Press
"Like Money in the Bank is a fast-paced spinning carousel experience about the founding of the Federal Reserve Bank. The political meets the personal as we experience the historical through the eyes of a blossoming love affair....Director Shana Solomon set a brilliant pace for the production and ensured that every scene was brimful of charm, flamboyance, comic business, and flawless comic timing."
Jacquelyn Claire, New York Theatre Guide
"This is a play about the founding of the Federal Reserve Bank. How’s that for an unlikely subject for a comedy! The style is wittily carried out – it’s fun....The performers, most of whom take on multiple rolls, are polished, talented, witty, and brightly paced by the director Shana Solomon."
Yvonne Korshak, Let's Talk Off-Broadway
"Like Money in the Bank, with a dash of romance and a whole lot of heart, is charming and earnest to the core. Polner’s cleverly constructed script draws the audience in to a story some might call dry and boring, the history of money and banks in the United States, but surrounding this story of the founding of the federal reserve with an understated love story, more quips than can be found on episodes of Gillmore Girls or Brooklyn 99, and the inclusion of the beginnings of the progressive movement in politics jazzes up the explanatory narrative up enough to keep you intrigued. Each time I found myself lost in historical names, places, and events, writer Polner, director Solomon, and the cast brings the audience back into the scene with a funny line, a well-delivered quip, or an amusing facial expression and I was drawn back to the stage once again."
"Jerry Polner gives us all food for thought in his new play Quit The Road, Jack. Two former musicians, Ronnie (Rosemary Howard) and Virgil (Rob Skolits) have settled down, taken normal jobs, raised their sixteen year-old son, Jack (Jay Reum), lost the ability to communicate, and divorced. While Virgil has immersed himself in inventing robots and Ronnie has gained custody of Jack due to her more stable employment as a teacher, Jack has taken the opportunity to denounce this crazy world and run away from home.....Director Jonathan Warman keeps the action going in this clever, action-packed, multi-location piece. I see many amusing parallels, such as the parents who can’t communicate but are cooperating to find their child (U.S.A. and Mexico trying to find a better future) and the robot endowed with free will who is dismayed at the world he’s been given.
"Although Jack’s best friend Walt (Connor Johnston) steals the show with his bold acting choices and line delivery, and the priest (RJ Batlle) had me laughing with his ketchup worship, the best moment of the show by far is the dream sequence that happens in Jack’s mind. I loved every second of the insanity. All of the actors were completely committed to every silly step, turn, swig and shimmy. It was truly a moment of fantastic theatre that I will remember for a long time. I truly loved this moment of theatre magic, and Quit The Road Jack did get me thinking about bigger social issues and what I might be able to do to help the big picture."
Chrisena Ricci, Artswire Weekly
"Fix Number Six is a fun and energetic screwball comedy by Jerry Polner that is getting its first full-scale production at the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Moira Stone's superb portrayal of Jane is invaluable: her delivery of a monologue in Scene One in which she sells Fred on the idea of a preposterously overwrought vacation in Bhutan is spectacularly funny."
"Gone with the Masha by Jerry Polner is a farce about commerce, finance, and how close we all are to going off the deep end. Director Lexie Pregosin and an uninhibited cast knock the zaniness out of the park."
"Gone with the Masha, by Jerry Polner, was by far the most successful of the bunch in blending Chekhov with the America we know. Set in Atlanta and borrowing in small and clever ways from Chekhov's The Seagull, the action takes place in a real estate office where Treplev (Brendan Boland) is presenting his idea for a new condominium development to a pair of loan officers. A ridiculous but savvy scene unfolds, toying with the famous mismatched love triangle of Chekhov's play at the same time that it highlights the thinness of so many of the markedly American character's ambitions and ideas."
Alexis Clements, L Magazine