Amongst the awards handed out to off-broadway shows is the Lucille Lortel Award. In 2015 the winner of Outstanding Play was Stephen Adly Guirgis for Between Riverside and Crazy. The play is finally getting its Los Angeles premiere with a production at The Fountain Theatre. Previews begin this week in anticipation of its official opening on October 19th. The play has been extended through January 26th.
Guirgis’s play involves a police officer who has filed a lawsuit against the Police Department where he works because he was accidentally shot by a fellow officer. Running parallel to the lawsuit is the assortment of characters who either live in the same apartment or frequent it.
Montae Russell plays the police officer, Pops. Matthew Hancock plays his son, Junior. Marisol Miranda plays Junior’s girlfriend, Lulu who has all but moved into Pops’ apartment as has Oswaldo (Victor Anthony) who is a recovering addict. There’s also a detective, played by Lesley Fera and her fiancé, a lieutenant played by Joshua Bitton. Liza Fernandez rounds out the cast as a “church lady.” Guillermo Cienfuegos directs.
Ben Brantley in the New York Times said of the play, “every time you think you’ve figured out where it’s going, Mr. Guirgis alters its course, forcing you to readjust your emotional bearings and your take on its characters.”
In addition to winning the Lucille Lortel Award, Between Riverside and Crazy was also named Best Play by the New York Drama Critics Circle and Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play by the Outer Critics Circle. And if that isn’t enough, Guirgis was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The pedigree is well-established. The Fountain Theatre regularly does great work. This is one production that easily deserves its place atop any list of the best plays to see this fall.
The website for the show advises that due to strong language and subject matter, Between Riverside and Crazy is not recommended for anyone under the age of 16.
Photo of Montae Russell, Marisol Miranda and Victor Anthony by Jenny Graham/Courtesy of The Fountain Theatre
Update: This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Lesley Fera’s first name. It is Lesley, not Leslie. We regret the error.