House Closed: Theater We Saw

Connor Scully and Joey Sims, joined by critic Douglas Corzine, discuss The Public Theater’s newly announced 2026–27 season, then review Max Wolf Friedlich’s The Holes and Else Wendt’s Degenerates, focusing on how both plays explore masculinity, loneliness, and the search for meaning.

Scully and Sims are joined by producer Marika Brownlee to remember Duncan Sheik, then talk about Roger Guenveur Smith's In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat at NYTW and Marin Ireland's Pre-Existing Condition (starring Lupita Nyong'o) at Greenwich House Theater.

Connor and Joey bring in Will and Abbie of horror movie podcast Two Men and a Baby to break down Broadway's Paranormal Activity — big scares, a house-sized set built for spotting ghosts, and whether horror movie fans can be won over by theater.

Sims and Scully are joined by critic Tim Teeman (New York Times, Town & Country) to reflect on a rich summer for Off-Broadway and a bleaker picture for Broadway while looking ahead to the fall. They talk through the plays that excite them most, the musicals they can't wait to see, and the broader state of American theater as a new season kicks off.

Connor and Joey take on two comedies from SNL talent playing small downtown rooms this summer. First is Dukes , Jane Wickline and Liva Pierce's plotless, bit-driven show about two best friends who can't function apart, recently closed at Soho Playhouse. Then Pepper Slit: Live in Her Living Room at the East Village Basement—Chloe Troast as a washed-up silent-film diva trying to keep her sho...

Sims and Scully drag director Jake Beckhard through two of New York's most normal theatrical outings. First: The Black Mirror Experience at The Shed—a VR spectacle powered by AI slop. Then it's uptown to Perfect Crime, the longest actively-running show in NYC history. Two shows with almost nothing in common except that you leave both a little unsure of what you just witnessed. TIMESTAMPS:...

Sims and Scully are joined by Billy McEntee—theater editor of the Brooklyn Rail, theater writer, and theater maker—for two summer plays. First up: Camping by Victoria Lynne Barclay, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt for Colt Coeur at HERE Arts Center. Alice Kremelberg and Colby Minifie play Brit and Ari, two friends who keep returning to the same tent over twenty-five years. The trio talks Colby...

Scully and Sims are joined by playwright Jacob Robinson as New York tips fully into summer—Knicks fever during the Finals and Sting (plus Shaggy) rewriting The Last Ship over at the Met. Then it's out to the Williamsburg waterfront for Sugar Sugar! , Theresa Buchheister and Alessandra Gómez's free outdoor series at Domino Park, where a double bill of DeliaDelia and Pussypaws Puppetry someh...

Sims and Scully are joined by playwright Erin Proctor to dig into two new plays about girlhood, growing up, and the fathers who don't quite know how to talk about it. First up: Dad Don't Read This by Eliya Smith, directed by Chloe Claudel, and presented by Goat Exchange at St. Luke's Theatre. The show follows Mal and her friend group as they navigate adolescence, anxiety, and a whole l...

Sims and Scully break format for a special Broadway episode—their first! They're joined by Jackson McHenry, critic at Vulture and editor of the weekly theater newsletter Stage Whisperer , to go category by category through this year's Tony nominations: who will win, who should win, and who got left out entirely (Jonathan Cake, Joey sees you). They weigh in on a Broadway season that never q...

It's that time of year: the 2026-27 season announcements are rolling in, and Scully and Sims have… mixed feelings. They work through the latest reveals from Classic Stage Company, The Public Theater, and more, weighing what's exciting, what's puzzling, and what's making them question the state of the city's mid-size institutions. Plus they discuss two science-based shows: Have...

This week, Sims & Scully are joined by dramaturg, cultural commentator, and TikToker Grace Walker ( NotKristenBell ) for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with the ongoing discourse around theater influencers, free tickets, and who's actually telling the truth online—and whether any of that is the scummiest thing Broadway producers are doing anyway. Connor battles the rain to catch Cumulo ,...

Scully and Sims are joined by theater critic and TikTok commentator Joe Weinberg (aka @overthinkingtheater) to break down a pair of very different, very unsettling shows: No Singing in the Navy at Playwrights Horizons and The Adding Machine at The New Group. Scully and Sims are joined by theater critic and TikTok commentator Joe Weinberg (aka @overthinkingtheater) to break down a pair of very diff...

Scully and Sims took off their shoes at The Shed and put on some glasses for An Ark , Simon Stephens' mixed reality experiment; then laced them back up for Burnout Paradise , where they got put to work. Other important questions being asked include: what's the deal with The Shed?

In their first episode, Joey and Connor break down Without Mirrors and Cold War Choir Practice —and spiral into thoughts on puppetry, how dark a theater should actually be, and whether children should even be allowed to act. Follow them at @houseclosedpod on instagram.