"Job" - by Max Wolf Friedlich - SpeakEasy Stage Company (Boston, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane" confronts Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" in a scene from "JOB" by Max Wolf Friedlich now playing at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA. until February 7, 2026. Photo credit: Benjamin Rose Photography)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“So I’m supposed to keep off my phone to engage with creepy old strangers like...? Get hit on or read yogurt ads - those are the two activities available to me on public transit.”
- (“Jane”) / Max Wolf Friedlich
SpeakEasy Stage Company
Presents Max Wolf Friedlich's
"JOB"
Written by Max Wolf Friedlich
Directed by Marianna Bassham
Cast Includes: Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" and Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane"
Additional Creative Team:
Production Stage Manager - Lisette van den Boogaard*; Assistant Stage Manager - Andrea McAdam; Assistant Director - Margaret Rankin; Sound Board op/Run Crew - Micah Pflaum; Wardrobe Supervisor - Samantha Wolfrum; Fight Choreographer - Matt Dray; Scenic Designer - Peyton Tavares; Costume Designer - E. Rosser; Lighting Designer - Amanda E. Fallon; Sound Designer - Lee Schuna; Props Coordinator - Emme Shaw.
*Member Of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in The United States
Performances:
January 16, 2026 through February 7, 2026
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood / BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. 02116
TICKETS:
Contact the Box Office # 617-933-8600 or visit www.speakeasystage.com
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
As the lights come up on SpeakEasy Stage Company’s latest production of "JOB" - we dive right into the drama, witnessing a moment of sheer panic as Jane (Josephine Moshiri Elwood) a woman who's forced to see a therapist due to a public breakdown, holds a gun on Loyd (Dennis Trainor, Jr.)…the therapist.
Probably not the best way to start a therapy session, but there you have it.
Max Wolf Friedlich’s "JOB" story isn’t new and has an episodic television feel to it, as if we are watching an installment from an anthology series such as “Twilight Zone,” complete with its trademark“O Henry”-style twist for its climactic conclusion.
However, that is also part of its appeal, apparently.
(Photo: Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane" listens to Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" in a scene from "JOB" by Max Wolf Friedlich now playing at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA. until February 7, 2026. Photo credit: Benjamin Rose Photography)
When Friedlich’s one-act play "JOB" debuted Off-Broadway in 2023, it enjoyed immediate popularity, which extended its original run, prompting a return engagement in 2024 before transitioning to Broadway, where its run was also extended.
The play would ultimately receive a nomination for an Outer Critics Circle Award in 2024.
Part of the reason for this particular "JOB" popularity comes in Friedlich’s way of not needing to build the drama to a climax.
(Photo: Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" listens to Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane" in a scene from "JOB" by Max Wolf Friedlich now playing at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA. until February 7, 2026. Photo credit: Benjamin Rose Photography)
Instead, Friedlich begins seemingly AT the climax, works his way back from it, then moves forward again, bringing the dramatic story arc to a completely different peak.
There are numerous peaks and valleys as the dramatic 80-minute “session” unfolds, keeping our attention completely focused to the events as they are unleashed at a frantic pace on stage.
Also keeping us riveted to the "JOB" story are the marvelous performances by Josephine Moshiri Elwood as Jane and Dennis Trainor, Jr. as Loyd, as they intensely pivot back and forth between the dual relationship of gunman/hostage and patient/therapist.
(Photo: Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane" confronts Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" in a scene from "JOB" by Max Wolf Friedlich now playing at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA. until February 7, 2026. Photo credit: Benjamin Rose Photography)
It is January, 2020, and Jane has been forced into a “leave of absence” from her "JOB" as a content moderator following a public mental breakdown.
The only way she can resume her employment is by a decree from therapist Loyd.
However, Loyd may not be so inclined to do so – at least so long as he is held hostage at gunpoint.
There is also a third relationship in "JOB" focusing on the generational divide existing between “Boomer” Loyd and twenty-something Jane, but this is how the two actors explore their conflicts, their respective characters and the forces that have brought them together.
There are elements of horror, as well, in "JOB" - especially when it comes to Jane’s highly specific occupation and, under the inventive and intuitive direction of Marianna Bassham, we get to explore further the reasons for these elements and why they have brought Jane to the precipice of emotional if not intellectual stability.
Jane has come to Loyd for a very specific purpose, and it may not be the purpose either the two characters - nor the audience - had originally expected.
(Photo: Josephine Moshiri Elwood as "Jane" with Dennis Trainor, Jr. as "Loyd" in a scene from "JOB" by Max Wolf Friedlich now playing at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, MA. until February 7, 2026. Photo credit: Benjamin Rose Photography)
To find out if Jane ultimately gets her "JOB" back come see the show at SpeakEasy Stage Company running in Boston until February 7th, 2026.
Coming up next at SpeakEasy will be “THE ANTIQUITIES” by Jordan Harrison, beginning March 6th and running through March 28th, 2026.
For tickets and more information, contact the SpeakEasy Box Office at # 617-933-8600 or visit www.speakeasystage.com
BUY TICKETS
Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
In Max Wolf Friedlich's "JOB" -
One viral video.
One career on the edge.
One hour to decide: is she ready to go back?
Jane wants her Big Tech "JOB" back. Loyd, the therapist assigned to assess her, isn’t so sure.
As their session spirals, "JOB" becomes a high-stakes psychological thriller—probing power, politics, and mental health in an age where identity is performative and everything is on the record. “
A chic, relentless Broadway thriller.” – The New York Times
ABOUT SPEAKEASY STAGE COMPANY
SPEAKEASY STAGE COMPANY is a non-profit theatre company located in the South End of Boston and is led by award-winning Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault. SPEAKEASY STAGE COMPANY was named the Pavilion Resident Theater for the Boston Center for the Arts in 2007 and produces 28 weeks of new plays and musicals each season at the Nancy and Ed Roberts Studio Theater in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.
