All great stories contain drama, conflict, and tension, so it’s no wonder that many creators are drawn to the intensity of hand-to-hand combat. While boxing captivated previous generations, it has evolved into mixed martial arts (MMA), a full-contact sport that combines striking and grappling, leaving the men and women who participate bloody and spent. In the new Off-Broadway play The Monsters, written and directed by Ngozi Anyanwu, audiences are literally just outside the octagon—although no chain-link fence separates them from where the majority of the action happens.
The Monsters begins with MMA fighter Big (Hamilton alum Okieriete Onaodowan) shadowboxing and pummeling an invisible opponent. After winning, he’s confronted by a fan outside who turns out to be his younger half-sister Lil (Aigner Mizzelle, Chicken & Biscuits). Over the next 96 minutes, we witness these estranged siblings wrestle with each other’s traumas, abuses, and failures.
Both actors trained extensively with former UFC fighter Sijara Eubanks, who brings her years of experience to add verisimilitude to their reenactment of the physical demands of jiu-jitsu, boxing, and taekwondo on display. One can feel exhausted just watching them work out on Andrew Boyce’s spare gym-like set.
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Big is all hardness and monosyllables, while Lil has an ebullient, infectious energy. Lil is the comic release valve on the intensity of the proceedings and has the wittiest lines and smartest slapstick. But when they flashback to their childhood together, Oak shows his character’s silly side, which makes the contrast all the more heartbreaking. It’s this dichotomy on display that is truly heartbreaking.
Much has been written about how “the men are not OK,” and Anywanwu’s two-hander offers a peek at why. At one point, Lil tells Big that he’s “an enigma wrapped in a teddy bear, wrapped in a cinderblock,” and the insight rings true. The layers of emotional armor he’s used to protect his core vulnerability are a psychological strategy many young men employ to survive in the world. Even if the only language they can later use to express their emotions is with their fists.
4 out of 5 stars
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Fast facts: ‘The Monsters’
The Monsters delivers a bruising, brilliant exploration of sibling trauma that lands nearly every emotional punch.
- Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, New York City
- Notable performers: Aigner Mizzelle, Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan
- Running time: Approximately 96 minutes
- Performances through March 16, 2026
