Tony Parker (Clay Cartland) tries to calm Edith Sussman (Susanna Ninomiya) in Island City Stage’s production of Die, Mommie, Die!

““Skintight” is about something. Actually, it’s about many things, all of which it manages excellently. It's about love versus lust, the strength of long-term relationships, family dynamics, and generational trauma, and yet there are plenty of laughs.”

“While Skintight is a comedy, it is hardly fluff. In fact, it’s a mind exercising meditation on family, history, beauty, the nature of love, the power of attraction, our society’s obsession with youth, and how we teach our young that exterior appearances matter the most.”

Island City Stage, Brevo Theatre & Gable Stage plan collaboration in 2025. Pictured at the check presentaiton: Jeff Potts, Gable Stage Managing Director, Zaylin Yates, Brevo Theatre Managing Director, Andy Rogow, Island City Stage Artistic Director, Clifford Cideko, The Warten Foundation President, John Hand, Warten Foundation Board Member, Randolph James ,Warten Foundation Board Member and Martin Childers, Island City Stage Managing Director.

Sofia Porcel and Matthew Buffalo star as Broadway superfans and besties, Judy and Jeff, in Island City Stage’s high-energy production of WHICH WAY TO THE STAGE by Ana Nogueira. The playful and profound relationship comedy, directed by Michael Leeds, also showcases live vocals from hit musicals. Photo by Matthew Tippins.

Clay Cartland, Gaby Tortoledo and Sofia Porcel, in Which Way to the Stage at Island City Stage. Photo by Matthew Tippins

Sophia Porcel, Clay Cartland and Gaby Tortoledo in the "Drunk Bride to be" scene at the local drag bar in "Which Way to the Stage". All Photos by Matthew Tippins

Chad Darnell & Michael Scott Ross in Love! Valour! Compassion. All Photos by Matthew Tippins

We Are Getting There

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better!

Relationships can be murder! Kevin Veloz (seated front) and Dylan Goike star as the Roaring Twenties’ most notorious killers/lovers in Island City Stage’s mesmerizingly evil musical production of THRILL ME: The Leopold & Loeb Story by Stephen Dolginoff. Playing now through September 3 in Wilton Manors. All photos by Matthew Tippins.

Comedy can be an effective tool for playwrights to deliver messages to audiences. Indeed, once we start at least smiling, or chuckling, we let our guard down. Then, a writer can hammer us with lessons and serious themes.

When playwright Stephen Kaplan was fresh out of college, he wrote the first draft of a comedy about loneliness and the universal longing for connection called TRACY JONES. He cites the famous Beatles’ song “Eleanor Rigby” as inspiration, and if you listen carefully, you can find a few insider references in his show. Fourteen years would pass till Kaplan took up the play again, in 2018. And, like another famous Beatles’ song, it would all fortuitously “Come Together,” culminating in a third Rolling World Premiere Production in 2022/23.

Back in the day, mainstream theater luxuriated in a lovely genre of character-based comedies suffused with smiles and chuckles, and usually ending with a surprising warm and touching denouement.