The Milk Can Theatre Company's next production offers theatrical portraits of each of New York City's five boroughs. A workshop company founded by members of the Looking Glass Theatre's Lab program, The 5 Borough Plays promises an evening of varied content, from the existential tale of two sock puppets waiting for the Staten Island Ferry (Stan and Illy Wait for the Coming) to the more straightforward A Visit to the Bronx.

The "About Us" page of Milk Can's website is particularly interesting to peruse. It's rare that a theatre company offers such precise insights about their artistic vision on their homepage, and Milk Can's philosophies are audacious and admirable. Of particular note are their reflections on storytelling and connection with the audience, excerpted below:

Theatre must be about something. "Seinfeld" was the show about nothing -highly entertaining and often clever, but it didn't have the power to affect. We believe that the power of theatre is the power to transform the viewer - to truly change that person. The Milk Can Theatre Company strives to produce plays that have a strong point-of-view without being preachy...

...we do make a distinction between plot and story. Plot is like pearls on a string - one pearl follows the next pearl until the strand is complete. Story is more like the effect of those pearls. "Seinfeld" always had a plot, but never a story. Ionesco, on the other hand, often has story, but very little plot...we want to engage the audience. Every theatrical performance is an event. It's different every time - each audience creates a certain kind of chemistry with the actors. The awareness of being in a theatre with live actors creates a heightened atmosphere. It's immediate, there's a risk, it's happening NOW. The theatre assaults the audience's senses - the scent of a cigarette wafts over the audience; the smoke from a fog machine engulfs the first few rows and brings the atmosphere of the scene out into the audience; an actor enters from the back of the audience creating surround sound; a chandelier falls over the audience creating a ripple of fear.