The Remains Reviews
Washington Post- Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Urban and director David Muse display faultless understanding of how interpersonal tensions and rhythms shift over minutes and years: "The Remains" will spark recognition in anyone who has ever had a long-term relationship - or endured a tense family dinner. The play is also well-stocked with humor, which the actors expertly exploit. Danielle Skraastad is a winning blast of abrasiveness as Kevin's rough-diamond sister, Andrea. And Naomi Jacobson is very funny as Theo's opinionated mother, Trish. ("No socks to bed. It's a game-changer," Trish enthuses of a recent sleep-related epiphany.)"
DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended
"...They have such a tasteful, immaculate, picture-perfect kitchen, how could their marriage be such a sorry mess? That's a crass way to ask the question, but the answers are beautifully nuanced in Ken Urban's new play The Remains, a riveting comedy that mourns a gay marriage on the rocks."
MD Theatre Guide- Recommended
"...Maulik Pancholy, who audiences may recognize from '30 Rock' or 'Weeds,' plays Kevin, the literature professor who has devoted his life to studying Kirkegaard. He recently took a teaching position is Oregon when Harvard and every other university near Boston denied him. Kevin left behind his husband Theo, played by Glenn Fitzgerald, who is a partner at a big law firm. They have been in a long distance marriage for a year at the time of the play."
DCTheatreScene- Recommended
"...Much of the play unpacks comfortably, with writerly teases of foreshadowing, as the cast blithely and humorously treads around an announcement we know is coming, in no great hurry to pitch the audience into tumult. Trish is a gurgling fountain of dippy observations and Len good-naturedly tries to get a discussion started about the relative merits of the works of Hegel and Kierkegaard. Andrea bursts onto the scene from a Melissa McCarthy movie but becomes a nice contrast to the situation once she settles and her contours are better known."
BroadwayWorld- Somewhat Recommended
"...At an hour and 45 minutes, The Remains was on the verge of feeling too long. The final scene, despite being the most exciting visual aspect of the production, extends frustratingly beyond what feels like the natural conclusion of the show."