Billy McEntee
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  • Photo by Jake White
    Billy McEntee is a Brooklyn-based writer. He’s a freelance arts journalist (The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Interview, Vanity Fair) and theatermaker who recently co-created the extended, “recommended” (Vulture) play The Voices in Your Head at St. Lydia’s.

    As Theater Editor of the Brooklyn Rail, Billy started Rail Shorts, a biannual series publishing mini-plays, and contributes monthly essays analyzing new works, particularly experimental plays with shorter runs that receive less coverage. These responses aim to crack open a play to reveal its dramaturgy, rigor, and intention.

    Billy was the inaugural Helbing Fellow for the American Theatre Critics Association. He also teaches with The School of The New York Times and is the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s director for the Institute of Theater Journalism and Advocacy. Billy graduated cum laude from Boston College and loves his home state, New Jersey.

    Get in touch @billymcentee or williamjude92@gmail.com.

    Photo by Jake White
    Billy McEntee is a freelance critic and reporter with a decade of experience covering theater, film, TV, books, queer culture, and more. Some favorite clips that have sparked controversy, humor, and appreciation are below:

    The Boston Globe op-ed about how Conclave was 2024's gayest film
    The Washington Post essay about Junebug on its anniversary
    San Francisco Chronicle Q&A with Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer-winning author of Less
    Interview Q&A with Theresa Buchheister, The Brick’s former artistic director
    Vanity Fair feature on Lynn Nottage, the only Black female playwright with two Pulitzers
    American Theatre profile of Nicki Cochrane, the website's most-read article in 2024
    them essay about Paul Mescal’s character’s depression in Aftersun
    Observer ranking of Off-Broadway’s bathrooms
    The Brooklyn Rail essay on Jim Parsons’ characters rarely having sex, analysis of mall culture in one experimental play, and the first profile of playwright Will Arbery
    Billy McEntee creates special experiences, often site-specific theater and events.
    The Voices in Your Head
    Co-created by Grier Mathiot and Billy McEntee
    Directed by Ryan Dobrin
    St. Lydia’s, Jan 2024 and Sep–Oct 2024 (produced by Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective)

    A sold-out, extended, site-specific dark comedy, The Voices in Your Head is about a support group for people who share a bizarre bond.

    “A bracing reminder of how exhilarating a show can be when it connects one person — onstage, in the audience — with the world.”
    Elisabeth Vincentelli for The New York Times

    “Warm, witty, bonkers. If you need a morsel of sweet weirdness, acted by top-shelf Off-Off megastars, try The Voices in Your Head.”
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker critic

    “The play eases you into the rhythms of its little community, pivots into wider ruminations on death, and then breaks into an energetic and cathartic finale.”
    Jackson McHenry for Vulture
    Geraldine Realigned Drives from Gay Place to Gay Place and You’re in the Car Too
    Co-created by Cam Cronin and Billy McEntee
    Directed by Ryan Dobrin
    The Brick, Feb 2023 and May 2024

    A one-person show with a twist, this vulnerable comedy asks how do we get to where we want to go? A communion, road trip, and pilgrimage-turned-presentation-turned-performance, Geraldine Realigned covers a lot of gay ground in 60 minutes. Buckle up for a ride like no other.

    “A work about self-actualization, competing human desires, conversations not had, and making peace with parts of yourself you’d rather think away.”
    Eve Bromberg for Culturebot
    Amazon Trust
    Written by Billy McEntee
    Creative Directed and Produced by Matthew Dailey
    Experiential Marketing by Autumn Communications
    105 Wooster Street, May 2024

    Online gossip girl DeuxMoi narrated an immersive, invite-only event about how to detect fraud while shopping with Amazon. Audiences walked through five unique rooms to watch different scenes and choreographed dances to test their knowledge of online scams.
    Poster for Kill Your Friends.
    Kill Your Friends
    Billy creates bespoke murder mysteries for parties of five and up — get a sense of the fun here! These events cost $25 per person and consist of a three-act structure, mapped out with the party organizer for turnkey ease. Previous themes include White Lotus: Thailand, the Paris Olympics, a farmers market, The Real Housewives of Williamsburg, a ten-year reunion for a failed CW show, and more. You pick the theme, and then you kill your friends. Email williamjude92@gmail.com for more info.