Written by Pulitzer-, Oscar-, and Tony-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley, The Pushover is currently enjoying its World Premiere at Manhattan’s Chain Theatre.  Directed by Kirk Gostkowski, the play expertly manages noir, psychological drama, and black comedy with an energetic, hard-working cast: The result is one of the most unique and exciting theater experiences of the 2025-2026 season.

At the center of The Pushover is the emotional interplay between the play’s three female characters.  The first of the three women whom we meet is Pearl Penny Chen, played by Di Zhu.  In the first scene, the audience gets to eavesdrop on a session between Pearl and her therapist (played with comedic cliché by Christopher Sutton)– and we learn a lot about Pearl in a short amount of time.  The interaction between the therapist and his client is quite funny. This humorous spirit established at the beginning of The Pushover never wavers, although that humor does indeed take on a darker tone as the piece progresses. (Put a pin in that…)  But back to Pearl: We learn that she has an affinity for white gloves.  We learn that she’s a chef.  We learn that she’s a self-described “pushover”, with a particular weakness for strong women. Most importantly, we learn that the eternal object of her desire is her ex-lover, a beautiful blonde named Evelyn (Rebecca De Mornay).  What we learn about Pearl in the first scene, however, is only an appetizer for what we suspect is a more elaborate backstory brimming underneath the surface. Our instincts prove to be correct… but just who is “Evelyn”?

Surely enough, in the second scene we do meet Evelyn, who is the queen bee of a so-called “residential spa” in New Mexico: one of those places that makes their “residents” check their phones away in plastic baggies and requires that they wear blindingly bright, tangerine-colored robes.  Evelyn is soon joined by Soochie (Christina Toth), a visitor to the spa who would eventually emerge as “le troisième” in the play’s emotional three-way.  Soochie is clearly a very different personality from Evelyn: She’s fragile, insecure, and no match for Evelyn’s domineering charms.  Pearl, from the first scene, comes into the scenario again, albeit only via conversation.  As it turns out, Soochie and Pearl were also, ahem, “acquainted”.  The plot that emerges is one of passion, manipulation, theft, and blackmail– both emotional blackmail and in the actual criminal sense.  

The Pushover boasts multiple climaxes.  One of them is the final confrontation between all three women, where tensions explode into actions– but, in continuation with the mood established in the first scene, it’s also not without some humor. In fact, it can be said that the more twisted the plot of The Pushover gets, the more darkly funny it gets as well. The entire cast is excellent, with the actors expertly taking advantage of the entire stage– both physically and by the weight of their acting strengths. Gostkowski’s direction is equally excellent. That said, this is Rebecca De Mornay’s show all the way.  De Mornay’s Evelyn initially comes off as a lovely “girl boss” who unapologetically tells it like it is. But by shortly afterward, Evelyn reveals herself to be manipulative, sadistic, and as cold as ice, with a particular delight in verbally degrading and taunting the other characters.  Still, she is a thrill to watch and undeniably charismatic, which is one of her weapons against the women in her life. To paraphrase a piece of pop culture from 2010: She may be bad, but she’s perfectly good at it.  The other characters, however, do give Evelyn as run for her money.  Thanks to Di Zhu’s performance, Pearl can truly hold her own against her former lover– especially when the two women engage in an emotionally tense game of cat and mouse (Two guesses as to which character is which…) in the play’s penultimate scene.  That scene is, by the way, is yet another “climax” of the play.  I’ll add that because of the dynamic between Evelyn and Pearl, The Pushover may be, dare I say, one of the most unorthodox love stories to hit the stage in years.  As for Soochie: Thanks to Christina Toth’s performance, the audience can immediately see just how VERY troubled this person is.  This is before Soochie goes, shall we say, “full tilt boogie” towards the second half of the play– when the character’s aforementioned social awkwardness explodes to a opened Pandora’s box of repressed emotional storm.

The Pushover is highly recommended!  

The Pushover by John Patrick Shanley continue through Sunday, April 26 at The Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36th St, NYC.  Tickets range from $45–$89 and are available at the Chain Theatre box office and online,  For more info and tickets, visit The Pushover — Chain Theatre. The cast features Rebecca De Mornay as Evelyn, Di Zhu as Pearl, Christina Toth as Soochie, and Christopher Sutton as the therapist. Chain Theatre Artistic Director Kirk Gostkowski is directing. The production features scenic design by Jackson Berkley, costume design by Debbi Hobson, lighting design by Dariel Garcia, and sound design by Greg Russ. Rafaella Rossi serves as stage manager with Megan Sophie Gore as assistant stage manager.