SHELL
Written and Created by Ana Evans; Created and Directed by Linnea Scott
SoHo Playhouse | 15 Vandam Street, New York, NY 10013
May 29-31 & June 5-7, 2026
Photo Credit: Morgan McDowell
We are all born with a shell, and so we will die in our shell. Making sense of the shell we are born with while painstakingly not being able to accept the gender confines and norms is exactly what is explored in performer Ana Evans’ play Shell. Evans’ deep exploration of gender identity cloaked in stigma is sure to wow audiences, discovering how they themselves may not know as much about gender as they think they do.
Walking downstairs in the intimate downstairs of the SoHo playhouse, you are in for a surprise as the lights go pitch black and a voice is overheard. Lights come on to a hockey bag that begins to open on its own. Out comes a hockey-obsessed bro with his tubular command of hyping up the audience as if at a rally. Rolling back and forth in shoes with wheels, cheers and laughter radiate throughout the audience. Cheering sounds blare and state lights flicker. Evans has a magnetism and cool confidence as a performer. Along the way, she transforms between a hockey obsession and a metaphorical peanut. A metaphorical peanut you ask? There is no limit to the imagination as you trip down Evans’ wonderland. Questions are asked of the audience, and plenty of engagement follows. In some awkward moments, we learn about the female organs and whether anyone has ever confessed to male toxicity, willingly or unknowingly.
All of this brings a deep consideration of how well we really understand the function of our assigned genitalia and what it means to take on gender roles. Why do we even have to abide by them? In a world filled with rules and regulations, Shell asks why? In a brief, uncomfortable moment, Evans, as a peanut, is accosted by a helmet that floats in the air to represent a man crossing a boundary over a woman saying no. It is a terrifying moment that feels very authentic and alarming, from the pacing to the point where you can even feel a chill in the air.
With all the engagement and whimsy, we are brought to Evans’ rock star moment, where she finally becomes the imaginary rock star she wishes to become all along. As entertaining as it is to watch her belt out lyrics on stage and carry on with mighty swagger, it does not exactly tie into the overall narrative arc. In some ways, it falls short of how the ending could be better used to further explore how gender exploration and demands either resolve or further hinder the focus of the play. As exciting and entertaining as the ending was, it slightly distracted from the main purpose of the play.
As a one-person play, Shell, through the direction of Linnea Scott, takes the room by storm. There is never a dull moment, and the natural finesse with which Evans engages with the audience is sure to charm the literal tops off all. Shell is an homage to pushing past gender stereotypes and rocking your way to self-acceptance and identifying with authenticity. Now more than ever is a time for gender conformity topic to become a means for expression, evaluation and discussion. Shell is very much a play of the times and crucial in an era to create harmony through acceptance.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Bianca Lopez.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on June 4, 2026. All rights reserved.