Overview
- The Potluck, which opened Monday at Playwrights Horizons, is an autobiographical musical by César Alvarez presented by Soho Rep and INTAR and running through August 2.
- Alvarez, who is nonbinary and was named after a victim of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre, makes themself the central character and frames the show around family memory and inherited trauma.
- Reviewers say the production intentionally mixes stand‑up, staged documentary, conventional songs, fantastical sequences and a séance, producing abrupt tonal shifts that some critics called messy but emotionally powerful.
- A seven‑minute documentary excerpt about the 1979 killings is staged as a graphic sequence and audience members are given the explicit option to leave to the lobby for a led memorial ritual instead of watching.
- Directed by Sarah Benson with a cast led by Anthony Alfaro as César and parents played by Rubén Flores and Barbara Walsh, the show has prompted discussion about how theater should represent political violence and who gets to decide what audiences see.