Regarding "the Promise", the NY Times Reviewer was a week after me, but agrees. :-)..
My "Reviews Off Broadway" first paragraph:
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The Promise, playing at the 59E59 Theater as part of Scotland Week, is a very interesting play that is catapulted into the extraordinary by the wonderful performance of Joanna Tope.
Joanna Tope plays a retired teacher brought in for a week of substitute teaching. During this week, she is asked to allow a ritual in the name of multiculturalism that offends her. But before this, Ms. Tope spins a spell as Maggie Brodie, a teacher who loves students, loves learning and has lost patience in a by rote system now. To hear her talk of nourishing learning in youth is wonderful..
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NY Times first paragraph
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Just when you thought Broadway and especially Off Broadway was suffering from a surfeit of solo shows, along comes “The Promise,” by Douglas Maxwell, to redeem the format. Thank the stage veteran Joanna Tope; her performance in this production — brought to the 59E59 Theaters by the Random Accomplice company from Glasgow — infinitely enriches a 90-minute parable already loaded with dramatic heft..