Sulfur Bottom
Written by Rishi Varma; Directed by Megumi Nakamura
The Jerry Orbach Theater at The Theater Center | 210 West 50th Street, NYC
Opening: August 20th with shows on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM and Saturdays at 1 PM
Photos by Austin Pogrob
The phrase eco-gothic drama immediately caught my attention when I read the description of Sulfur Bottom. Its special performances during Climate Week NYC stayed with me as I made my way to The Jerry Orbach Theatre at The Theatre Center through a torrential downpour, where I was greeted with warm welcomes and a personal introduction from the playwright, Rishi Varma—who, I learned, is also a SCUBA diving instructor here in New York City. That unexpected detail prompted a thoughtful “hmm” in a brief conversation with a fellow audience member, a stranger but, like me, a lifelong New Yorker. We talked about our neighborhood, took in the charged energy of the theatre, and settled in with a shared sense of anticipation for something new.
The play confronts a familiar yet potent theme: a small town seduced by promises of industrial growth, only to bear the hidden cost. The prosperity is hollow, replaced by a slow, secret toxicity that seeps into the land, the water, and a family’s bloodline—leaving behind generational trauma marked by illness and a kind of dystopic hope.
The lights rise on a worn living room. A man, Sir Cavin, carves a deer on cinderblocks as his daughter Fran sits on the couch. This is no act of brutality, but a lesson in the circle of life for a girl who has just been kicked in the head by the same animal. Soon, Sir Cavin’s sister Melissa bursts in, panicked over the cost of a new septic tank. From here, time bends. We watch decades unfold, seeing the slow disintegration of the house, the family, and the future.
Daniel Prosky’s set makes the most of the small stage. A couch, a table with two chairs, and a wall framing the action anchor the room, creating a space that feels worn and lived-in across generations. Varma’s writing gives these characters depth and dimension in both this world and another, while Megumi Nakamura’s direction shapes the story with clarity and precision. Sam Weiser’s lighting marks the passage of time with subtle elegance, and Sid Diamond’s soundscape lingers like an echo—haunting, almost sentient.
Varma’s layering is thoughtfully conceptualized, interweaving the present, the past, and an otherworldly realm in a meta way. Its intimate yet expansive staging carries not just the shifts in time but the emotional weight of lives weathered by loss. Experiencing it on a night of relentless rain created an accidental meta moment and unplanned resonance.
I was reminded of a trip I took to the Schoharie Reservoir in the Catskills and the Blenheim-Gilboa Power Stations. To create the reservoir, the Schoharie Creek was dammed, the original settlement razed and submerged. The reservoir provides water, the plant provides power. I marveled at their scale, but could not forget what had been erased. Something had to be displaced for something else to thrive. Sulfur Bottom carries that truth in its bones.
The play runs 90 minutes without an intermission, sustaining its momentum and impact. Under Nakamura’s direction, the ensemble—Kendyl Davis (Fran), Kevin Richard Best (Sir Cavin), Joyah Dominique (Melissa), Eric Easter (Winter), Feyisola Soetan (Maeve), and Aaron Dorellen (Copal)—delivers performances of warmth, precision, and inevitability.
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Malini Singh McDonald.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on August 21, 2025. All rights reserved.