Press

ROAD KILLS by sophie mcintosh

“Nina Goodheart’s guignol production does wonders in a space smaller than a passenger seat, and the tiny space ensures that Mia Sinclair Jenness’s stunning performance makes a lethal impact. Good Apples Collective & McIntosh are exciting voices in the body-horror / youth-disaffection space; if you want your theater with A24 vibes, this is your show.”  — Helen Shaw

“Working within the conventions of the mismatched two-hander, Sophie McIntosh continues her subversion of genre with Road Kills, which pairs a kind-hearted carrion collector with a bratty college student fulfilling a six-week community service sentence.  It also reteams the playwright with the director Nina Goodheart, with whom she operates the Good Apples theater collective.  As in last year’s surreal cunnicularii, the two collaborators create a world of both great, heightened theatricality and poignant, earthy humanity…. A preternatural master of mood, Goodheart reassembles some of the cunnicularii team to create a similarly cinematic effect.”  — Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely

 “Director Nina Goodheart's whimsical theatricality contributed greatly to the success of [last year’s cunnicularii], but as director of Road Kills, her excellent work is grounded in subtle naturalism…. Goodheart and McIntosh are the co-leaders of the play's producing company, Good Apples Collective…. [I]f talent, originality, and the ability to tell evocative stories count for anything, I'll expect this company to eventually become a major influence in this city's theatre scene.”  — Michael Dale, Talkin’ Broadway

 “I suppose it is not surprising that a play called Road Kills — a play that opens with the corpse of a young fawn at center stage, ironically loomed over by a Deer Crossing road sign — wends its way through a series of dark and darker turns…. What is surprising, and pleasantly, is the high degrees of nuance, emotional complexity, and wry humor in both Sophie McIntosh’s script and Nina Goodheart’s remarkably buoyant direction.” — Loren Noveck, Exeunt

 “Road Kills is a superbly written, multilayered play by Sophie McIntosh, masterfully directed by Nina Goodheart. The play explores the concept of empathy as it relates to the death of an animal, and by extension, to emotionally charged interactions between people. It touches on the difference between sympathy and empathy in a subtle and measured way, uncovering emotional aspects of the two protagonists that were not even apparent to themselves.” — Scotty Bennett, TheatreScene.net

“Nina Goodheart directs with a similar economy and intelligence, balancing the laugh-out-loud humor with the constant undercurrent of tension. It feels ‘hands off’ but it isn’t. Maybe that’s what’s so striking — it all feels ‘hands off,’ yet without any danger of spinning out of control…. This is a play about damage, but McIntosh has written with such precision and Goodheart has handled so skillfully, you feel the damage, but you do not feel damaged.” — Sarah Downes, The Front Row Center

“Goodheart’s directorial hand is light but unmistakable. She threads the play’s humor and heartbreak with such precision that the tonal shifts never feel jarring, only inevitable.” — Tony Marinelli, Theater Beyond Broadway

“In art as in life, there is captivating drama to be mined when mismatched strangers are thrown together by circumstance. So it is in Sophie McIntosh’s Road Kills currently in an Off-Off-Broadway run after a well-received series of readings…. As staged by director Nina Goodheart … the meticulous attention to detail heightens the intimacy of the performance.” — Cathy Hammer, The Unforgettable Line

“Playwright Sophie McIntosh explores relationships between animals and humans — and humans with one another — in her powerful, beautifully staged new play…. Road Kills has an intensely realistic and relatable feel to it. It’s exquisitely directed by Nina Goodheart…. [D]espite being such a small space with primarily only two actors, there is always something new to see or hear.” — Mark Rifkin, This Week in New York

“Director Nina Goodheart excels in juggling morality…. Nina Goodheart and Sophie McIntosh prove to be a match made in heaven, with unflinching writing and gorgeous direction that [bring] true honesty from actors in every show from their Good Apples Collective.” — Jazzy Pedroza-Watson, Hi! Drama

“[L]ife is a highway; you’re either behind the wheel or splattered across the median line; sometimes both. Tight, perfectly paced direction by Nina Goodheart of the resourceful Good Apples Collective. [...] Great scene transitions with mini-audio-dramas introducing that day’s interstate carrion, and then reveals of the aftermath.” — David Cote, theater critic for Observer

CUNNICULARII by sophie mcintosh

“Sophie McIntosh's cunnicularii at Good Apples Collective is a sly, shoestring-budget cabinet-of-wonders… Nina Goodheart's production happens in a space not much larger than a glassed-in porch, but [Camille] Umoff's precisely calibrated trembling — the sheen of one tear in each eye, the way she blinks at her doctor's rudeness — is seamlessly naturalistic, even from only a foot or so away. cunnicularii isn't some 1:1 parable about postpartum depression; it's a humanist mystery in the absurdist tradition.” — Helen Shaw

“A swiftly cinematic marvel under Nina Goodheart’s impressively balletic direction… There’s a dreaminess to the production, which Goodheart directs with a fantastic sense of stagecraft, featuring fluid transitions and reveals that move the plot forward, and the play towards its intended daze.” — Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely

“[In] director Nina Goodheart‘s crisp and attention-grabbing production… there’s a deep and compelling subtext burrowed beneath the whimsical surface.” — Michael Dale, Theater Pizzazz

“cunnicularii, beautifully written by Sophie McIntosh and sensitively directed by Nina Goodheart… is a beautifully realized drama, both funny and serious. If you enjoy good theater, with solid acting, it will be very much worth the effort to see this production. The creative team does an extraordinary job.” — Scotty Bennett, TheatreScene.net

“Nina Goodheart’s direction is immensely precise right down to the multifunctional set and blocking, creating a seamless flow for the audience.” — Amanda Montoni, Theatre Beyond Broadway

cityscrape by sophie mcintosh

“cityscrape marks the engrossing debut production from McIntosh and director Nina Goodheart's Good Apples Collective.” — John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards, Thinking Theater NYC

“Dialogue is not the only place where cityscrape excels. In fact, though the exchanges are captivating, I’d argue it’s not the strongest part of the show. Silent action provides even more. McIntosh’s script meets director Nina Goodheart’s vision in a sublime way: the foreshadowing of mental disorder and addiction, of possession and implosion, begins from the very moment we meet these two ladies. Whether it’s Kitt’s migration to the bar cart or Kat’s growing pile of carrots, the seeds of disaster are planted with masterful understatement. As an audience, one’s subconscious knows exactly where this train is headed, and it makes the wreck all the more wrenching… The partnership between Goodheart and McIntosh epitomizes what makes this play so successful. I was blown away by the ensemble effort of this artistic team… [A]ll in all, McIntosh and Goodheart’s inaugural piece is a heart-clenching joy.” — Rhiannon Ling, The Theatre Times