| Between Riverside and Crazy | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Stephen Adly Guirgis |
| Date premiered | July 31, 2014 (2014-07-31) |
| Place premiered | Atlantic Theater Company New York City |
| Genre | Drama |
Between Riverside and Crazy is a 2014 play byplaywright,screenwriter, director, and actorStephen Adly Guirgis. The play won the 2015Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2015New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, the 2015Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the 2015Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the 2015 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play.
Walter "Pops" Washington is a retired New York City policeman. His wife has died and his son, "Junior", has just been released from jail. They live in a rent-controlled apartment onRiverside Drive in New York City. Junior's girlfriend, Lulu, and Oswaldo, a recovering addict, also spend time at the apartment. Walter has been pursuing a discrimination suit against the Police Department, because he was accidentally shot by another police officer.
| Characters | Off-Broadway debut (2014) | Broadway debut (2022) |
|---|---|---|
| Pops | Stephen McKinley Henderson | |
| Oswaldo | Victor Almanzar | |
| Lulu | Rosal Colón | |
| Junior | Ray Anthony Thomas | Common |
| Church Lady | Liza Colón-Zayas | |
| Detective Audrey | Elizabeth Canavan | |
| Lieutenant Caro | Michael Rispoli | Gary Perez |
The play openedOff-Broadway at theAtlantic Theater Company'sLinda Gross Theater, with previews that began on July 10, 2014, and a premiere on July 31. Its initial run was extended from August 16 to 23.[1] ASecond Stage Theatre production ran from February 11, 2015, until March 22, 2015, at the company's Tony Kiser Theatre, with previews beginning on January 16.[2]
The play was directed byAustin Pendleton, with a cast that featuredStephen McKinley Henderson as Walter "Pops" Washington, Victor Almanzar (Oswaldo), Rosal Colon (Lulu),Liza Colón-Zayas (Church Lady), andRon Cephas Jones (Junior) (Ray Anthony Thomas played Junior in the 2014 production).Michael Rispoli played the chief antagonist (Lt. Caro) and Elizabeth Canavan played the ambivalent role of Pops' old partner (Detective O'Connor)[3][4]
The play was produced at theAmerican Conservatory Theater, Geary Theater inSan Francisco in September 2015. Directed by Irene Lewis, the cast featuredCarl Lumbly as Pops, Catherine Castellanos as the Church Lady, Samuel Ray Gates as Junior, Elia Monte-Brown as Lulu, and Lakin Valdez as Oswaldo.[5]
Studio Theatre inWashington, DC, staged the play from January 13, 2016, to February 28, 2016.[6]
Artists Repertory Theatre, located inPortland, Oregon, stagedBetween Riverside and Crazy from March 4 to April 1, 2018.[7]
Speakeasy Stage Company, located inBoston, Massachusetts, stagedBetween Riverside and Crazy from September 7 to October 6, 2018, starringTyrees Allen (Pops), Alejandro Simoes (Oswaldo), Stewart Evan Smith (Junior), Octavia Chavez-Richmond (Lulu), Celeste Oliva (Church Lady), Maureen Keiller (Det. O'Connor), and Lewis D. Wheeler (Lt. Caro).[8]
American Stage Company, located inSt. Petersburg, Florida, stagedBetween Riverside and Crazy from October 3 to November 4, 2018.
The play made itsBroadway debut at theHayes Theater in previews on November 30, 2022, and officially opened on December 19. The production was directed by Austin Pendleton and featured much of the original off-Broadway cast.[9] The production closed on February 19, 2023.[10]
Jesse Green, in his review forNew York Magazine, wrote: "Stephen Adly Guirgis... chooses the right kind of worlds to write about: parallel to, but in many ways hidden from, our own, strange enough to fascinate yet recognizable enough to hit home....The play is completely compelling even before its primary dramatic gears start turning..."[11]
Marilyn Stasio, in her review forVariety, wrote: "You have to wonder what those out-of-towners will make of 'Between Riverside and Crazy', the scribe’s latest love/hate song to this impossible town and its outlandish citizenry. Some might be baffled by the rancorous real-estate battles between landlords and tenants of Gotham's rent-controlled apartments. But everyone's bound to be captivated by Guirgis's loudmouthed locals and the terrific ensemble players... If anyone can handle the scribe's idiom — a warm, rich dialect that comes right off the city streets — these are the guys."[12]
TheTheaterMania reviewer commented on the set: "Pendleton helps us to see how the pieces fit together, with scenes often bleeding from one to the next. Walt Spangler's mammoth rotating set... helps to create these moments. He's had to condense the set for the smaller uptown stage, eliminating a half-bath and moving the furniture in tighter. This creates an overstuffed feeling appropriate for an Upper West Side apartment continuously occupied for several decades. A late scene in which the set continues to rotate as the actors move from room to room has a cinematic agility that is rarely achieved onstage."[3]
| Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Pulitzer Prize for Drama | Won | [13] | ||
| New York Drama Critics' Circle Award | Best Play | Won | [14] | ||
| Drama League Award | Outstanding Production of a Play | Nominated | [15] | ||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Play | Nominated | [16] | ||
| Outstanding Actor in a Play | Stephen McKinley Henderson | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Director of a Play | Austin Pendleton | Nominated | |||
| Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Play | Won | [17] | ||
| Outstanding Director | Austin Pendleton | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play | Stephen McKinley Henderson | Won | |||
| Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Liza Colón-Zayas | Won | |||
| Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Victor Almanzar | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Scenic Design | Walt Spangler | Nominated | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play | Won | [18] | ||
| Outstanding Actor in a Play | Stephen McKinley Henderson | Nominated | |||
| Obie Award | Performance | Stephen McKinley Henderson | Won | [19] | |
| Off Broadway Alliance Award | Best New Play | Won | [20] | ||
| Legend of Off Broadway Honoree | Austin Pendleton | Won | |||
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Nominated | ||
| Best Actor in a Play | Stephen McKinley Henderson | Nominated | |||
ThePulitzer Prize committee calledBetween Riverside and Crazy "a nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police officer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death."[21]
