SOURCE: Winn, Steven. “A Double Dose of Sexual Politics.” The San Francisco Chronicle (17 October 2000): B2.

In the following positive assessment of Desdemona, Winn praises Vogel's canny revision of the character of Desdemona.

A double bill of Dutchman and Desdemona at the Phoenix Theatre packs an invigorating night of sexual politics into one of the city's smallest theaters. The Bare Bones Theatre pairing of the 1964 subway car classic by Imamu Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) and Paula Vogel's 1993 backroom slant on Othello is a canny one. Here, in their distant arenas, are two similar dances along the precipice. Both plays confront transgression against the norm and the violence lurking behind the facade. …

A spotlit handkerchief suspended overhead at the start of Desdemona signals Vogel's faithfulness to Shakespeare. True to the original, this is a story of sexual jealousy, intrigue and murder. By setting the action in a women-only laundry...