Alma Baya Reviews

" 'Waiting for Godot' meets 'The Twilight Zone' in this masterpiece of absurdist theatre...Maggie Cino (Alma) and JaneAnne Halter (Baya) treat the play's comic moments with ease and spontaneity...Nina Mann's Stranger is a wild card in the play: bold, questioning, almost seductive without trying to be...Refreshingly original theatre flawlessly performed" 

— Erin Kahn Stage Buddy

"Worthy, well-written and resonant...Scenic designer Mike Mroch’s multi-level configuration of geometric white pieces adorned with gadgets is awesome. ...The charismatic Rivera Reese is a feral and poignant Stranger. Girlish and sunny Sheleah Harris is comical and touching as Baya. Anne Marie Yoo’s Alma is appealingly emphatic and stalwart. Together, this trio has a dynamic and moving chemistry." 

— Darryl Reilly TheaterScene

"[A] bleak, humor-flecked tale...set in a world plagued by human problems that eternally replicate — because survival is a brutal business, and selfishness is one of our dominant traits."

— Laura Collins-Hughes The New York Times

"A claustrophobic, vastly entertaining sci-fi parable for this moment in time, an absurdist look at what comes next." 

— Mark Rifkin This Week in New York

“Mr. Einhorn (who also directs) manages to conjure a fully-realized world and scenario, all the while retaining the vague menace of a Pinter play. Aside from being an astute psychological thriller, the play also functions as a sort of microcosmic metaphor for the world we currently live in and where we’re headed as a civilization. At my performance, the trio of JaneAnne Halter, Nina Mann, and Maggie Cino...were excellent and fully invested in the world Mr. Einhorn has meticulously created.”

— Adrian Dimanlig Interludes

"Maggie Cino is a silently explosive portrait of self-imprisoned feeling as Alma; JaneAnne Halter s heartbreakingly trusting and surreptitiously principled as Baya; and Nina Mann is an astonishing presence as the Stranger, her performance a feral ballet of protective crouches, striding confidence and abject collapse; the natural, ungoverned world the other pod-dwellers fear, personified."

— Adam McGovern HiLoBrow

"Einhorn directs his sharp script with a skillful touch, truly making the evening and eerie experience. ALMA BAYA marks a triumphant return to live performance, one that takes patience and focus and rewards you with an exhilarating evening out at the theatre. A must-see."

— Mateo Moreno Artswire Weekly

"A strong and heady blend of sci-fi and absurdist theater at its best"

— Michelle Chiapetta Recursor

"The fascinating new play finds its hold on our emotional sensibilities... [an] intricate set designed with a clarity of vision by Mike Mroch enhanced with lighting by Federico Restrepo and perfectly formatted costumes by Ramona Ponce...a strongly crafted dilemma, with stances easily taken, but never held firmly for very long"

— Steven Ross Times Square Chronicles and Front Mezz Junkies

"The shifting, modulating dynamics of the bids for power, sympathy, and alliance among the self-assuredly inflexible Alma, wide-eyed but headstrong Baya, and shrewd but vulnerable Stranger are rendered by Cino, Halter, and Mann with humor, conviction, and subtlety. Even when things get dark, Alma Baya lights up the stage."

— John R. Ziegler & Leah Richards Thinking Theatre

"Ann Marie Yoo was able to straddle that line where you hate her bossiness and greediness by allocating more food for herself than others, but then she is very smart. She grasps the situations and can reason the best outcomes with the help of their instruction manuals. She is the brains and Sheleah Harris as Baya is all heart. Baya tries but is incapable of standing up for herself in the plight and confidence of others. Ms. Harris is vulnerable and kind and a great contrast to the others."

— Mark Savitt & Eva Heinenmann Hi Drama

"Smartly tailor-made for the specific moment in which we are living...Both casts did a fine job in bringing out the humor in the script."

— Jonathan Mandell New York Theatre

"Tight, realistic and clear.... nicely directed by the author. Frederico Restrepo and Hao Bai’s lighting design adds the appropriate mystery and menace to the proceedings."

— Joe Lombardi Theater Reviews From my Seat