The Balusters review: David Lindsay-Abaire's play about a homeowners association dabbles in sitco...

Pulitzer Prize winner David LindsayAbaire explores the complexities of community, nostalgia, and values in a play centered on members of an HOA. The Balusters review: David LindsayAbaire's play about a homeowners association dabbles in sitcom stereotypes Pulitzer Prize winner David LindsayAbaire explores the complexities of community, nostalgia, and values in a play centered on members of an HOA. By Mekishana Pierre :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/MekishanaPierreauthorphotoed08906b8105488ca1e991de8ac00dec.jpg) Mekishana Pierre Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at .

Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire explores the complexities of community, nostalgia, and values in a play centered on members of an HOA.

The Balusters review: David Lindsay-Abaire's play about a homeowners association dabbles in sitcom stereotypes

Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire explores the complexities of community, nostalgia, and values in a play centered on members of an HOA.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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April 21, 2026 9:30 p.m. ET

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The cast of 'The Balusters'. Credit:

Who knew a stoplight could lead to the complete undoing of a grown man? Probably anyone who's been part of their homeowners association.

Believe it or not, the very idea of a stoplight is the source of the chaos at the center of Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire's *The Balusters*, but there's much more beneath the simple premise. The play uses the one point of contention to explore the complexities of community, nostalgia, and values in a play that uses a simple formula: get a group of people together and let them talk.

But it isn't *just *talking when the Vernon Point Neighborhood Association gathers to hash out the trials and tribulations of their friends and neighbors; it's a circus, a conclave — even a battle royale. And it all comes tumbling down when a newcomer arrives armed with enthusiasm and some self-righteous moral indignation that proves more than anyone excepted, and more than enough to topple the reigning power structure.

While that may seem like an exaggeration — which goes hand-in-hand with some of *The Balusters *more heavy-handed pontification — director Kenny Leon ensures that playgoers understand how the Vernon Point Neighborhood Association is, in its own way, an oligarchy.

Anika Noni Rose and Carl Clemons-Hopkins in 'The Balusters'.

When the play begins, fans are introduced to the members of the Vernon Point Neighborhood Association one by one as they arrive at the home of newcomer Kyra Marshall, who has volunteered to host a meeting in her newly decorated home. This interior will be the play's sole set, beautifully produced by Derek McLane. Kyra's parlor is the perfect setup for the regular Association meetings that take place; featuring tastefully colorful furniture situated around one couch, a secretary desk and several accent chairs — enough seating for at least nine people. Artwork by African American artists is a dominant feature in the space, as well as a fireplace with photos of the Marshall family arranged on the mantel.

Anika Noni Rose dons the role of Kyra as easily as she sports the brightly colored, stylish "mom fits" put together by costumer Emilio Sosa. The Tony Award winner embraces the messy contradictions that save Kyra from being a holier-than-thou party-pooper, and leans into her fiery temper that rears its head when the mother of two is met with resistance in the form of Elliott Emerson (played by Richard Thomas), the president of the association.

In turn, Elliot is infuriatingly smug as he rules over the association and serves as Kyra's foil — although as the show progresses, viewers may begin to see some similarities between the two that strike a chord.

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Throughout the show's one hour and 45 minute run, the other members of the association — Marylouise Burke as Penny Bewell, Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Brooks Duncan, Margaret Colin as Ruth Ackerman, Kayli Carter as Willow Gibbons, Ricardo Chavira as Isaac Rosario, Michael Esper as Alan Kirby, Maria-Christina Oliveras as Luz Baccay, Jeena Yi as Melissa Han — grapple for stable footing as Kyra and Elliot go to war over the former's suggestion of installing a stop sign on the corner of the enclave's prettiest block.

As Kyra points out, her suggestion comes from observing the continued car accidents occurring at the intersection. Unbeknownst to her, the proposal stirs indignation with Elliott, who argues that the installation would "diminish the character of the block" — to the ire of Kyra. "You think a stop sign is uglier than a dead child. I don't," she retorts at one point.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Margaret Colin, Michael Esper, and Jeena-yi in 'The Balusters'.

As Elliott and Kyra butt heads over their opposing views, their association peers use the growing fractures within the group to air out their own grievances against each other, providing some of the play's funniest moments, as well as its more sanctimonious ones. This is where Lindsay-Abaire toes the line between exploring how everyone has a blind spot and reveling in the generational stereotypes that are more suited for sitcoms from the early '00s.

Colin's Ruth is practically an homage to the lovable but terrible characters from those TV comedies —with quips about a Jewish woman of means having a German housekeeper that will draw both laughs and groans from audience members. The seemingly instantaneous connection between Kyra and Clemons-Hopkins' Brooks, as the only Black members of the association, is predictable, if not entertaining.

Marylouise Burke, Maria Christina Oliveras, and Anika Noni Rose in 'The Balusters'.

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The constant friction between Carter's Willow, Chavira's Isaac, and Esper's Alan, is also predictable as the older men chafe at constantly being checked by the younger women, but their gripes are some of the weaker beats of the story as they're never given anything truly substantial to bite on beyond comedic blips.

The true shining star of the show is undeniably Burke's Penny, serving as the comedic relief that thankfully treads on several tension-filled moments before they venture into beating a dead horse.

The cast of 'The Balusters'.

By the time *The Balusters *reaches its conclusion, the play has forced its characters and audience to explore the intricacies of racism, discrimination, privilege, and those annoying biases that we all contain, and asked the question of how we determine a bad person is a bad person. It's uncomfortable, hokey (in a respectable way, most of the time), and keen, although it could do with a bit of sharpening in some elements.

And while the Vernon Point Neighborhood Association finds a resolution that satisfies most of its members, it leaves some hurting, a few wondering if they've done the right thing, and others deciding to push the burden of responsibility onto others. A prime example of when art imitates life. **Grade: B–**

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Source: Theater

Published: April 22, 2026 at 09:01AM on Source: MANUEL MAG

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