Rowing

I used to go rowing with my grandmother all the time on this lake and really enjoyed coming back. Central Park is gorgeous and on a not-too-sweltering day, this is the best place to be.

Going to a cat café!

My little brother is obsessed with animals and recently just got a cat. Before this though, we were at a cat café so that he could play with all of the young and old cats, and of course grab some stickers. These cat cafés require reservations and a fee per person that is definitely worth it, although I would not recommend going in the afternoon as there were many people and not a lot of cats that weren’t napping.

Citibiking

I used to citibike every day during my first term at AADA - and although it wasn’t the best on my 8am movement class days, it helped energize me and ready me for all the classes I had. I just started getting back into riding these bikes again and experienced their new electric bikes (which is honestly just cheating). If I’m going short distances around Manhattan, this is the best way to go! Scenery and exercise all in one, all for quite a ow cost.

Too Much Sun by Nicky Silver

Clearly I am a Nicky Silver fan, and I can’t promise that next month won’t feature another one of his plays. They’re all brilliantly written and exquisitely funny. This play is about an older actress who disrupts the lives of her daughter, son-in-law and their neighbors over the course of a single summer. It’s hilarious, heartbreaking and heartwarming all in the same breath and a play I would have loved to see live.

girl. by Megan Mostyn-Brown

girl. is comprised of three separate scenes that tell the lives of three different girls and what they are going through. An interesting way to look in on the “female” conviction, this play looks at what happens to girls, and how they react to it. An incredibly raw representation of girls and beautiful, emotional stories.

Teenage Dick by Mike Lew

A modern retelling of Richard III set in an American high school might not sound like the most original idea, but Mike Lew manages to keep the surprises coming in this (much shorter) version of Shakespeare’s classic. The author clearly states that disabled actors should play the roles (points for diversity) and the young age of all the characters only prove how many universal applications of Shakespeare’s plays are possible.

Only Murders In The Building

OMITB has blown up since the first season. This show is exceptionally funny - and although some of the storylines this second season seemed unnecessary, it managed to pull everything together by the last episode. With the first season being as iconic as it was, it is hard to imagine any other season competing with it - although * SPOILER * the last episode has us wondering if they’ll go for a third.

ORESTEIA

If you are rewriting and directing a show, you need an external pair of eyes to help you cut the excess - no play needs four intermissions. The actors however were phenomenal and while the set design did not lend itself to the magnitude of the space at the Park Avenue Armory it was an interesting concept. I think the most impressive thing was lights and sound as they had to contend with the proportions of the stage and space, and finding variety in an almost 4-hour show.

La Vie Scolaire

This movie is pretty American in shape. It's quite long, there's not a lot going on and the stakes weren't high enough. It made me think of 'La Haine', 'La Jeunesse Libre' or even 'L'Esquive', but less well. I enjoyed the secondary actors who really carried the film, but the story itself was not developed enough in my opinion.