By Bobby McGuire
“How did that guy end up like this?”
It’s the Trump-era question we’ve all asked—usually while trapped at a holiday table with a relative who’s gone full anti-woke crusader. Playwright Penelope Skinner’s Angry Alan (starring a brilliantly cast John Krasinski) tackles that exact spiral with dark humor and unnerving precision.
Meet Roger: once a BMW-driving corporate guy, now a Kroger dairy manager barely clinging to his job. Divorced, estranged from his son, and dating a woman who wears “carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man” tees, he’s hit rock bottom—and the internet’s waiting with open arms. His latest obsession? Self-victimization. And a Men’s Rights Conference headlined by his newly discovered hero, social media personality Angry Alan, puts him in a quandary. Should he spend his last dollars on child support or a ticket to the event? (Spoiler: He’s not picking the kid.)
On paper, Roger’s rants about “gynocracy” and #MeToo overreach could make him a strawman villain. But Skinner’s script, and Krasinski’s often hilarious and layered performance, refuse easy caricature. This is a guy you know: affable, hapless, and so deep in the algorithm’s grip that he genuinely believes he’s the victim. The satire bites, but the empathy stings more. Director Sam Gold moves the tension from light to tight, letting Roger’s absurd logic unravel in real time until the play’s sad, inevitable conclusion.
Originally staged at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, Angry Alan is more relevant than ever—a funhouse mirror reflecting the male rage fueling today’s culture wars. It doesn’t offer answers, and that’s why it works so well. Some rabbit holes don’t have exits. Krasinski’s everyman charm makes Roger’s downfall all the more tragic—a reminder that no one thinks they’re the bad guy in their own story.
Angry Alan plays Off-Broadway at Studio Seaview through August 3, 2025.
‘Angry Alan’ takeaway
Curious about the origins of Men’s Gender Activism and the belief “that men are disadvantaged or discriminated against because of their gender, while women are privileged, and that feminism is to blame”? If you want to take the train to Crazy Town, sociologist Emily Carian has recently written a book about it.
Good Guys, Bad Guys: The Perils of Men’s Gender Activism takes a hard look at both feminist men and MGA (huh, those initials look oddly familiar). “We need to contest narratives that excuse or obscure misogyny and male supremacism,” says the University of California Irvine assistant professor.
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