Amy Staats

Theater Reviews

Eddie and Dave

“The playwright Amy Staats’s teasing tribute to the cock-rock band Van Halen offers a smart and funny take on a variety of themes: nostalgia, the creative process, rock-star insecurity. But its masterstroke is to cast women as the band members, a choice that effortlessly transforms the play into a vivacious dissertation on the performance of gender. Staats herself is oddly touching as Eddie, an innocent often lost in the wilds of stardom. In a better world, this is what a Broadway jukebox musical would look like.”

— Rollo Romig, The New Yorker, Goings About Town

“The cast members, all first-rate, embody creeping disharmony with a smooth synchronicity that any athletic team would envy.

They are Marc Bovino, Joe Curnutte, Michael Dalto, Stephanie Wright Thompson and Stacey Yen. And, oh yes, Amy Staats, whose housebound character is more often heard than seen (through a speaker phone), adding an extra piquancy to the problems of communication.”

Ben Brantley, New York Times, Miles for Mary

“Currently Amy Poehler and Tiny Fey are the queens of the comedy world, but Megan Hill and Amy Staats are going to give them a run for their money”

Shoshana Roberts, Theater is Easy, The Last Class, A Jazzercize Play

"Amy Staats delivers a richly nuanced and detailed performance as Janice. It has often been written that Meryl Streep could give an interesting performance reading the phone book. I believe that the same can be said for Amy Staats. --Talkin Broadway- Bob Rendell for Janice Underwater

"Staats brings a subtle skepticism to Ashley that’s perfect ...when Ashley is face-to-face with this 200-pound beast, we can almost see her heart beat out of her chest. This. Is. Scary. Staats ably grounds the play with that notion...a notion that is so vital to include, given what Trevor and other chimpanzee pets are capable of" -Brett Epstein, Theatre is Easy for Trevor

“Staats’ work zings with a faux toughness ”-Andy Propst, Backstage, for Coney

“Ms. Staats is surprisingly sympathetic and believably misguided”
-Anita Gates New York Times for Tiny Bubbles

“The best work is being done by Amy Staats, vivid as a rebellious postulant and a hard-drinking NYC career girl longing for a husband-Eric Haagensen Backstage for Tiny Bubbles

"Hilarious and Heartbreaking... The evening's standout is Amy Staats as lowercase friend (and narrator) Enid... her radiant face will linger in your memory long after you leave the theater – Mark Peikart, Backstage.com PICK OF THE WEEK - What to do When YouHate All Your Friends

"Staats delivers a tour de force performance...that charmed me from the moment the play began."– Yahoo Broadway What to do When You Hate All Your Friends

..absorbing and often poignant, particularly AmyStaats' as the bereaved Belgian– Charles Isherwood, The New York Times -The Flid Show

"Edward Allan Baker tells a wrenching tale of loves found and lost, of broken hearts and betrayal, that speeds along on a powerhouse performance by Amy Staats"– Lawrence Van Gelder The New York Times - "Up Down Strange Charmed Beauty and Truth"