"Several interesting moments emerge here. To get to them, however, requires patience, even for a show that runs just over an hour…What begins with energy — the first scene is anxious and involving — loses steam once that trial starts. The script, by Barry Malawer, teases at complex moral questions and the possibility of a did-he-do-it plot. Yet revelations and details are kept scarce, and Mr. Malawer passes up chances to bolster the tension."
Read more

"An excellent piece of theater...This poignant drama explores the subjects of police brutality and racial tensions. With a superbly written script and extraordinary direction, the play's talented cast will keep you throughly captivated...'Dead Dog Park' presents multiple perspectives of a complex social issue that has taken center stage in America's news cycles and political debates. It is a play that should be seen by everyone to encourage an essential discourse about civil rights."
Read more

"A tough, taut drama, filled with some of the least sentimentalized characters in recent memory...In Eric Tucker's diamond-hard staging, five members of the company of six are omnipresent on stage...Malawer provides a complete and honest inventory of the collateral damage involved...This is a play that will stimulate many a conversation; for that alone, it's worth seeing."
Read more

"Minimally staged but tautly performed by a polished cast, the play draws its impetus from the hyper-politicized climate in which clashes between white policemen and black civilians have come under intense public scrutiny...The play offers no easy answer to the question of culpability...The most compelling character is the young man's mother, a working single mom, exquisitely and honestly portrayed by Eboni Flowers with a mixture of anger, weary frustration, and gritty determination."
Read more

"In lean, believable dialogue, playwright Malawer captures the conflicting perspectives of his characters...Director Eric Tucker has assembled a highly competent cast...Five of the six actors are kept on stage throughout the play...This directorial choice emphasizes the fact that each person ensnared in the catastrophe in Washington Heights is destined to remain entangled with the others...The result is fierce momentum and a degree of poignancy that the drama wouldn't have otherwise."
Read more

"With everything stripped away, the actors are left to rely on their rawest emotions and instincts. The results are effective, and Tucker has crafted a production which is brimming with vulnerability from the small cast of six...'Dead Dog Park' is a powerful new play which is full of empathetic and complex characters. Backed by outstanding direction from Eric Tucker, this minimalist production addresses a touchy issue which is all too relevant to the times at hand."
Read more

"'Dead Dog Park' is proof that theater can be vocal, aware, present, raging and engaging...[Director] Tucker unfolds the drama moment to moment, building up playwright Barry Malawer’s script towards its most heated exploration of justice...Tucker weaves poetry out of moments of stillness, then unleashes heartbreak within a single sentence. He effectively raises the tension, creating an aura of anticipation, keeping the cast – and the audience’s – nerves raw."
Read more

"Director Eric Tucker has done a terrific job in making no one in the play truly likeable, though all are sympathetic, which is ideal considering the overall message...You don’t walk away from 'Dead Dog Park' feeling good about what you saw even though what you saw was well done. It handles important issues well and makes you look at them more deeply than you might have when you first sat down in the theater."
Read more