ACAB<\/a> hostility and has a frustrating habit of quibbling with language and answering questions with questions. Ricketts thinks he\u2019s being a smartass and asks to see his ID, which he confiscates right before all three are involved in a shooting that leaves Chavana dead and Ricketts severely wounded.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NotNobody015.jpg\" "\\"NotNobody015\\"")
Sheffield Chastain, Brian Dykstra, and Kate Siahaan-Rigg appear in Dykstra\u2019s Not Nobody, directed by Margarett Perry, for Twilight Theatre Co. at 59E59 Theaters.
(\u00a9 Carol Rosegg)<\/p>\n
At first, Daily is hailed as a hero for applying pressure to Ricketts\u2019s wound long enough for an ambulance to arrive. But then a couple of detectives (Chastain and Kate Siahaan-Rigg) start asking questions about Daily\u2019s possible connection to the shooter based on a lip reader\u2019s assessment of surveillance video. When the shooter asked, \u201cWho the fuck are you\u201d Daily responded, \u201cNobody! I\u2019m not\u2014 nobody!\u201d But the lip reader incorrectly interpreted him as saying \u201cI don\u2019t know, Buddy,\u201d suggesting Daily knew him. What follows is an animated and occasionally discursive legal drama as Daily attempts to escape the jaws of the leviathan that has targeted him as easy prey.<\/p>\n
Dykstra writes with the passion of a man who has been personally wronged by the state, which makes his drama richly compelling even if it is not always precisely targeted. Yes, it is alarming the degree to which our courts take seriously the testimony of expert witnesses peddling pseudoscience. We should talk about this more. But a scene depicting a rightwing talk-radio show (podcast?) just feels like a catnip break for the off-Broadway audience.<\/p>\n
Luckily, the performances sell the script, particularly through the zesty incantation of outrageous lines. \u201cWhat I suggest, is you simply sit there with your metaphorical thumb up your\u2014 or\u2026 not, as you wish \u2013 as I voir dire this betch,\u201d said no real judge ever. But the sassypants one played by Siahaan-Rigg does, and we cannot help but laugh at this lampoon of the highly educated and bitterly bored individuals charged with administering justice in America. Dykstra is an actor\u2019s playwright, crafting lines that he knows will sound great in the mouths of his castmates, and none of them disappoint.<\/p>\n
![\"NotNobody022\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NotNobody022.jpg\" "\\"NotNobody022\\"")
Brian Dykstra plays McAlester Daily, and Sheffield Chastain plays Detective Christie in Dykstra\u2019s Not Nobody, directed by Margarett Perry, for Twilight Theatre Co. at 59E59 Theaters.
(\u00a9 Carol Rosegg)<\/p>\n
The performances are physically on point as well, with every actor committing to Dykstra\u2019s heightened vision of the justice bureaucracy. Whether it\u2019s Lopez producing her own expert testimony with a grand flourish, or Chastain as an overcaffeinated detective insistently jabbing Dykstra in his trapezius, everyone is giving their very best audition for Law & Order; and if I was the casting director, they would be hired.<\/p>\n
Margarett Perry\u2019s direction accentuates the shades of light and dark in Dykstra\u2019s script, ensuring that one does not overpower the other. Tyler M. Perry\u2019s set evokes the permanent scaffolding of New York City while facilitating seamless scene transitions to multiple locations. Lighting designer Jen Leno helps set the scene, so we instantly know if we\u2019re in a fluorescent interrogation room or on a poorly lit street corner. Sound designer Ariana Cardoza creates the crucial offstage action. And costume designer Daniel Lawson lets us know the earning power of the various lawyers in this story through his smartly selected suits.<\/p>\n
A late monologue delivered by our protagonist (but also, I suspect, by our playwright) hammers home why so many of us have lost faith in the state and its institutions. When police actions are driven by quota the objective ceases to be public safety and becomes making money. ICE isn\u2019t the only state agency guilty of this. Playfully but insistently, Not Nobody asks, Who consented to this racket that calls itself the government, and how much longer will we tolerate it shaking us down? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian Dykstra, Kathiamarice Lopez, and Sheffield Chastain appear in Dykstra\u2019s Not Nobody, directed by Margarett Perry, for Twilight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-132244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NotNobody002.jpg\" "\\"NotNobody002\\"")
Brian Dykstra, Kathiamarice Lopez, and Sheffield Chastain appear in Dykstra\u2019s Not Nobody, directed by Margarett Perry, for Twilight Theatre Co. at 59E59 Theaters.