world premiere production
by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, directed by Danya Taymor, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, LCT3 & Broadway
costumes: Dede M Ayite (Steppenwolf), Sarafina Bush (LCT3/Broadway); lighting: Marcus Doshi; sound: Ray Nardelli (Steppenwolf), Justin Ellington (LCT3/Broadway)
film directed by Spike Lee, produced by Amazon Studios
Steppenwolf cast: Jon Michael Hill, Julian Parker, Ryan Hallahan. LCT3 & Broadway cast: Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood, Gabriel Ebert
Drama Desk Award nomination: Outstanding Scenic Design for a Play
Lucille Lortel Award nomination: Outstanding Scenic Design
Henry Hewes Design Award nomination: Scenic Design
Lucille Lortel Award winner: Outstanding Play
Top 10 Best Plays of the Year: New York Times, The Wrap, Slant, Towleroad
Top 50 Best Films of the Decade, Yardbarker
Top 50 Best Plays of the 21st Century, Evening Standard
New York Times Critic's Pick
Best New Play, Jeff Award winner
Best Play of the Year, Time Out Chicago
"In the last 10 minutes, its innate surrealism fully flowers in a daring and self-consciously theatrical way. The transformation is gorgeously rendered in Wilson Chin’s scenic design, Marcus Doshi’s lighting, Justin Ellington’s sound and even, in their removal, Sarafina Bush’s costumes."– Jesse Green, The New York Times
"The play’s breathtaking ending, in which Biblical truths seem to materialize before our eyes, is marked by an unexpected grace and benevolence, even a suggestion that the world as it is constituted today– marked by division and racism– may one day pass away, to reveal a better, brighter one, a new Eden you might even say."– Charles Isherwood, Broadway News
"Wilson Chin's ideal set, striking in itself, also hints at the historical connections with its grimy streetlamp standing in for Beckett's sad tree and its slice of sidewalk surrounded by a desert of sand. All contribute at a high level to the feeling of theatrical entrapment. Blazingly theatrical, thrillingly tense."– Jesse Green, The New York Times
“Unforgettable Theater Moments of 2018: In “Pass Over”, Antoinette Nwandu’s powerful contemporary reimagining of “Waiting for Godot,” a picnic basket contains a bottomless (and ridiculous) array of delicacies, from string beans to apple pie, goji berries to turkey legs, collard greens to dim sum. There is meaning, here, about the haves and have-nots, but there is also spectacle – watching a menacingly mild Gabriel Ebert extract the impossible bounty from a dainty basket was unexpected stagecraft that had to be seen to be believed.” – Michael Paulson, The New York Times
"At every design and performance level, Danya Taymor’s glossy production is superbly realized and executed. With a massive assist from Wilson Chin’s set, they end on a spectacular, surreal note of redemption, a plea for utopian empathy. Rather than wallow in tragic futility, Nwandu breaks the circle. The world we return to may not be the promised land, but it can be better. What are we waiting for?"– David Cote, Observer
"Wilson Chin's wasteland set contributes mightily to the suspense. The stark cityscape now opens up for a grand finale that is a real coup de theatre that is sure to dazzle."– Robert Hofler, The Wrap
"Special kudos go to scenic designer Wilson Chin, whose work is nothing less than extraordinary."– Brian Scott Lipton, CititourNY
"The dynamic staging makes exceptional use of the width of the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre, sending genuinely disturbing attacks on the psyche across horizontal lines before packing a climactic punch in the vertical."– Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
"Wilson Chin has designed a distinctive, arrestingly simple set: a lamppost, a toppled water fountain and a jagged, filthy stretch of street that serves as a strong canvas for this abstract work."– Adelaide Lee, Theater Mania
"The hyper-theatrical world, sparely designed by Wilson Chin, is animated by theatrical magic."– Martha Steketee, Clyde Fitch Report
"Wilson Chin's scenic design is stark and barren. The stage is a tank and they are fish trapped within it."– Emma Terhaar, Third Coast Review
"Wilson Chin's stark set is a slab surrounded by sand, eerily resembling a huge child's playground."– Lawrence Bommer, Stage and Cinema
"The design elements in Pass Over fully entrench us in Moses and Kitch's world. Wilson Chin's sparce set design makes complete dramaturgical sense. The space is mostly barren, and the stage is surrounded by sand, suggesting the desert that needs to be crossed en route to the Promised Land."– Rachel Weinberg, Broadway World
