Overview

• The Off-Broadway staging at the Jerry Orbach Theater began previews on August 13 and will officially open on August 20 with Wednesday and Saturday performances.
• Rishi Varma’s eco-drama employs surreal devices — including a pulsating deer corpse, a talking whale and returning spirits — to chronicle a Black family’s four-decade struggle on poisoned land.
• Lighting designer Sam Weiser and sound designer Sid Diamond receive widespread commendation for creating an immersive atmosphere that evokes the play’s mounting ecological collapse.
• Performances by Kevin Richard Best and Feyisola Soetan are highlighted as standout elements, with critics noting their ability to transcend underwritten characters.
• Multiple reviewers caution that the nonlinear, magical-realist structure risks diluting the play’s environmental-justice message by obscuring concrete narrative detail.