Theater We Saw: Camping & The Family Dog (feat. Billy McEntee)

Sims and Scully are joined by Billy McEntee—theater editor of the Brooklyn Rail, theater writer, and theater maker—for two summer plays.First up: Camping by Victoria Lynne Barclay, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt for Colt Coeur at HERE Arts Center. Alice Kremelberg and Colby Minifie play Brit and Ari, two friends who keep returning to the same tent over twenty-five years. The trio talks Colby Minifie's run of intense performances, Adrienne Campbell-Holt staging a play in twelve square feet, the choice not to break the set open for a final gesture, and the flooded-tent stage direction that didn't make it into production.Then: The Family Dog by Bailey Williams, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad, the closer of Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks 2026 at The Wild Project. Bruce McKenzie narrates as Johnny, the ailing family dog at the center of a holiday homecoming. Discussed: McKenzie's remarkably specific animal work, Jennifer Van Dyck's Catholic-guilt-drenched mother, and the family's slow-motion collapse one sibling at a time.