Theater We Saw: An Ark & Burnout Paradise

Theater We Saw: Dad Don't Read This / Indian Princesses with Erin Proctor

Sims and Scully are joined by playwright Erin Proctor to dig into two new plays about girlhood, growing up, and the fathers who don't quite know how to talk about it. First up: Dad Don't Read This by Eliya Smith, directed by Chloe Claudel, and presented by Goat Exchange at St. Luke's Theatre. The show follows Mal and her friend group as they navigate adolescence, anxiety, and a whole lot of Sims. Then: Indian Princesses at the Atlantic Theatre Company (co-produced with Rattlestick), written by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez and directed by Miranda Cornell in her Off-Broadway debut. Four white dads, five daughters of various racial backgrounds, and one deeply problematic YMCA summer camp—the trio find a lot to love and a few things to wrestle with. Plus: thoughts on the new immersive David Bowie musical at the A.R.T., Sleep No More war stories (including celebrity sightings and some ill-advised audience behavior), and a trend worth naming—is this the golden age of the girlhood play? Since recording: Dad Don't Read This has announced a transfer to Greenwich House Theater for a limited run, June 17–July 11. Tickets at daddontreadthis.com.

Tony Awards Special

Sims and Scully break format for a special Broadway episode—their first! They're joined by Jackson McHenry, critic at Vulture and editor of the weekly theater newsletter Stage Whisperer, to go category by category through this year's Tony nominations: who will win, who should win, and who got left out entirely (Jonathan Cake, Joey sees you). They weigh in on a Broadway season that never quite grabbed them, debate whether Schmigadoon! sweeps, and wonder how many times Pink will fly at the telecast.

Theatre We Saw: Have You Ever Thought About and 73 Seconds

It's that time of year: the 2026-27 season announcements are rolling in, and Scully and Sims have… mixed feelings. They work through the latest reveals from Classic Stage Company, The Public Theater, and more, weighing what's exciting, what's puzzling, and what's making them question the state of the city's mid-size institutions. Plus they discuss two science-based shows: Have You Ever Thought About at the Bushwick Starr, written and performed by Michael Oluokun alongside Myles Madden—an interactive science-class-gone-solo-show—and 73 Seconds, En Garde Arts' new piece written and performed by Jared Mezzocchi and directed by Aya Ogawa, staged inside a sixty-four-seat planetarium.

Theater We Saw: Cumulo, End of Days, Kenrex

This week, Sims & Scully are joined by dramaturg, cultural commentator, and TikToker Grace Walker (NotKristenBell) for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the ongoing discourse around theater influencers, free tickets, and who's actually telling the truth online—and whether any of that is the scummiest thing Broadway producers are doing anyway. Connor battles the rain to catch Cumulo, Emily Batsford's wordless puppet piece at Mitu 580 in Gowanus, in which a figure named Plum free-falls through a sky full of sentient clouds and monsters. All three also caught End of Days by Nile Harris and Dyer Rhoades, a durational performance piece at the Whitney Biennial where a man is drilled out of a crate and delivers a monologue in Russian about a Birkin bag possibly made of human skin. Finally, the group takes on Kenrex at the Lucille Lortel—an Olivier-winning true crime solo piece. Fair warning: the sound quality this episode is a little rough. We won't be accepting any Oliviers for sound design anytime soon—but we promise we're getting better. Thanks for growing with us! For more information on the shows discussed: Cumulo: https://www.cumuloshow.com/ End of Days: https://whitney.org/events/end-of-days Kenrex: https://kenrextheplay.com/

Theater We Saw: No Singing in The Navy & The Adding Machine

Scully and Sims are joined by theater critic and TikTok commentator Joe Weinberg (aka @overthinkingtheater) to break down a pair of very different, very unsettling shows: No Singing in the Navy at Playwrights Horizons and The Adding Machine at The New Group. Scully and Sims are joined by theater critic and TikTok commentator Joe Weinberg (aka @overthinkingtheater) to break down a pair of very different, very unsettling shows: No Singing in the Navy at Playwrights Horizons and The Adding Machine at The New Group. They get into what worked, what didn’t, and why both shows left them feeling a little off. Along the way: Olivier Awards discourse, Octet casting reactions, and the question—what play should get the all-puppet treatment?