Get on the bus to NYC and Whitney's Biennial!

At the 2026 Whitney Biennial, guests pondered Gabriela Ruiz's Homo Machina (Human Machine, a.k.a. Gay Machine), 2026, "a life-size digital console that functions as a self-portrait," according to the wall label/Patricia Leslie, photo

Ali Eyal, detail of Look Where I Took You, 2026 at the 2026 Whitney Biennial, painted from artist's memory of his family's last trip to Baghdad's largest amusement park before the family left Iraq at the start of the 2003 war, according to the wall label. My second favorite of the show, for the color, the subject, the movement, the grasp of the horror of war, for the human shapes /Patricia Leslie, photo

It's the show of shows hosted every other year to exhibit what contemporary artists are making now, what they're thinking, what they're doing.

One floor of Whitney's world renowned display will close August 23, but two more floors will remain open until September 7 and October 12.  

Pictured here are the works I found the most fascinating.

Young Joon Kwak, Divine Dance of Soft Revolt, 2024, accompanied by an audio, inviting viewers to find themselves in the mirrored surfaces, at the 2026 Whitney Biennial/Patricia Leslie, photo

Detail of Agosto Machado's Ethyl (Altar),  2024 at the 2026 Whitney Biennial, of materials he collected as caregiver and "unofficial activist" for many of his peers at the height of New York's AIDS crisis.  The components express "his gratitude for the love and generosity of his queer community," according to the wall label/Patricia Leslie, photo

Malcolm Peacock, Five of them were hers and she carved shelters with windows into the backs of their skulls, 2024  is a sculptural interpretation of a coastal redwood tree with texts from autobiographies of Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, at the 2026 Whitney Biennial/Patricia Leslie, photo

It seems rather tame this year especially when compared to the shock my son, then age 12, and I experienced way back in 1997 when we ventured in the doors to be blown away by the Biennial on several floors of the Whitney's home at the time, the Breuer building, in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

It was a stunner, all right. 

Whatever and whenever, any opportunity to go to the Big Apple when the Biennial is playing is a must.   

At the 2026 Whitney Biennial, Anna Tsouhlarakis's She Must Be A Matriarch, 2023 "offers an irreverent image of a female warrior armed with a mix of the mythical, the mundane, and the humorous," according to the wall label/Patricia Leslie, photo

David L. Johnson's Rules, 2024-ongoing, was my favorite at the 2026 Whitney Biennial.  Signs from privately-owned public spaces (POPS) began popping up in 1961 after a zoning resolution permitted developers to develop taller buildings in NYC  in exchange for creating "nearby park-like" spaces for public use, developers able to install their own rules about land use/Patricia Leslie, photo

More of David L. Johnson's Rules, 2024-ongoing at the 2026 Whitney Biennial/Patricia Leslie, photo

More of David L. Johnson's Rules, 2024-ongoing at the 2026 Whitney Biennial/Patricia Leslie, photo

This year's presentation features the works of 56 artists who paint, sculpt, perform, make films and digital art. Mother and daughter, Carmen de Monteflores, age 92 (the oldest in the bunch), and daughter, conceptual artist Andrea Fraser, 60, are two of the them. 

Although the show usually includes American artists only, this year some foreign artists with a U.S. connection are included. 

Most of the artists are millennials (born 1981-1996)  and most live in (surprise!) New York or California.

Isabelle Frances McGuire's Satan in America and Other Invisible Evils: Experiments in Public Sculpture, 2026 draws on mythical American history scenes from the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky, says the label at the 2026 Whitney Biennial/Patricia Leslie, photo

The other side of Isabelle Frances McGuire's Satan in America and Other Invisible Evils: Experiments in Public Sculpture, 2026, the right side, I think, to represent Salem villagers modeled from the video game, Doom/Patricia Leslie, photo

A view of the Hudson River from a Whitney stairwell,  looking towards New Jersey/Patricia Leslie, photo

The New York Times says the curators, Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, spent a year traveling and visiting more than 300 studios.  

 A 500-page catalog is available for $50 ($45, members). 

What:  The Whitney Biennial 2026

When:  Now through Aug. 23, 2026 and a partial display through Oct. 10, 2026. 

Daily: 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. except on Fridays, 'til 10 p.m.

Where:  The Whitney Museum of American Art, 

99 Gansevoort St., NY, NY 10014

How much:  Free Friday night admission from 5 - 10 pm and second Sundays, as are every day admission for all those 25 and under, but advance tickets are required. Limited admissions.

Military members and veterans are admitted at no charge and tickets for the disabled are $18 and seniors, $24.  All others, $30.

For more information: See the website or call 212-570-3614.

patricialesli@gmail.com

The book that led to Murdaugh's new trial

The power of a book!

Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders by Rebecca “Becky” Hill upset some jurors after it was published only four months after the Alex Murdaugh trial ended March 2, 2023.

Because of Hill's jury tampering, Murdaugh gets a new trial next April, charged again with the 2021 murders of his wife and son. 

Becky Hill was the elected Colleton County (S.C.) Clerk of Court paid $100,000 to manage the courthouse. (The judge oversees the courtroom and the clerk of the court, the courthouse (p. 3).)

After the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigated allegations that Hill abused her government position to promote her book, she resigned her position in March, 2024.

In May, 2025 she was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice in the leaking of confidential court information, as well as perjury and misconduct, to which she pleaded guilty and was sentenced last December to three years' probation and 100 hours of community service. 

Approximately 15,000 copies of her book in various formats had been released when the co-author, Neil Gordon (not charged) discovered that Hill had plagiarized a portion of a BBC reporter’s content for the Hill preface. 

I got the book through interlibrary loan.

More than 50 media outlets came to Walterboro for the trial,  some who sat in the overflow media room. No phones, laptops, or IPads were allowed in the courtroom. 

The tone of Hill’s book is one of joy, of self-congratulations that Murdaugh was found guilty, that she had managed the courtroom in an admirable manner, and briefly found fame and association with celebrities who covered the trial (reminding me of a new star or athlete immediately thrust into the limelight and enjoying the attention and brief prominence which events produced.  Becky:  You are human!).

But, the desired verdict she wanted at trial’s end is evident  throughout the book, and that she was unable to suppress it when dealing with the jury is documented by the facts. 

She gives the background of providing daily meals for the jury, staff and families, some 60 plus persons, and the four months of preparation for the trial, parking arrangements, press logistics, a lot of nitty-gritty work.

The book is fast and short: 171 pages plus 32 pages of black and white personal photos, of courtroom figures and members of the press.

Like many in the region, Hill's family had a long association with the Murdaughs, knowing them for decades, considering them extremely gracious and kind.   

All the Murdaughs were "so darn charming and likeable" (p. 17), Hill writes and compares them to the charisma of Bill Clinton and the Kennedys, with transgressions included (p. 69).

Watching the Murdaughs, Hill learned how to influence people and she admired their energy (p. 25). 

According to her family's lore, her grandfather and Alex's grandfather shared a common business:  moon shining (p. 17).

The portrait of Alexander‘s grandfather, area solicitor for 46 years, hung for decades in the courtroom but was removed for the trial and hung back up at the end. 

For more than a century, the Murdaughs had built "a legacy of controlling the justice system" with "alleged misuse of power" amidst "a lot of love and loyalty for them" (pp. 3-4).

She describes her great respect for Judge Clifton Newman.  

At the trial, Alex always greeted Hill.

She begins each chapter with a quote from an historic figure, author, notable personality or a Bible verse.

On the second day after the murders, she became suspicious of Alex when the police announced there was no danger to the public (p. 169).

Jury selection passed quickly; members immediately bonded and prayed together, and Hill, her team and others prayed, too (pp. 110 and 113).  

During the trial, no one sat in the courtroom on the victim's side (p. 41).

The defense attorneys continually violated court rules and Murdaugh's family was reminded not to exchange looks or greetings which would violate courtroom practice, their actions causing their move to the back row in the courtroom.

During Alex's testimony, Hill found his constant stalling  "irritating," figuring he was trying to buy time to figure out how to answer questions (p. 36).

She believed "he was lying and changed his story on the fly, making it up as he went along" (p. 37).

At the request of the defense attorneys, the jury and courtroom personnel visited the murder site on March 3, 2023, a scene she describes as haunting as if Maggie, Murdaugh’s wife, and Paul, his son, spoke from the grave.

That visit convinced the jury that "Alex's story was impossible....I knew and they knew that Alex was guilty" (p. 121).  Returning to the courtroom that day ...the "'regular people,'" in a separate vehicle from the jury, "unanimously came to our own verdict in just three minutes. Guilty" (p. 122).  

Although, she writes, it is hard for most to "fathom killing or hurting a family member,..during our time at Moselle, Alex's fate was sealed" (p. 123).

As she read the verdict aloud, she worried that he would be found innocent "when I knew in my heart he was guilty"
 (p. 2).

After the trial, she learned that many jurors believed Alex was faking his tears, "another example of his insincerity and his lies. His testimony did little, if anything, to convince the jurors of his innocence" (pp. 111-12).

After the trial ended and continuing through the end of the book, she and her team from the Clerk of Court's office gave 30 minute tours – about 10 to 15 daily – to the estimated 700 curiosity seekers who showed up to see the courtroom, the jury room, Alex's holding cell, and sit in the jury box.  

"All" the visitors thought Alex was guilty (p. 160). 

She praises her staff for their hard work: the "wonderful" team who helped "make me look a queen" (p. 114).

She believed "Alex is a classic narcissist" who built his alibis and cleaned up the evidence, thinking he would not get caught.  

A signed hardcover copy of Hill and Gordon's book sells for $2,500 or a used or paperback copy, about $200.  The book was published on July 20, 2023. 

On May 13, 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court in a 5–0 decision, issued a ruling that Hill’s improper influences on the jury was reason for a new trial.

Last week the judge dismissed Murdaugh's suit against Hill for $600,000 for his legal fees, ruling Hill had nothing to do with Murdaugh's charges and legal fees. His attorneys are appealing while trying to secure a different venue for his new trial.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Shakespeare Academy graduates charge the stage thru Saturday

From left, Kendall Kent, Kimberly Colisch, and Julian Cividanes star in Shakespeare Theatre Academy's Macbeth/Shakespeare Theatre Co.

Two Shakespeare plays for $40! Unbelievable!

Almost as unbelievable as the dazzling acting seen on the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Klein Theatre. 

But hurry! Remaining tickets are few.

 

They are the ending performances by graduates of the Master of Fine Arts program the Shakespeare Theatre Academy offers in conjunction with George Washington University.

 

“If music be the food of love, play on!” They did.

From left, Bridget Campbell, Robert Kittler, and Michael Girts star in Shakespeare Theatre Academy's Twelfth Night/Shakespeare Theatre Co.

The graduates are completing their year of extensive training in the fine arts of stage combat, classical language, acting, text, voice, speech, movement and combat experience, taught by accomplished actors and trained crew.

Lest anyone think these are amateurish shows because they are performed by “new” graduates,  not only have these students graduated college with each boasting a string of performances ranging from off Broadway to local companies to regional theatres throughout the U.S., they are, in the words of Malvolio:

 

“not afraid of greatness” for 

“some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” 

They all perform in both the comedy, Twelfth Night and the tragedy, MacBeth and who's to say which is better?

The sets are minimal, the costumes (by Cidney Forkpah, assisted by Lily Komarov) are contemporary, but the sounds, the sounds!  (By Matt Nielson who composed original scores) are outstanding: 

The thunder!  

The clashing of helmets! 

The lightning (sound?), 

The waves crashing upon the shore while the Twelfth Nighters bend from their waists and sway with the waves before the shipwreck off the coast of Illyria and the ensuing mix-ups. (In Shakespeare?  Mix-ups? ‘Tis cannot be!) 

The scariest ghouls made up in the most divine (?) ways! They move, they float, they come at your throat!  

(The orchestration of the stringed instruments was most pleasing to the ear.)

Puppet Designer Ksenya Litvak’s puppets are magnificent. (Andrey Stuurman was consultant.)

 

And who can pass up opportunities to hear words of the master spoken on stage as in:

“O, full of scorpions is my mind!”

“Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

“Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!”

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through fog and filthy air.”

 

The graduates are Bridget Campbell, Julian Cividanes, Kimberly Colisch, Kira Cornell, C.J. Craig, Michael Girts, Sofia Hernandez Morales, Claire Hilton, and Cameron Holder.

Also, Kendall Kent, Robert Kittler, Anna Marzullo, and Lenny Mendez Terceros, Matilda Musser, and Olivia Potter.

 

Jess Chayes directs Twelfth Night; Alec Wild, Macbeth.

 

Other artistic team members are:

Minjoo Kim, lighting; Robb Hunter, fight director; Bess Kaye, intimacy coordinator; Lisa Beley,
voice and text coach; Cammiel Hussey, Twelfth Night, and Katie McDonald, Macbeth, assistant directors; Maddie Caldis, production manager; Regina Vitale, stage manager; Maria Mills,  
assistant stage manager.  

Applause to all, especially to Emma Crane Jaster, movement director.

 

Remember, there is always: 

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

And

“What's done, is done”

What:  Twelfth Night and Macbeth

 

When:  In repertory through Saturday, July 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and one Twelfth Night matinee at 2 p.m., July 25.

 

Where:  Shakespeare Theatre Company, Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004

 

How much:  $25 each performance or $40 for both

Duration:  Twelfth Night runs almost three hours with one intermission; MacBeth, about 2.5 hours with an intermission.

For more information:  Box Office, 202-547-1122, 12 – 6 p.m. and open until curtain on show days.

Patricialesli@gmail.com

For couples only: 'The Invite'

 

This film is good for couples' therapy, but maybe not.  It's got humor but not nearly enough. The ending is way too long, like double what's needed. It drags in places.

It's a foursome or a sixsome (sicksome?) and maybe more. Whatever floats your boat, jump in!

Acting is superb by all the stars save that of Edward Norton who's a trifle weak and not totally convincing.  

Director Olivia Wilde (the main female lead) does an outstanding job but there's only so much you can do with a middling script that needs lots more amusement. 

Wonder of wonder (thank you Ms. Wilde), for excluding the de rigueur bare breasts! So much opportunity at that.

The Invite can be termed an updated and more serious version of 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (if anyone's old enough besides me to remember it) with underpinnings of, yes, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  It's that sad and depressing.

One (the?) of its greatest redeeming social values is the music and inflection by Devonté Hynes. That bass! Oh, my. Just take a listen.  Can instruments receive Best Supporting awards?  This one deserves it as much as I detest the word, "deserve." 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Jill Dougherty's 'My Russia' is a must for Russophiles

 

For all the Russophiles (like me) who enjoy reading about the country’s history and culture, Jill Dougherty's My Russia:  What I Saw Inside the Kremlin is one for your reading list: A curiosity seeker’s background into contemporary Russian history and culture.

 

It may be too lengthy (330 pages; I skipped most of the chapter on vodka) and the font size, too small, but the content is a must.

That the few pictures are not chronologically arranged is a wonder and confusing. 

The book has lots of background on Vladimir Putin, now in his second term as Russia's president and maybe president for life.  (In 2013 in St. Petersburg, a Russian guide laughingly told my tour group of mostly British citizens: "I am sure Putin will be leader for life.") 

Ms. Dougherty and her twin sister, Pamela, studied Russian in high school, and the book goes on to detail Jill's ascent at CNN becoming its Moscow bureau chief for almost a decade.

She mentions Mr. Putin's autobiography, written many years ago with some falsehoods contained therein. She provides her psychoanalysis of him and why he is as he is, perhaps having a Napoleonic complex (he is 5'7") or an inferiority complex. 

His quirks (we all have) and more are outlined. 

To make him more of an "average guy," a p.r. campaign was instituted.

She mentions three times, I think, the mysterious kiss Putin planted on her for... why?  It was anyone's guess, but he is another Mr. Macho, after all.  

Ms. Dougherty recounts the decline of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) who served as Russia's first popularly elected president (1991-1999) before Yeltsin named his favorite deputy, Mr. Putin, to succeed him when Yeltsin retired six months early. 

Remember the Kursk?  Putin didn't want to.  August 12, 2000 brought the explosion of Russia's nuclear sub, the Kursk, and the deaths of 118 sailors in the Barents Sea, a tragedy which Putin initially ignored, vacationing on the Black Sea but finally appearing several days later to recognize the deaths and the accident... wearing a golf shirt. 

Ms. Dougherty describes the evolution of U.S./Russian relations since 9/11, and their graduation deterioration with the growth of NATO, Russia always blaming the West, particularly the U.S., for its problems.

About the time of Ted Turner's death (May 6, 2026) was about the time I got to the chapter on his visit to Russia in 2000, there to meet with Putin and discuss business and Turner's possible purchase of a stake in the NTV, the Russian-owned free television channel, now owned by Gazprom, a purchase Putin shot down.

She ended her stay in Russia on March 6, 2022, sadly, she writes, probably the last time she'll be there. (I feel the same, Jill!  How can we visit Russia again?) 

Amanda Wilson's jacket design is exceptional, better than most covers, drawing attraction from bookstore browsers, no doubt. It contrasts the author's photo and her white hair with a dark cover and colorful Russian domes, dominated by the title in white. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Make haste! Shakespeare saves a life at the Folger

Jacob Ming-Trent talks to God in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski

Jacob Ming-Trent wants to save another life, like Shakespeare saved his, to inspire at least one person, one artist to create, to make, to help, to forgive.


At the Folger Theatre, it's the world premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life which Mr. Ming-Trent wrote and performs in the most energetic, gripping solo show I have seen.


In a fast 90 minutes, the actor/playwright describes his youthful struggles for survival, his encounters with the law, with teachers, men on the street, men in the pulpit.

Jacob Ming-Trent in Folger Theatre's How Shakespeare Saved My Life/Photo by Erika Nizborski.

He portrays several different characters, his parents, a preacher man, the guys under the bridge, and many more, all realistically presented with distinctive mannerisms, vocal pauses and inflections. 

Director Tony Taccone has Mr. Ming-Trent moving from stage right to stage left and back again, speaking non-stop, leaving the audience breathless and hungry for calm which they hope he (and they) will find.

When he was a teen, his mother threw him out of the house, refusing to let him back in despite his many pleas over the years, she, a cruel and heartless person who told her only child at his father’s funeral, that she felt absolutely nothing, nothing for her son when he was born. 

One can't help but wonder how she feels now or where she is, if she'd let him back in the house since he's found success, but her story is not his or this story which includes forgiveness.

His dad told his son that the best thing for a man to be was a good listener, and his child followed his advice, quoting Shakespeare in his show: ”To thine own self be true.”

Shakespeare rescues Mr. Ming-Trent from a life of crime, from homelessness, despair, thoughts of suicide.

Combining his script with hip hop, and the fantastic music by Jake Rodriguez, Takeshi Kata's rapidly changing scenics and Alexander V. Nichols' projections, and it’s another greatness thrust upon Mr. Ming-Trent’s canon, with a supporting cast, the audience becoming the congregation in Mr. Ming-Trent's church, hungry for inspiration and the hope he bestows.

This Life ends abruptly before we hear about Mr. Ming-Trent’s star rising, his many shows listed in the program attesting to his success.

"Play on," Jacob Ming-Trent, play on.

Other Life creative team members are Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, choreographer; Danielle Preston, costumes; Alan C. Edwards, lighting; Taylor Kiechlin, production stage manager; Miranda Korieth, assistant stage manager.


The Folger and Red Bull theatres commissioned the play with co-production by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

In an interview with American Theatre this year, Mr. Ming-Trent said: “Shakespeare is a rule-breaker, and I’m a rule-breaker. I love tearing down the classical theatre’s ivory tower and using the scaffolding and bricks to rebuild a place where we all are welcome.”


Who: Jacob Ming-Trent

What: How Shakespeare Saved My Life

When: Evenings through July 5 at 7:30 p.m. (8:00 p.m., Friday) plus matinees Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 2 p.m. No performance on July 4.

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003

How much: Tickets start at $20 with discounts for military members, veterans and their families; those 35 and under; public servants; seniors; students; first time Folger attendees; pay-what-you can; groups of ten or more; and rush tickets at half price, if available, one hour before performances. Check the website.

Closest Metro stations: Union Station and Capitol South

Recommended for ages 13 and up. Mature language and adult situations and conversations.

For more information: folgerboxoffice@folger.edu or 202-544-7077

patricialesli@gmail.com

Make haste! Bold 'Othello' departs June 28

 

From left, Ben Turner is Iago and Wendell Pierce is Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane


The acting is as superb as all that’s been told.

After the performance, a father and daughter told me that they couldn’t wait to bring other family members to the show.

Wendell Pierce is the Broadway star who is Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello, a bold showman whose role in the first act is moderate compared to the demands of the second.

And whatever act it is, the dastardly Iago (Ben Turner) commands the stage, a forceful and stronger villain than other Iagos I have witnessed.

Casting director Danica Rodriguez took no shortcuts choosing the actors for one of the bard's best.

Iago is angry that he’s been overlooked for a promotion by General Othello who chooses Cassio (Lucas Iverson) for the position, and what’s this? Has the general has been trifling with Iago’s wife, Emilia (Melanie Field)?

All the more reasons to act on Iago’s suspicions!

Says Iago to Othello: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."

Iago unceasingly feeds hints of imaginary betrayal to Othello by his wife, Desdemona (Olivia Cygan), a frail and delicate flower who never professes anything but faithfulness to her husband.

She has eloped with Othello, much to the shock of her father, Brabantio (Joey Collins) who disowns his daughter and hints of future infidelity to his new black son-in-law.

Alas! When it came to the marriage bed, I did indeed think Othello had smothered Desdemona in the lifelike murder scene when Desdemona fights for life under the sheets, kicking her legs and wailing, Othello’s heart having turned to stone.

Melanie Field is Emilia the handmaid for Desdemona (Olivia Cygan) in Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company/Photo by Theresa Castracane

The victim’s handmaid, Emilia, in a spellbinding delivery, comes to the aid of her mistress too late! Emilia berating her deplorable spouse, she soon to be slain when the truth is revealed before the star kills himself.

So little time, so many murders.


Scenic designer Susan Hilferty places the few props in strategic locations, more, unnecessary since the play’s jealousy and revenge are all consuming, leaving audience members who eavesdrop on Iago’s plans, breathless and tense, most already aware of the outcome.


Daniel Velez, Todd Schofield, Derek Garza, Giovanna Drummond are other cast members with the Ensemble: Jon Beal, C.J.Craig, Sofia Hernandez-Morales, Claire Hilton, Anna Marzullo, Vish Shukla, Cole Sitilides, James Whalen, Em Whitworth.

STC's artistic director, Simon Godwin, directs the play in a tight presentation.  It's Othello, after all.


The artistic team includes Shiloh Coke, composer; Hilferty and Sarita P. Fellows, costume designers; Amith A. Chandrashaker, lighting; Christopher Shutt, sound; Jonathan Goddard, choreographer; Everett Judd, assistant director; Laura Smith, production stage manager; Robb Hunter, fight choreographer.