Peeking inside a New York City home is a voyeuristic blend of real estate fantasy and deep human intimacy. So it’s no wonder Billy McEntee’s Slanted Floors, directed by Ryan Dobrin, has lured audiences drawn to what might be happening behind closed doors. This two-hander, about a gay couple struggling to thrive as creatives, stars Adam Chanler-Berat as Kaplan and Kyle Beltran as Teddy, and offers something far more uncanny and challenging than other immersive theater built around the unusual-venue trend.
Originally staged for just six audience members in a Brooklyn apartment, the show has moved to a first-floor one-bedroom apartment within the Astor Place Theatre building, where it now seats 30.
A tiered ticketing structure offers a handful of audience members a distinct experience: Pay to sit inches from the actors, and you’ll be served carrot soup as the couple eats dinner across from you. The rest of the crowd sits in the open-concept living room and kitchen, watching the couple go about their routines.
It wants better content.
A manic morning of Grindr chats and Zillow porn
The play begins with Kaplan waking and racing from the bedroom to the living area for a manic morning of imbibing media—a cacophony of emails, Grindr chats, Zillow porn, and more—all streamed on the mounted TV. He brushes his teeth, dances, does yoga, and hurtles through other frantic activities—a portrait of late-capitalism white-collar freelance struggle. After an audible, laugh-inducing trip to the toilet, he showers.
A blur of screens marks the day’s passing before his boyfriend, Teddy, comes home, and the pace finally settles. Teddy counters the tech frenzy, puts on a record, and begins making dinner.
Over the meal, they discuss their day, and something hypnotic and alchemical takes hold. As Teddy describes an idea for a play he’s writing, his storytelling becomes ritualistic, and he lights a candle as part of the ceremony.
What might seem like a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of queer domesticity instead made me feel like a silent phantom witnessing the quotidian (and sometimes virtuosic) lives of two people at odds with one another. By the end, a chasm has opened between them. As we listen to them prepare for bed, it’s unclear if they’ll remain together once they have time to ponder this truth.
Very little happens over this ordinary day, yet I left transfixed, oddly transformed, and a little unsteady, as if the floor had really tilted.
Is ‘Slanted Floors’ worth seeing?
Billy McEntee’s intimate two-hander Slanted Floors finds high stakes in the smallest domestic rituals, and Kyle Beltran and Adam Chanler-Berat play them with unnerving, lived-in precision.
- Astor Place Theatre, 434 Lafayette Street, New York City
- Notable performers: Kyle Beltran, Adam Chanler-Berat
- Running time: Approximately 85 minutes, no intermission
- Performances through November 29, 2026
