Joel_Whitney-small.jpgIn New York, there’s nothing quite like Performance Space 122. Experimental theater at its most edgy and self-assured, PS122 is definitely not Broadway, though its performances sometimes feature music. It’s usually sexy, often weird (somewhat like a Jesse Ball novel; in fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing them adapt a Jesse Ball novel). But it always leaves your imagination quenched, even a little deflated at how intense withdrawal from a great performance can be. In this sense, it often appeals to what poets call “negative capability,” the ability to be comfortable amidst the absurdism you might find, say, in a dream. One friend leaned to me during a show and asked if I felt like I was tripping. I don’t do drugs, I said. But I knew what she meant.

Bio: Joel is a founding editor of Guernica. Read his interview with Edith Grossman here. Read his last recommendation of the White Rose “here”:https://guernicamag.com/blog/1705/rec_room_joel_whitney_an_image/.

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