A young man with light skin and wavy brown hair and a short beard and mustache. He is smiling and wears a suit and tie.

Kiran Pandey

BSR Contributor Since December 6, 2022

Kiran Pandey (he/him) is a writer based in Philadelphia.

Kiran Pandey is a writer based in Philadelphia. He is also an editorial assistant with Princeton University Press, a crossword constructor with bylines in the New York Times, a high school tutor, and an improviser.

By this Author

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Book cover. An abstract illustration in purple, yellow, blue, and orange, with author and title in white.

The Book of I.P., by Chris Courtney Martin

Poetry against the machine
In The Book of I.P., a poetry-and-essay chapbook collection, Philly native Chris Courtney Martin breaks from the strictures of Hollywood to craft a blazing manifesto of art on its own terms. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Scallen, Finister, and Robbins pose backstage, standing on a spiral staircase.

1812 Productions and Jennifer Childs present Broads

Legendary “naughty” comedy
1812 Productions presents Broads, a hit cabaret that celebrates the bawdiest, boldest, and funniest ladies of the 1920s through the 1960s. Kiran Pandey previews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Previews 2 minute read
Hall & Jackson, playing 2 Black teens in 90s wear, face each other in a bedroom, hands touching in what might be a greeting

Hedgerow Theatre Company presents Ngozi Anyanwu’s Good Grief

How do we document sorrow?
Good Grief, in its regional premiere at Hedgerow Theatre Company, offers a sometimes touching, mostly frustrating, portrayal of grief. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 3 minute read
Gliko in white feathers, stands in front of a circular blue-lit window. Rishard & Kidwell sit on a beanbag looking at Pierce.

Wilma Theater presents Nathan Alan Davis’s Eternal Life Part 1

The times we create
Eternal Life Part 1, in its world premiere at the Wilma, offers a vision of the near future that is as strange and wondrous as it is relatable. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 3 minute read
6 ensemble members in a motley range of costumes appear to be having a picnic on the black floor of the stage.

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Henry IV, Part 2

The “Extreme Shakespeare” Henriad continues
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival opens its 2023 season with Henry IV, Part 2, a joyous restaging that succeeds in ragtag style, despite a few dramatic missteps. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Posing together on a low wooden deck, the three characters interact warily in colorful, multi-textured costumes.

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival presents Shakespeare’s The Tempest

The formal tension of Shakespeare’s last storm
Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival closes its 2023 season with bold comedic swings and infrequent wonder in an ultimately uneven Tempest. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
The cast poses together, wearing ordinary clothes, against a beige background, some serious, some sad, some worried.

Theatre in the X presents Charles Fuller’s Zooman and the Sign

Timely, audacious Philly theater
Theatre in the X celebrates its 10th anniversary with Zooman and the Sign, a tremendous rumination on community violence in Philadelphia that is all too resonant today. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Two older white men with gray hair look outward together against an outdoor backdrop of green trees.

Philly Fringe 2023: Kingfisher Theatre presents Odysseus

Let us tell of a man
Bill George brings Odysseus to the Philly Fringe, a one-man retelling of The Odyssey that captivates in returning the poem to its rhetorical origins. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 3 minute read
Finding Melania BSR 9 13 23

Philly Fringe 2023: Denise Stephenson presents Finding Melania

A haunting and hilarious dinner party of the mind
Denise Stephenson invokes the specter of our former First Lady in Finding Melania, a one-woman show at the Philly Fringe that offers a surreal portrait of complicity and alienation. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 3 minute read
A female actor in black seriously addresses audience members seated in a bar, pointing one finger at them.

Philly Fringe 2023: Spanking Macbeth and Macbeth in a Bar

Where Shakespeare’s never done
The 2023 Philly Fringe takes on Macbeth in two different shows: Spanking Macbeth, an original play, and Macbeth in a Bar, a restaging at Lilly’s Ferry. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Graham, a white man with white stubble, wearing an Eagles jersey & Phillies hat, sits in a bar holding a beer bottle.

Hedgerow Theatre Company presents Bruce Graham’s The Philly Fan

The story at the heart of the game
The Philly Fan, in an updated version at Hedgerow Theatre starring playwright Bruce Graham, surveys 50 years of Philadelphia sports through the thoughtful perspective of one man in a bar. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Scene from the play: Jones, Wallace & Stewart sit at a round dominoes table; Robinson stands and looks away, worried.

People’s Light presents Steve H. Broadnax III’s Bonez

Social horror on stage
People’s Light brings social horror to the stage with the world premiere of Steve H. Broadnax III’s Bonez, which boasts eerie technical wizardry but is stymied by a script that too often gets in its own way. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
On a plush blue chaise under blue lights, Ladd, in shirt, pants & suspenders, yells at curly-haired Niebauer, who leans away

Quintessence Theatre Group presents Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit

An eternity of being known
Quintessence Theatre Group conjures a classic vision of hell with Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit in a new translation by Alex Burns. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Bedford, a white woman with brown hair wearing a green blazer, poses smiling next to a podium and US flag.

Arden Theatre Company presents Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me

Breathing in the grip of the framers
Arden Theatre Company presents Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me, a play that is as alternately illuminating and frustrating as our founding document. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read
Six cast members pose on the steps of a blue-lit stoop with Coleman, a Black woman in a sleeveless orange costume, at center

The Kimmel Cultural Campus and the Shubert Organization present the national tour of Company

Still in good company with Sondheim
Sondheim still abounds despite his recent passing, and the new tour of Company takes a gender swap to the 1970 story, with uneven results that nevertheless keep the joy of the show alive. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 4 minute read