Nina – Growing Pains

2015. Five young women about to graduate a New York theater school have bonded over years of insecurity and self realization. Playwright Forrest Malloy not only understands the vicissitudes of the experience, but admirably captures the female voice. Theater-speak is apt; characters adroitly their ages. Nothing unexpected occurs. That the author holds our attention through consistently cliché events and relationships is a testament to authentic sounding dialogue.

Three years in, Erika (Aigner MIzelle) comes on to Lilith (Nina Ross) who tremulously accepts advances from her more savvy peer. They begin a relationship. Mizelle’s characterization is highly physical, sometimes posed, but never over the top. We’re shown Erika’s dramatically different public and private personas, the latter so different, it tests credibility. Ross inhabits all-in romantic connection and unexpected self possession when things go south. As written, she’s less well developed.

Aigner Mizelle (Erika), Jasminn Johnson (Kyla), Nina Ross (Lilith)

Kyla (Jasminn Johnson) has apparently suffered public failure. She considers giving up the profession.
The young woman is nonetheless well grounded; Johnson sympathetic and appealing throughout. Cate (Francesca Capanini) is academically smart, mouthy, and judgmental. Besotted with Zoe, she’s blind to the girl’s fixation elsewhere. One wants to shake Cate, a credit to her performance.

Zoe (Katherine Reis) grows increasingly entangled with their professor, 16 years her senior. Some classmates intuit this through behavior. Trajectory is a chestnut. Reiss exudes naivete and intractability. The actress can actually “play” on the verge of tears.

Buildup to the year’s finale, a production of Chekhov’s The Seagull witnesses radical change. Suddenly gaping future is mere weeks away.

Wilson Chin’s backstage dressing room uses the space with skill and verisimilitude. Details (Lily Tomasic) are superb, from make-up to theater book choices.

Katherine Reis (Zoe)

Costumes by Asta Bennie-Hostetter arrive with mixed success. Erika would never carry the quilted coral bag with her yellow, African print pantsuit, nor wear those clodhoppers to an important audition. Rehearsal apparel reads well. Lilith’s initial wig (J. Jared Janas) is ugly and fake-looking, despite a line of dialogue admiring her hair.

Sound design (Brandon Bulls) includes extensive passages of music that rarely fit the mood. Harpsichord?!

Director Katie Birenboim adroitly creates small stage business. Cate’s exercise reciting Shakespeare between intermittent vocal exercises works wonderfully. Invisible mirrors and two exit doors are used to good effect. The young women emerge with different energy and attitude; all are focused. Chemistry is splendid.

Photos by Emilio Madrid
Opening: Francesca Carpanini (Cate), Nina Ross (Lilith), Jasminn Johnson (Kyla)

Nina by Forrest Malloy
Directed by Katie Birenboim

Through February 9, 2025
Theater Lab 
357 West 36th Street

About Alix Cohen (1922 Articles)
Alix Cohen is the recipient of ten New York Press Club Awards for work published on this venue. Her writing history began with poetry, segued into lyrics and took a commercial detour while holding executive positions in product development, merchandising, and design. A cultural sponge, she now turns her diverse personal and professional background to authoring pieces about culture/the arts with particular interest in artists/performers and entrepreneurs. Theater, music, art/design are lifelong areas of study and passion. She is a voting member of Drama Desk and Drama League. Alix’s professional experience in women’s fashion fuels writing in that area. Besides Woman Around Town, the journalist writes for Cabaret Scenes, Broadway World, TheaterLife, and Theater Pizzazz. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine, Times Square Chronicles, and ifashionnetwork. She lives in Manhattan. Of course.