BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: America, Who Hurt You?; a solo show in which the writer-performer Sarah Jones uses her award-winning talent for embodying characters of different races, genders and ages to figure out why the country has become so divided  Written by: Sarah Jones        Directed by: Eric Ting One good thing: Favorite characters from Jones’ previous works—including the feisty Jewish grandma Lorraine and the no-nonsense black street philosopher Rashid—show up but the most effective moments are when Jones sensitively portrays people who have been shortchanged by the American dream, among them an enslaved woman, an Irish immigrant at the turn of the last century and the gay son of a Japanese woman interned during WWII   One not-so-great thing: Even with the finely-crafted impersonations, this is basically a TED Talk and unfortunately it doesn’t say much that hasn't already been said many times before     

The Play: The Holes; a shaggy satire about gentrification, masculinity and the need to believe in something set in a rundown upstate bar with a mysterious backroom Written by: Max Wolf Friedlich        Directed by: Michael Herwitz One good thing: The four-member cast is firing on all cylinders with Tina Benko giving a wonderfully gonzo performance as a busy-body barfly, Grantham Coleman hamming it up to just the right degree as a know-it-all tech bro up from the city, Jack Mulhern quietly stealing every scene he’s in as a clueless townie and Bubba Weiler, providing nuanced ballast for all the surrounding wackines as the reluctant barkeep One not-so-great thing: So many balls are thrown up in the air that too many storylines get dropped, too many situations are left unresolved and nearly all the themes are under-explored