Downtown theater pushed explicit and outrageous staging of political subject matter.

Evidence

The inordinate length of the opening tableaux, he thought, justified the theater’s reputation as “psychedelic,” just as clouds of incense authenticated the play’s self-description as “smell-o-drama.” Vaccaro’s stunning mise-en-scène filled the stage with starving masses—most obviously a randy untouchable with a two-foot boner—writhing, rioting, and eating garbage while mimicking the positions of the Kama Sutra. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 952

Categorization

• CANDY: The two-foot boner and ‘smell-o-drama’ incense gags are genuinely lightweight conversation-worthy details.