin with Duolingo), things start to get tense within the group. Although playwright Alex Lin provocatively calls her latest play, Chinese Republicans, the focus in Chey Yew’s adept production is mostly on how women navigate the tricky male world of corporate finance. There’s a lot of talk about being othered as Chinese as well, especially from Phyllis (Long is especially good with her acid-tongued observations), but the Republican part only plays a small part until Lin shakes things up midway through. 

The Interested Bystander’s Oscar Predictions Path: February 2026

One Battle After Another (c) Warner Bros.

With the Oscars heading into its last lap before they give out their awards on March 15, we look to the awards given out so far (and to come) to see if we have any clues as to who will win. 

Critic’s Choice: Given Out on Jan 14 
Golden Globes: Given Out on Jan 11 
DGA Awards: Given Out on Feb 7 

BAFTA (Predictions): To Be Given Out This Sunday, Feb 22 
SAG’s Actor Awards (Predictions): To Be Given Out Sunday, March 1 
Writer’s Guild Awards (Predictions): To Be Given Out Sunday, March 8 

TIB Oscar Prediction: As of Today, My Prediction, To Be Given Out Sunday, March 15 

Enjoy my predicted path to the Oscar winners. 

Theater Reviews: Off-Broadway Provides a Haunted Take on “Antigone” With “The Other Place,” an All-Too Prescient Look at Immigration Policies in “Data” and Folk Music as a Healing Tonic in “The Porch on Windy Hill”

The Other Place (c) Maria Baranova

Theater: The Other Place 
At The Shed 

When playwright Alexander Zeldin states that his new play, The Other Place, is loosely based on Antigone, he isn’t kidding. While the major characters are still here, the modern update has decided to take liberties with the plot while keeping the Greek tragedy mood intact. Creon, the uncle king of Antigone and Ismene, is now Chris (Tobias Menzies), and his nieces are the artist Issy (Ruby Stokes) and the black sheep of the family Annie (Emma D’Arcy), who was sent away to boarding school after the death of her father led to a mental break. Years later, Annie has returned to her father’s home where Chris and his new family, wife Erica (Nina Sosanya), Eurydice in the original, and her child Leni (Lee Braithwaite), are now living. Annie is against spreading her father’s ashes on a memorial in the town park, hoping to keep them either in the house or buried on the estate. (In Antigone, it is her brother she wants to bury honorably, even though Creon believed he was a traitor.) Chris wants to move on with his life with new family and just leave the past behind. It’s funny to note that for a week, New York audiences could watch Robert Icke’s Oedipus revival on Broadway (recently closed) and hop the 7 train to the Shed to see Oedipus’ daughter Antigone’s story. The changes Zeldin makes to Antigone’s story (as Icke did with Oedipus) will be sort of a shock to purists, but he does put some 21st-century themes of past trauma into the motivation of some of these characters that will keep the audience glued to the soapy nature of this family drama. 

Film Reviews: Three New, Edgy Films With Unique One Word Titles Deal With BDSM (“Pillion”), Sexual Freedom (“Jimpa”) and Hopelessness (the Oscar-Nominated “Sirât”)

Jimpa (c) Kino Lorber

Film: Jimpa
In Cinemas 

Definition: Jimpa is a made-up nickname for a character in this film. 

Film: Oscar Nominations 2025 - 2026

Sinners (c) Warner Bros

The 98th Academy Awards | 2026 

Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood 

Sunday, March 15, 2025 

Surprises (to me) in Red (!) 

Best Picture 

Bugonia 
F1 
Frankenstein 
Hamnet 
Marty Supreme 
One Battle after Another 
The Secret Agent 
Sentimental Value 
Sinners 
Train Dreams