The Barbarians (2025)

 
 

DESCRIPTION
Countries are made of laws, and laws are made of words. So are plays. How strange.

“The Barbarians” is an imaginative, word-drunk romp through that strangeness, a play about a description of a play about a group of scientists gumming up the linkage between language and political power (much to Madam President Fake President’s chagrin). The Barbarians nestles in the valley between the word and the world, the declaration of war and the war itself — what if the President declared a war, but the words wouldn’t work?

“Only increasing in nauseating resonance by the day”
- Vulture (one of “18 Plays and Musicals [they] Can’t Wait to See”)

Written by Jerry Lieblich
Directed by Paul Lazar
Cast: Chloe Claudel; Jess Barbagallo*; Anne Gridley; Jennifer Ikeda*; Steve Mellor*; Naren Weiss*
*Equity Approved Showcase
PSM: Carter White
PM/TD: Eric Nightengale
Scenic Designer: Amy Rubin
Costume Designer: Suzanne Bocanegra
Lighting Designer: Joe Levasseur
Sound Designer: Johnny Gasper
Video Designer: CultureHub
Props/Asst. Scenic Designer: Forest Entsminger
Asst. Costume/ASM: Eva Rubin
Graphic Designer: June Buck
PR: Girlie Action
Producer: Leigh Honigman
Associate Producers: Matthew Antoci, McKenna Harrington

PRESS

“A wildly silly satire of politics and war that doubles as a metatheatrical exploration of how plays summon worlds out of language. It’s batty and unhinged and just what you want from a three-week run at LaMama.”
-Adam Feldman, TimeOut NY

“The results are a tongue-twisting tumble of fun. Listening to the frenetic flow of Lieblish is a consistently brain-tickling treat, like drinking seltzer through your ears.”
-Sara Holdren, Vulture

"Frenetic, hilarious and provocative... it arrives at La MaMa at this right time of national discord."
- Darryl Reilly, Theater Scene

"It’s a grand, silly old time, energetically staged by Paul Lazar...Steve Mellor [...] is especially terrific"
- Joey Sims, Theaterly

“The Barbarians attacks your sense-making faculties from all fronts as each new twist asks for your patience and imagination to play along with the cast.”
-Jeff Careyva, Culturebot

“Like a mad scientist—or a presidential speechwriter—Lieblich dismantles English, then reassembles it, planting tripwires between the syllables.”
-Max Topanga

INTERVIEWS AND ADVANCED PRESS

  • David Driver interviews Paul Lazar and Jerry Lieblich in BOMB

  • Kyle Turner interviews Paul and Jerry in The Brooklyn Rail

  • Eve Bromberg interviews Paul and Jerry in Culturebot

  • Paul and Jerry discuss the show on Stage Whisper

  • Paul Lazar and Jerry Lieblich interview each other on Talkhouse

  • A radio interview on WPPM

  • New York Magazine lists The Barbarians as one of 25 things to do this week

  • TimeOut NY calls The Barbarians one of the Best Off-Broadway shows to see this Spring

  • Vulture names The Barbarians one of 18 Shows to See this Season


DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
Dixon Place, NYC - Workshop Production, June 2018
Directed by: Paul Lazar
Featuring: Craig Wesley Divino, Anne Gridley, Sharina Martin, Steve Mellor, Bhavesh Patel, Jenny Seastone, Geoff Sobelle, Stacey Yen

PRELUDE Festival, NYC - Excerpt Presentation, October 2017
Directed by: Paul Lazar
Featuring: Lizzie Fox, Zoe Geltman, Anne Gridley Matt Korahais, Ying Li

New York Theater Workshop, NYC - Reading, October 2017
Directed by: Paul Lazar
Featuring: Eliza Bent, Lizzie Fox, Anne Gridley, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Matt Korahais, Annie McNamara, Ying Li, and Scott Shepherd

Uncanny Valley, NYC - Reading, June 2017
Directed by: Jerry Lieblich
Featuring: Janice Amaya, Kate Benson, Brooke Bloom, Lizzie Fox, Zoe Geltman, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Ying Li, and Derek Smith