After All the Terrible Things I Do

Junek and Skiles are two actors at the top of their game, under the direction of May Adrales
and in a stunning bookstore designed by Daniel Zimmerman.

On Milwaukee

brilliantly staged by Adrales, who underscores throughout this play how hard
it is for these characters to truly face each other

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Animal Farm

Stark, pointed and brutal. But it is also beautifully conceived and performed by a tight ensemble of eight actors, who use music, stylized movement, puppets, and masks to show how revolutions go wrong and how those in power will sadistically abuse it.

On Milwaukee

Innovative direction…  Powerful and provocative, this production of Animal Farm reminds us all of the amazing things theater can do – and should do.

Showbiz Chicago

Searing… powerful… Adrales enacts such scenes through evocatively physical theater.  It’s both beautiful and disturbing, inspiring and dispiriting.

Journal Sentinel

Animals Out of Paper

Deftly directed by May Adrales,  Animals Out of Paper is exciting summer theater.
It doesn’t get much better than this.

Paper Arts Fuse

Deftly directed by May Adrales,  Animals Out of Paper is exciting summer theater.
It doesn’t get much better than this.

Berkshire Bright Focus

Breath and Imagination

Actors Rock, Gaines, and Frey breathe life into this play and
director May Adrales, along with her designers, provide a wealth of imagination.

Cleveland Jewish News

…takes your breath away and makes your imagination soar.

Examiner

…simply breathtaking….enough to make this critic stand, clap her hands and say, Amen.

Cleveland On Stage

Ching Chong Chinaman

A smart, fast-paced comedy that wrings laughs from the topics of cultural identity and assimilation. Neither predictable nor politically correct, it’s a satirical cartoon that has heart and even occasional poignancy…. Director May Adrales has paced the production wisely so it neither lags nor feels artificially hurried.

Theater Mania

A smart, fast-paced comedy that wrings laughs from the topics of cultural identity and assimilation. Neither predictable nor politically correct, it’s a satirical cartoon that has heart and even occasional poignancy… Director May Adrales has paced the production wisely so it neither lags nor feels artificially hurried.

NYTimes

Chinglish

Every aspect of the show is refined and specific: the acting is snappy, with no emotion or movement wasted, the lighting and scenic elements create elegant stage pictures, modern and understated.

NY Theatre Guide

Kudos should be given to May Adrales for directing a stellar production.

Northwest Reverb

Director May Adrales keeps the production moving, and brings out the humor and cleverness in Hwang’s script.

Broadway World

It’s a very neat play about a very tangled subject, and director May Adrales’ production at Portland Center Stage, with its whirling scenery, crisp performances, and brisk pace, is solid.

Willamette Weekly

The show, directed by May Adrales, is as smooth as its revolving scene changes, capturing a brittle and deftly timed presentational comic edge in its performances and navigating the tricky shoals of its bilingual text (about a quarter of the dialogue is in Mandarin, with English supertitles) without an apparent hitch.

Oregon Arts Watch

DeathTrap

With director May Adrales at the helm, PTC has smartly engineered this “Deathtrap”
to deliver a theater thrill ride.

Deseret News

Director May Adrales makes terrific use of Daniel Zimmerman’s grand single-room set design—the walls filled with enough weapons just waiting to be used that Chekhov must be nodding happily in his grave—creating a purely pleasurable contraption of twists and reversals.

City Weekly

Director May Adrales keeps the action clipping along at a fast and furious pace.”

Salt Lake Tribune

Director May Adrales has triumphed in creating a tightly wound ticking clock of a
production that engages and satisfies.

Broadway World

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Stage Left

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

LouisvilleKY.com

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Arts-Louisville.com

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

The Arts Louisville

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Evansville Courier & Press

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Indiana Business Journal

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Cincinnati City Beat

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

Dramatics Magazine

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

LEO Weekly

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

The Courier- Journal

Edith is a beautifully rendered portrait… This is my 10th Humana Festival (since 1998), and I can’t recall another play that sparked an instantaneous standing O, nor a play that more deserved one.

The Examiner Backstage

Everything You Touch

The visual appeal and staging is phenomenal

Broadway World

Directed by May Adrales, “Everything You Touch” begins with a breathtaking sequence in which a New York trash heap morphs into a runway of models.  And that scene isn’t the only eye-catching touc

Washington Post

In This House

Director May Adrales has made excellent use of this set-up by creating a seemingly effortless flow and movement which plays unobtrusively to each of the three seating sections. Adrales has elicited excellent performances from her entire cast, and sustained proper moods throughout.

NYTimes Feature

Director May Adrales has made excellent use of this set-up by creating a seemingly effortless flow and movement which plays unobtrusively to each of the three seating sections. Adrales has elicited excellent performances from her entire cast, and sustained proper moods throughout.

Talkin' Broadway

Little Black Shadows

The haunting yet beautifully-dramatized world premiere play LITTLE BLACK SHADOWS, Kemp Powers’ captivating new drama under the astute direction of May Adrales

Broadway World

Director May Adrales and her design team create visual and aural layers that enhance and magnify Powers’ themes.

Orange County Register

Under the sensitive direction of May Adrales, the SCR production is most revealing concerning the attitudes of both blacks and whites in that prewar period. The production is beautifully staged.

LA Time

The tableaux created by these bedtime scenes are gorgeously rendered in May Adrales’ visually arresting production.
…inspired talented director

Charles McNulty, LATimes

LUCE

Complexities and uncertainties pile on top of one another until it’s no longer possible to tell what the truth about anything is, and both Lee and director May Adrales exploit that to its full dramatic effect

Entertainment Weekly

Complexities and uncertainties pile on top of one another until it’s no longer possible to tell what the truth about anything is, and both Lee and director May Adrales exploit that to its full dramatic effect

Talkin Broadway

The playwright couldn’t have dreamed up a better showcase, with this fine cast and concise staging
by May Adrales that never lets any question linger too long.

Bloomberg

A thoughtful, well-acted new play by J C Lee… As it unfolds in a series of fluidly written scenes, “Luce,” directed by May Adrales hugs tightly the ambiguity of Luce’s behavior. 

NY Times

The Bereaved

In this gleefully unpredictable portrait of New York yuppies the director May Adrales employs a lighter comic touch, establishing a slick normalcy that masks rather than draws attention to the outlandish world of the writer. Backed by a spunky pop soundtrack, scenes start with a jolt, gain momentum and finish with a twist.

Time Out Top Ten of 2009

In this gleefully unpredictable portrait of New York yuppies the director May Adrales employs a lighter comic touch, establishing a slick normalcy that masks rather than draws attention to the outlandish world of the writer. Backed by a spunky pop soundtrack, scenes start with a jolt, gain momentum and finish with a twist.

NYTimes

The Dance and the Railroad

Director May Adrales’ staging fully mines the play’s emotional richness. Performing on Mimi Lien’s abstract set featuring large sculptural formations gorgeously lit by Jiyoun Chang, the actors deliver stirring turns, while Huang Ruo’s Eastern-inflected score strikes all the right notes.

The Art Fuse

Director May Adrales’ staging fully mines the play’s emotional richness. Performing on Mimi Lien’s abstract set featuring large sculptural formations gorgeously lit by Jiyoun Chang, the actors deliver stirring turns, while Huang Ruo’s Eastern-inflected score strikes all the right notes.

Entertainment Weekly

Director May Adrales’ staging fully mines the play’s emotional richness. Performing on Mimi Lien’s abstract set featuring large sculptural formations gorgeously lit by Jiyoun Chang, the actors deliver stirring turns, while Huang Ruo’s Eastern-inflected score strikes all the right notes.

Theater Mania

Director May Adrales’ staging fully mines the play’s emotional richness. Performing on Mimi Lien’s abstract set featuring large sculptural formations gorgeously lit by Jiyoun Chang, the actors deliver stirring turns, while Huang Ruo’s Eastern-inflected score strikes all the right notes.

Backstage

Director May Adrales’ staging fully mines the play’s emotional richness. Performing on Mimi Lien’s abstract set featuring large sculptural formations gorgeously lit by Jiyoun Chang, the actors deliver stirring turns, while Huang Ruo’s Eastern-inflected score strikes all the right notes.

New York Post

May Adrales intelligently directs, emphasizing the themes of ethnic isolation and the struggling emergence of Asian-American identity. If the first production of Dance and the Railroad brought attention to Hwang as an original voice in American theater, this revival points up how much he has increased our consciousness of Asian Americans and their not-so-easy assimilation into American culture.

Curtain Up

A graceful, extended climax (sensitively directed by May Adrales), in which the men collaborate on an “opera” of Ma’s terrible journey to the West, deepens the piece immeasurably.

Time Out New York

May Adrales’s elegant, spare, beautifully visualized production gives Hwang’s cunningly economical play a poetic feel, without scanting its underlying anguish. Both actors do well; their silences do a lot of the talking. Wu’s intense impassivity as he rehearses his stylized motions is particularly riveting.”

The Village Voice

The Electric Baby

Director May Adrales has added size to what has heretofore been regarded as an intimate, delicate play …
Given the size and scope of Zadravec’s subject, Adrales’ staging is a perfect fit for it. The strong impact of her
production in a small capacity theatre is exhilarating.

Exeunt Magazine

Director May Adrales has added size to what has heretofore been regarded as an intimate, delicate play …
Given the size and scope of Zadravec’s subject, Adrales’ staging is a perfect fit for it. The strong impact of her
production in a small capacity theatre is exhilarating.

Talkin Broadway

Director May Adrales creates a fluid and cohesive production, eliciting wonderful performances from her cast and bringing out both the humor and the drama with equal skill. The tone is equal parts magical and realistic, and Adrales’ blend works nicely.

Stage Magazine

May Adrales direct a heartfelt, entrancing production.

NJ.com

Stefanie Zadravec’s new play deftly wove together stories of relationships and family in a way that defied laws of coincidence but made for an entrancing story. The play explored grief and empathy, including welcome doses of humor and folklore, with a unique, heartfelt voice. May Adrales directed a moving production with a strong cast.

NJ.com

The imperceptible magic that pervades human existence and the power of myth to assuage sorrow are invoked by the playwright Stefanie Zadravec as she entwines the lives of strangers in “The Electric Baby,” a gently touching new drama at the Two River Theater Company in Red Bank.  A mix of expressionism and magical realism… The Electric Baby is capably directed here with a confident hand by May Adrales.

NY Times

The Mountainop

You could just feel the audience hold its collective breath at tense moments, hear it laughing hysterically
at others and see it shed tears as the end of the play

Third Coast Digest

Adrales, who is young and an Artistic Associate at the Rep, has a sensibility about things that goes far beyond her years. She has plotted a path for her actors and created a navigable forest through which they can steam.

On Milwaukee

The Wife

Unnerving and intense … what we are watching is a world coughing up on the lines of separation that we have created throughout the years.

Brooklyn Rail

The production transforms with swift fluidity thanks to May Adrales‘s dynamic direction.

L Magazine

The director, May Adrales, gets excellent performances from her cast.

NYTimes

Tokyo Fish Story

Director May Adrales and her crack team create an environment we can totally believe in, even when it’s a dreamscape. Kimber Lee has an excellent ear for language and its musicality. The characters and their relationships are intriguing and wonderfully portrayed.

KSDS Jazz 88

Beautifully executed! Charming and uplifting!

ArtRocks

Vivid Performances! Such a pleasure to watch—the acting is so uniformly fine!

Talkin Broadway

Immersive—rich in atmosphere and plenty entertaining!

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Trouble Cometh

The story is a cleverly constructed, deceptively simple-seeming labyrinth, skillfully directed by May Adrales so that each twist lands with subtly disorienting or maximum comic, game-changing effect. 

San Francisco Chronicle

Thanks to May Adrales’ stage direction and Nina Ball’s killer set, this thing cooks.

Stark Insider

Vietgone

Top Ten of 2016!  May Adrales’s high-octane staging moves so swiftly and surely, you may not initially appreciate the buckets of ​stagecraft she & Nguyen throw at us scene after scene. In design and pacing, the production ransacks the aesthetics of comix and grind house, applying their flashy framing & penchant for sex, drugs and violence to a dead-serious story of war, displacement & assimilation.

Timeout

“Vietgone” has many pleasures — including jazzy comic performances from an excellent cast, several in multiple roles, under May Adrales’s direction.

The New York Times

The whole Manhattan Theatre Club production, from its outstanding ensemble to its resourceful director, May Adrales, is in perfect synch with Nguyen’s deranged yet heartfelt vision.

The New Yorker

Under the dynamic direction of May Adrales.

LA Times

LA Times Critics Pick! directed with controlled spunk by May Adrales

LA Times

Vietgone 2: Poor Yella Rednecks

This hilariously audacious sequel, just like its first installment, is once again under the confident direction of May Adrales, who helms this exceedingly more purposely amped-up production with a game openness to showcase any of the fantastical scenarios cooked up by Nguyen’s imaginative genre-bending script, which whizzes back and forth from soapy melodrama and angsty, explosively-delivered hip-hop rhymes, to wacky sitcom-style vignettes, comic book-flavored sequences, and even, yes, AVENUE Q-style puppetry!

Broadwayworld.com

the talented May Adrales is directing and once again dollops of vintage and contemporary pop culture are crucial ingredients in a playwriting brew that has the characters rap their feelings when words seem inadequate to the task.

LA Times

Yellow Man

A brilliant piece of staging by director May Adrales

ThirdCoast Digest

A brilliant piece of staging by director May Adrales

Journal Sentinel