Joey Sims
@joeysims.bsky.social
he/him. writing about theater. https://joeysims.substack.com/
My roundup of January festival fun - featuring musical dreamscapes, suicide-themed chatrooms, elaborate Rube Goldberg machines & massive inflatable sharks www.theatrely.com/post/a-janua...
A January Festival Roundup — Review
Theatrely Senior Critic Joey Sims is keeping busy with festival season here in New York City and reports on his latest shows
www.theatrely.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:58 PM
My roundup of January festival fun - featuring musical dreamscapes, suicide-themed chatrooms, elaborate Rube Goldberg machines & massive inflatable sharks www.theatrely.com/post/a-janua...
Lot of OPEN anger from Bway actors today about shows going on. Fascinating to observe. Complaining out loud was inconceivable pre-Covid.
January 25, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Lot of OPEN anger from Bway actors today about shows going on. Fascinating to observe. Complaining out loud was inconceivable pre-Covid.
Chatted with off-off mainstay Pete Simpson about a weird & packed 2025—his first not structured around a Blue Man day job since 1996 www.readthehat.com/articles/pet...
Pete Simpson Is Everyone Everywhere All at Once — The Hat
At the Exponential Festival, the ubiquitous actor is doing more of what he loves: experimental theater, back-to-back plays, and throwing himself “over the cliff.”
www.readthehat.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Chatted with off-off mainstay Pete Simpson about a weird & packed 2025—his first not structured around a Blue Man day job since 1996 www.readthehat.com/articles/pet...
not great
Williamstown Theatre Festival will pause its traditional summer season, adopt a biennial model and expand into year-round global, digital and pop-up programming, with its next full festival set for 2027.
Williamstown Theatre Festival announces major artistic overhaul, biennial summer format
Williamstown Theatre Festival will pause its traditional summer season, adopt a biennial model and expand into year-round global, digital and pop-up programming, with its next full festival set for 20...
www.berkshireeagle.com
January 20, 2026 at 9:22 PM
not great
get me to God’s country
January 20, 2026 at 4:07 PM
get me to God’s country
Reposted by Joey Sims
Enraged by the killing of Renee Good and the increased presence of federal agents in Minneapolis, local protesters are going face-to-face with heavily armed agents in a high stakes environment. trib.al/vekqQ69
January 17, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Enraged by the killing of Renee Good and the increased presence of federal agents in Minneapolis, local protesters are going face-to-face with heavily armed agents in a high stakes environment. trib.al/vekqQ69
Excellent piece, whatever you think of MINCEMEAT (I’m not a fan) - strikes at core of obsessive theater fandom as a comfort, yes, but also something very sad, almost pathetic in its way www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/m...
Why on Earth Have I Seen the Same Broadway Show 13 Times? An Investigation.
www.nytimes.com
January 11, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Excellent piece, whatever you think of MINCEMEAT (I’m not a fan) - strikes at core of obsessive theater fandom as a comfort, yes, but also something very sad, almost pathetic in its way www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/m...
Reposted by Joey Sims
Check out utrfest.org/under-the-ra... for details on how to claim one today!
Under the Radar for All – U N D E R T H E R A D A R
utrfest.org
January 9, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Check out utrfest.org/under-the-ra... for details on how to claim one today!
"Artists find the glitches." My TDF Stages piece on theater critiquing AI - and, in some cases, utilizing the tech to pick it apart. Is that unwise? www.tdf.org/on-stage/tdf...
Can AI Reinforce Our Humanity?
A wave of new plays explore how artificial intelligence impacts us in ways scary and surprising
www.tdf.org
January 9, 2026 at 9:56 PM
"Artists find the glitches." My TDF Stages piece on theater critiquing AI - and, in some cases, utilizing the tech to pick it apart. Is that unwise? www.tdf.org/on-stage/tdf...
new RAGTIME recording is a bummer. Mix is bad; orchestra is underpowered; passion these performers bring on stage is somehow absent.
January 9, 2026 at 7:56 PM
new RAGTIME recording is a bummer. Mix is bad; orchestra is underpowered; passion these performers bring on stage is somehow absent.
Reposted by Joey Sims
BIG: this morning, Mayor Mamdani and Under the Radar announced a new initiative to give out 1,500 free festival tickets!
To have someone at City Hall who supports not just theater but non-commercial, often experimental performance blows my mind.
To have someone at City Hall who supports not just theater but non-commercial, often experimental performance blows my mind.
January 9, 2026 at 5:16 PM
BIG: this morning, Mayor Mamdani and Under the Radar announced a new initiative to give out 1,500 free festival tickets!
To have someone at City Hall who supports not just theater but non-commercial, often experimental performance blows my mind.
To have someone at City Hall who supports not just theater but non-commercial, often experimental performance blows my mind.
Namir Smallwood is the standout in BUG, a gentler take on early Letts - it's affecting, if tonally messy www.theatrely.com/post/conspir...
Conspiracies Abound In BUG — Review
Theatrely's Broadway review of Bug by Tracy Letts and starring Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood in New York City at Manhattan Theatre Club.
www.theatrely.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:14 AM
Namir Smallwood is the standout in BUG, a gentler take on early Letts - it's affecting, if tonally messy www.theatrely.com/post/conspir...
i texted @davidlsims.bsky.social, "In many ways, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION is the movie of the moment" and he immediately silenced notifications
January 8, 2026 at 4:24 AM
i texted @davidlsims.bsky.social, "In many ways, GREENLAND 2: MIGRATION is the movie of the moment" and he immediately silenced notifications
Reposted by Joey Sims
A law enforcement agent used a chemical spray on a protester at the scene of the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an ICE officer. A photographer had his eyes flushed after being hit with chemical irritants.
Follow our live coverage: https://wapo.st/4qIfV5S
Follow our live coverage: https://wapo.st/4qIfV5S
January 8, 2026 at 2:30 AM
A law enforcement agent used a chemical spray on a protester at the scene of the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an ICE officer. A photographer had his eyes flushed after being hit with chemical irritants.
Follow our live coverage: https://wapo.st/4qIfV5S
Follow our live coverage: https://wapo.st/4qIfV5S
the fagtasticks
The Fantasticks is being reimagined as a gay love story for an upcoming Broadway production!
THE FANTASTICKS Will Be Reimagined as a Gay Love Story For Broadway
A new production of the beloved musical The Fantasticks, reimagined as a contemporary gay love story, is now in development for Broadway under the direction and choreography of Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli.
www.broadwayworld.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:06 PM
the fagtasticks
i do love Robert Icke’s basic ass. “What if a huge clock was counting down to the moment Oedipus figures it out?” You know what hell yeah
January 3, 2026 at 4:15 AM
i do love Robert Icke’s basic ass. “What if a huge clock was counting down to the moment Oedipus figures it out?” You know what hell yeah
Reposted by Joey Sims
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt across the country. A past era of immigration crackdowns contains some lessons on how walling off the U.S. now will profoundly alter daily life for millions of Americans.
What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt in hospitals and soccer leagues and on Main Streets across the country, with hints of what’s to come.
nyti.ms
December 28, 2025 at 11:40 PM
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt across the country. A past era of immigration crackdowns contains some lessons on how walling off the U.S. now will profoundly alter daily life for millions of Americans.
just got hustled by Richard Kind, the Marty Mauser of today’s NYC
December 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
just got hustled by Richard Kind, the Marty Mauser of today’s NYC
Reposted by Joey Sims
Out today: a major new essay by former Artforum editor David Velasco, fired over a pro-Palestine open letter, surveying 2 years of turmoil in the art world, which was "practically designed to celebrate and aestheticize every rebellion" -- except Gaza. www.equator.org/articles/how...
How Gaza Broke the Art World • EQUATOR
The former editor of Artforum, fired in the wake of 7 October, reckons with two years of division, fear and silence
www.equator.org
December 22, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Out today: a major new essay by former Artforum editor David Velasco, fired over a pro-Palestine open letter, surveying 2 years of turmoil in the art world, which was "practically designed to celebrate and aestheticize every rebellion" -- except Gaza. www.equator.org/articles/how...
Reposted by Joey Sims
CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi to the NYT on her CECOT segment getting pulled from 60 Minutes: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:07 AM
CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi to the NYT on her CECOT segment getting pulled from 60 Minutes: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
come on man open.substack.com/pub/broadway...
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
come on man open.substack.com/pub/broadway...
Vosk taking a break from her new regular gig, yelling at gay people in Times Sq
Jessica Vosk & Kelli Barrett Will Lead BEACHES on Broadway
Jessica Vosk & Kelli Barrett Will Lead BEACHES on Broadway
Following its sold-out, award-winning international premiere, Beaches, A New Musical will open on Broadway this spring at the Majestic Theatre, for a limited New York engagement to launch its multi-city National Tour.
www.broadwayworld.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Vosk taking a break from her new regular gig, yelling at gay people in Times Sq
the thing about Bridges of Madison County is that it’s a perfect musical
December 16, 2025 at 3:12 AM
the thing about Bridges of Madison County is that it’s a perfect musical
Reposted by Joey Sims
No time spent with Stephen Adly Guirgis is wasted, and this convo with a younger playwright, Chris Gabo, is full of franker-than-usual playwriting straight talk
The two playwrights compare notes on what they learned from TV writing, what they owe their community, and Gabo’s new play THE SURGEON AND HER DAUGHTERS, in a Colt Coeur production at NYC's Theatre 154.
On the Real With Stephen Adly Guirgis and Chris Gabo
The 2 playwrights compare notes on what they learned from TV writing, what they owe their community, and Gabo's new play 'The Surgeon and Her Daughters.'
www.americantheatre.org
December 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
No time spent with Stephen Adly Guirgis is wasted, and this convo with a younger playwright, Chris Gabo, is full of franker-than-usual playwriting straight talk
we've circled back around to artistic leaders having no hesitation/embarrassment on "Go woke go broke" quotes for the New York Times i see www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/t...
As Regional Theaters Struggle, Some Defy the Odds
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 6:09 PM
we've circled back around to artistic leaders having no hesitation/embarrassment on "Go woke go broke" quotes for the New York Times i see www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/t...