The reviews are in for Anon, Anne Washburn’s new play, billed in full as Anon: a tempest at our kitchen table, which opened in its world premiere at MCC Theater on Wednesday, October 14, under the direction of Anne Kauffman. It is September 2024 in a San Antonio suburb, and Jeanie (Crystal Finn), a mother sunk deep in QAnon theories, is posting to a tiny following when a gay couple (Jeff Biehl and Jeremy Shamos) move in across the street and raise a Pride flag, while her daughter (Izabel Mar) writes a soliloquy for a character in King Lear. The notices divide less over Finn, who is praised almost everywhere, than over Washburn’s structure: several critics find a sharp, funny first act building toward a confrontation the play declines to deliver, while Vulture and La Voce di New York are glad of the ride.
The verdict: nine reviews in so far. Three outlets give a score: La Voce di New York 4 out of 5, New York Stage Review 3 (from both of its critics) and Culture Sauce 2, an average of 3 out of 5. The other six publish no rating. The critics agree on Crystal Finn, whom almost every notice singles out, and most of them part company with the play over its shape: TheaterMania, Culture Sauce, Theater Pizzazz and Off Off Online all find that the storm it builds toward never quite breaks, and even Vulture thinks the build-up stronger than the release. The New York Times doubts that satire can keep pace with the real thing. Vulture and La Voce di New York are the warmest voices.
What are critics saying about Anon?
The New York Times
"Anne Washburn’s Satire Gets Lost in the Storm"
Reviewer: Helen Shaw
Shaw opens on Crystal Finn, whom she counts among the finest comic performers on the New York stage, and sees her in her element as Jeanie, a mother who posts warnings about the coming “storm” to almost nobody.
"Conspiracy mongering, though, seems to have progressed beyond art’s ability to satirize it."
Her difficulty is with the material rather than the cast: the real movement is stranger than any send-up of it, and she feels that imbalance pulls the play off course.
Vulture
"In Anon, the Sheeple Are Awake (and Have Lost Their Minds)"
Reviewer: Sara Holdren
Holdren is the warmest of the majors. She calls the play tart and tense, praises Anne Kauffman’s feel for its comedy, and tracks how closely Washburn shadows King Lear.
"Still, Anon crackles with plenty of its own distinctive, wicked wit."
Her reservation is that the build-up outweighs the release. She rates Finn highly, but it is Izabel Mar’s Delia and the neighbors played by Jeff Biehl and Jeremy Shamos who, for her, carry the play’s emotional weight.
TheaterMania
"Anon, the One About the MAGA Neighbor and the Ugly Flag"
Reviewer: Zachary Stewart
Stewart finds the play thoughtful but meandering, and calls Washburn a shrewd observer of how American allegiances are being rearranged.
"Finn, one of the best actors working in New York, unsurprisingly crushes it…"
He wishes the play had made its audience see more of itself in Jeanie instead of offering easy laughs at her expense, and he is left unsatisfied by an ending that stops in an inconclusive blackout.
New York Stage Review
"Two Americas, One Uneven Play"
Reviewer: Frank Scheck · 3 out of 5
Scheck welcomes a playwright taking on the issues of the day, which makes him all the more disappointed to find the result scattershot.
"…Anon squanders its potential through the playwright’s penchant for stylization and narrative flourishes…"
He admires the dialogue and calls Finn terrific, but finds the video projections excessive. The site’s second critic, Roma Torre, also gives three stars, praising the performances while finding the play emotionally inert.
Culture Sauce
"‘Anon’ dives into the QAnon rabbit hole but comes up mostly empty"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 2 out of 5
Geier sees Washburn set up an explosive confrontation, Chekhovian Glock and all, and then decline to follow it through, leaning instead on the absurdist devices of her earlier plays.
"In the end, Anon lacks the specificity to bring its central character fully to life…"
He never learns what turned Jeanie from liberal to extremist, and feels the play keeps her at a satirical distance rather than making her a person.
La Voce di New York
"ANON: When the Conspiracy Theorist Lives Next Door"
Reviewer: Elise Nussbaum · 4 out of 5
Nussbaum is the most enthusiastic critic so far, reading the play not as a subtle study but as a ferocious modern tragedy in which social media becomes the audience for every monologue.
"Anchoring ANON is a phenomenal performance by Crystal Finn as Jeanie."
What disturbs her most is that Jeanie’s theories sound so close to things real officials say, and she enjoys a mischievous turn from Biehl as Adam.
Theater Pizzazz
"“Anon” Sends a QAnon Mom Raging into the Storm, Like King Lear But With More Hate"
Reviewer: Stuart Miller
Miller enjoyed the ride: he finds the first act full of life, singles out Shamos’s gun-store soliloquy, and credits Washburn with folding texting and posting into the action without strain.
"But while “Anon” hits its targets they’re all obvious ones…"
He wanted more ambiguity, and found the ending abrupt and incomplete after a compelling climax.
Off Off Online
"Anon Review: Anne Washburn’s QAnon Play Meets King Lear"
Reviewer: Colin Macdonald
Macdonald calls the play admirably ambitious in laying King Lear over the story of Jeanie and her neighbors, but finds the results mixed, with ideas and characters that still seem to be taking shape.
"Finn gives an infuriating performance—and that’s a compliment."
He praises Shamos and Biehl, but cannot follow Will’s turn toward arming himself, and notes that the play ends just as it seems to reach its climax.
StageBuddy
Reviewer: Elyse Trevers
Trevers expected a play about anonymous posting and found the opposite, a heroine desperate for attention. She calls Finn increasingly unsettling and Mar very talented.
"Washburn skillfully juxtaposes Lear and his paranoia against Jean’s behavior."
Even so, she finds parts of the script confusing and thinks the Shakespeare scenes take up too much stage time.
For more of what the New York critics have been saying, read our roundups for Fish at WP Theater and Good Time Charlie at The Public Theater.
Anon runs at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater, 511 West 52nd Street, through November 1, 2026. Production photos by Monique Carboni.
