{"id":189851,"date":"2026-04-08T18:25:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189851\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:25:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:25:42","slug":"brooklynone-brings-shanleys-savage-in-limbo-to-industry-city-stage-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189851\/","title":{"rendered":"BrooklynONE brings Shanley\u2019s \u2018Savage in Limbo\u2019 to Industry City stage \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Marino has been familiar with playwright John Patrick Shanley\u2019s work since before he was a theater performance major at Wagner College. He performed a scene from \u201cDanny and the Deep Blue Sea\u201d in acting class, read plays from the collection \u201c13 By Shanley,\u201d and admires works such as \u201cItalian American Reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when Marino, co-founder and artistic director of BrooklynONE Productions<\/a> (bkONE), decided to stage a Shanley play as part of its 20th season, he looked beyond \u201cDanny \u2026\u201d and Doubt, selecting \u201cSavage in Limbo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an early John Patrick Shanley work. Each character, I think, is a piece of a young John Patrick Shanley,\u201d Marino said. \u201cIt\u2019s pieces of himself and people he grew up with, an exploration of who these people are and who they might become.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BrooklynONE Productions cast includes Meg Felling, Raye Levine-Spielberg, Tiffany Rexach, Francis Shanley \u2014 John Patrick Shanley\u2019s son \u2014 and Marino, who also directs.
\n\"\"Clockwise from left, Meg Felling, Francis Shanley, Raye Levine-Spielberg, Anthony Marino and Tiffany Rexach appear in BrooklynONE Productions\u2019 staging of \u2018Savage in Limbo.\u2019Photos courtesy of BrooklynONE\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a New Yorker, he speaks to us. He\u2019s like our Billy Joel,\u201d Marino said of Shanley. \u201cYou love him because he\u2019s from here and he speaks in a voice you recognize. It\u2019s familiar, and he elevates it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a season of Shanley (although every season is) with \u201cThe Pushover,\u201d<\/a> a new play, at The Chain Theatre; \u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d; and a three-show run of \u201cDanny \u2026\u201d at the Center for Theatre Research beginning April 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cApril is the month of Shanley,\u201d Marino said. \u201cYou can see a world premiere, one of his most iconic shows, or come here and see one of his deep cuts.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Francis Shanley, the playwright\u2019s son, said being part of the cast adds a different dimension.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like I\u2019m in a play by my father until it comes up,\u201d he told Brooklyn Paper. \u201cThe words are written so well they disappear into a moment in bar far away from my father and yet so close to home for me, my fellow actors and the audience as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

A borough bond<\/p>\n

Shanley, who won a Writers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award early in his career, is a kind of bard of the Bronx, where he grew up, and Brooklyn, where he has lived for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s filled with people from every nationality and language and every kind of entertainment,\u201d Shanley said recently of New York City. \u201cIf you like people, you like New York. If you don\u2019t like people, go to a mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he often sets plays in the Bronx, he has a long history in Brooklyn, where he has lived in Williamsburg for a decade after about five years in Brooklyn Heights.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived in several places in Brooklyn,\u201d he said recently. \u201cThe first apartment I ever had was in Park Slope when I got out of the Marine Corps. It was $280 a month for a floor in a brownstone. I was very nervous about how I was going to come up with that kind of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Playwright John Patrick Shanley, a longtime Brooklyn resident, is photographed at the Chain Theatre in Midtown Manhattan, where his new play \u201cThe Pushover\u201d is in development.Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n

Marino, who grew up in Dyker Heights and now lives in Staten Island, began staging shows at St. John\u2019s Church of the Generals in Bay Ridge. The church closed around 2013, leaving the group without a space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were getting kicked out. We had no home. We had produced a Shakespeare festival in Owl\u2019s Head Park in the summer,\u201d Marino said. \u201cWe did that and pop-up events around Brooklyn.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In 2009, they presented \u201cHeavens of Hell,\u201d by Evan Storey, Off-Broadway at the Times Square Arts Center. In 2022, after St. Marks Comics moved to Industry City, they began helping with podcasting before staging outdoor Shakespeare and a \u201cRocky Horror Picture Show\u201d simulcast there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started doing pop-up shows all around Industry City. Eventually a spot opened up,\u201d Marino said. \u201cWe were able to negotiate a deal that could help us have a home and be a performance hub at Industry City.\u201d<\/p>\n

They began presenting work in their own space at Industry City<\/a> in 2023, at the Tom Kane Theatre, named after the group\u2019s co-founder who died in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved in and painted it black,\u201d Marino said. \u201cI had leftover gear, some lighting and sound, from the church. It\u2019s a black box theater.\u201d
\n\"\"Cast members rehearse a scene from BrooklynONE Productions\u2019 staging of \u201cSavage in Limbo.\u201dPhoto courtesy of BrooklynONE\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d appealed to Marino on every level, but especially as a lesser-produced script by a major playwright.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go further back in his catalogue,\u201d Marino added. \u201cI liked the title \u2018Savage in Limbo.\u2019 I said, let me check this out again. I read it. It\u2019s perfect.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The New York Daily News has called the play, which premiered in 1985, \u201cconceived with sharp insight into the lives of losers, conveyed with a frisky and often hilarious wit.\u201d The Washington Post described it as a \u201cknockout\u201d that \u201cfuses powerful yet fragile characters\u201d with \u201cfiery dialogue\u201d to capture a \u201cmultidimensional chorus\u201d of 1980s New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to take a work and dig deep into it,\u201d Marino said. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderfully existential play.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d follows a group of friends in a Bronx dive bar, restless and trapped, searching for meaning, identity and a way forward.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been having a great time digging into these characters, exploring these characters,\u201d Marino said. \u201cYou take those moments and the dialogue and make them real.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That connection extends beyond the stage, with Francis set to join his father for a talkback after the May 2 show.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Francis Shanley step into his father\u2019s work makes the whole thing even more special,\u201d Marino said. \u201cWe would joke around. What does your dad mean by this? He would joke around and say, \u2018I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just my dad.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Performers work through a scene during rehearsals for \u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d at Industry City.Performers work through a scene during rehearsals for \u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Francis said acting felt natural after a life surrounded by actors, rehearsals and opening nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been around actors and in a theater since I was very young,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up in that creative process and then disappeared from it until now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He owns a welding, fabrication and landmark restoration business that completed all the steel work for bkONE.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly it became something else,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe subconsciously I have always kept my ears and eyes open to that transaction I believe all actors chase,\u201d he said. \u201cThe feeling of being free, the feeling of being a beast who is in complete control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marino said the group operates as a nonprofit, renting out its venue, hosting corporate events and parties, and serving as Industry City\u2019s audiovisual vendor.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the age of AI, as AI takes over Hollywood and entertainment, what people are going to come back to is live theater,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can build real relationships and emotional experiences in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSavage in Limbo\u201d runs April 23\u201326 and April 30\u2013May 3 at the Tom Kane Theater, 1 35th St., Industry City, Building 5. Tickets cost $30 and are available at bkone.org\/tix<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Marino has been familiar with playwright John Patrick Shanley\u2019s work since before he was a theater performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[76133,2571,98,100,99,34490,76134,76135,76136,76137,71779,76138,9,24,76139,12,370,63,34384,76140,76141,905,904,76142],"class_list":{"0":"post-189851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-anthony-marino-director","9":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","12":"tag-brooklyn-news","13":"tag-brooklyn-theater","14":"tag-brooklynone-productions","15":"tag-francis-shanley","16":"tag-independent-theater-nyc","17":"tag-industry-city-brooklyn","18":"tag-john-patrick-shanley","19":"tag-live-theater-brooklyn","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-city","22":"tag-new-york-city-theater","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-newsletter","25":"tag-nyc","26":"tag-off-broadway","27":"tag-savage-in-limbo","28":"tag-shanley-plays","29":"tag-theater","30":"tag-things-to-do","31":"tag-tom-kane-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189851","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=189851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}