#review the seven year disappear by Jordan Seavey

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All About My Mother - Theatre Review: The Seven Year Disappear (Pershing Square Signature Center, New York) ★★★1/2

Cynthia Nixon is magnificent in The New Group’s Off-Broadway world premiere production of Jordan Seavey’s intriguingly meta play The Seven Year Disappear running at The Pershing Square Signature Center through March 31st. Outside the Signature’s Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, there is an overview of the career of fictional mononymous performance artist Miriam (Nixon). The description does not…

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The Seven Year Disappear

2/26/2024

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​"The Seven Year Disappear" is a non linear, performance art play that deals with a mother, Miriam (Cynthia Nixon) and her son, business partner (Taylor Trensch). Nixon is a famous artist who has left her son Naphtali for seven years only to return leaving him confused. The illusion of Bi-Polar disorder surfaces as both mother and son struggle with mental disorders and substance abuse. Writer Jordan Seavey has created a body of work in which the audience decides what the play is really about... the journey here is the thing; and quite a journey it is!

 "Seven Year Disappear" is a modern play; it is not for the faint of heart as it deals with AIDS, Alcoholism, drug addiction and mental disorder. Serving the more progressive theater goer this performance play will resonate for the entire 90 minutes. The more traditional theater person may find this play difficult to keep up with. Scenes move in and out with no particular order, we see past relationships of both characters and the intimacy's that they experience. Director Scott Ellis let's us see the vulnerabilities in their lives and the rocky relationships that they share. Trying to make sense of it all, Ellis has the actors in peak form; we believe these people and the world that they live in. 

 What is most notable about this play is the deft acting in Nixon, changing roles, accents and body language, Nixon plays one of her best roles that I have seen in her stellar career. Trensch too is very good  throughout the show; both blend superbly together. The scenic design by Derek Mclane

and the lighting by Jeff Croiter is some of the best I have witnessed in a long time! On a black and white set, the purples that Croiter hits the stage with are breathtaking as it adds to the very cool setting. The feeling of a retro atmosphere permeates the stage. The last thing that is most noteworthy is the projection by John Narun. Much of the action is off stage if you will, we only see the faces of the actors and often in the back of the stage away from us. Narun keeps it suspenseful, somewhat erotic and perfectly captures the pulse of this play.

 The New Group has had two great plays so far this year; Sabbath's Theatre and now this one. Although not all the scenes are memorable and the play gets slow at times and the political commentary is unnecessary, it is a different kind of play that brings a different take to the audience.

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Author

ROBERT M. MASSIMI

is a resident drama critic for Metropolitan Magazine and other sources.  He has produced a dozen plays on Broadway, has worked as a film editor, and is also a member of the Dramatists Guild.  He is the acting director of  the SWM-NY division.

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[newyorktheater]

The Seven Year Disappear Review. Cynthia Nixon as 8 characters

It’s been seven years since Cynthia Nixon has appeared on a New York stage (when she won a Tony for “The Little Foxes”), but that’s not what Jordan Seavey’s new play is about, despite the coincidence of the title – or, at least, we’re led to believe that what “The Seven Year Disappear” Is about is a famous performance artist who disappears for seven years. But the play is so discombobulating —…