Theatre
-
Jenny Gersten on Williamstown Theatre Festival
Third Season Charms
By: - Aug 14th, 2013For her third season as artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival Jenny Gersten produced an amazing three musicals in a program of seven productions. Bridges of Madison County opens on Broadway in January but Gersten insists her mandate is to create shows for Williamstown. We met to discuss the season which ends this weekend. This is part one of that dialogue.
-
Much Ado About Nothing at Barrington Stage
Julianne Boyd’s First Shakespeare Soars
By: - Aug 12th, 2013Following On the Town and the Chosen Barrington Stage ends its main stage season with yet another run away hit. Julianne Boyd charms and delights as producer/ director of the first ever attempt at Shakespeare his iconic comedy Much Ado Nothing. Barrington's mainstays Christopher Innvar and Gretchen Egolf soar to new heights as the feisty lovers Benedick and Beatrice. On every level from sets to costumes this is a gorgeous and hilarious seasonal treat.
-
The Gospel of Franklin at Steppenwolf
Playwright Aaron Carter Tackles Fathers and Sons
By: - Aug 11th, 2013Gospel is good news and glad tidings. Aaron Carter’s fascinating play presented by Steppenwolf’s First Look program at first blush appears to be good news. But quickly, we see that it is complicated. There are two characters who bear tidings, Franklin the father, and his son William. William is trying to piece together his own life and at the same time discover his father, not as a story, but as the truth woven from bits and pieces of information he has received over time. They are not in chronological order, but in the order of his discovery.
-
Blood Play Wraps WTF Season
Schlock of the New
By: - Aug 09th, 2013The season ending Blood Play by the experimental The Debate Society takes place in the 1950s during an impromptu cocktail party in the renovated, pine paneled basement of a newly settled suburban Jewish couple. Their traumatized son Ira is living in a tent in the back yard. This may be the most controversial and "debated" play of the Williamstown Theatre Festival season.
-
Mark St. Germain Discusses Scott and Hem
New Play for Barrington Stage Company
By: - Aug 09th, 2013A new play by Mark St. Germain "Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah" will run at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass from August 15 through September 29. It was commissioned for the Contemporary American Theatre Festival where we saw it earlier this summer in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. We met for breakfast to discuss changes for the still evolving play which is now in its eighth draft.
-
The Bridges of Madison County in Williamstown
World Premiere of Marsha Norman/ Jason Robert Brown Musical
By: - Aug 07th, 2013With daily notes, rewrites, cuts and rehearsals the world premiere of the musical Bridge of Madison County will be quite different by the time in ends its run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival on August 18. After a layover to solidify the changes of this production it will go into rehearsal with a Broadway opening in January. While clearly a work in progress we enjoyed much of what we saw. Hopefully it will hit the ground running in New York.
-
42nd Street at Vermont's Weston Playhouse
A Classic Big Musical Produced at Human Scale
By: - Aug 03rd, 2013Music, dance, and acting combine to give the audience of the Weston's 42nd Street a rousing evening. A terrific cast, remarkable sets, costumes, and lighting make this exhilarating production a must-see summer musical.
-
Olympia Dukakis in Her Fifth Mother Courage
Powerful Brecht Epic Theatre at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Aug 03rd, 2013Olympia Dukakis told her former student and friend, Tony Simotes, artistic director of Shakesepeare & Company that, at 83, she had one more Mother Courage in her. This stunningly powerful production is her fifth. The last one was twenty years ago. In a supporting role as The Cook, S&Co veteran and star John Douglas Thompson, joins her on stage.
-
Slowgirl with William Petersen and Rae Gray
Steppenwolf Transports Guilt to the Jungle
By: - Aug 01st, 2013Colors are muted browns. An intense red will come to dominate the feeling of the play. Playwright Greg Pierce conjures it up. We never see red. A dangerous snake is attracted to the color. And red blood signifies the cause of Becky’s guilt and perhaps guilt itself, like a bold red letter G emblazoned on a shirt.
-
The Chosen by Chaim Potok and Aaron Posner
Faith Driven Coming of Age Drama at Barrington Stage Company
By: - Jul 31st, 2013In 2011 a production of My Name Is Asher Lev enjoyed a sold out run at Barrington Stage Company. There is a similar response to The Chosen adapted and directed by Aaron Posner based on a novel by Chaim Potok. While based on a conflict between sects of fundamentalist Jews its humanistic theme of coming of age between two friends and rivals has universal appeal to audiences.
-
Ed Herendeen on 100 New Plays in 23 Years
Taking the Fear Out of Failure at CATF
By: - Jul 31st, 2013Twenty three years ago Ed Herendeen left an administrative position at Williamstown Theatre Festival to found Contemporary American Theatre Festival for Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. There out of the glare of the urban theatre world he has nurtured the creation of 100 new plays through commissions, premieres and second productions. He strives to create an environment which is review proof and writers are able to experiment without fear of failure.
-
Cirque Du Soleil’s Quidam
Brooklyn’s Barclays Center
By: - Jul 30th, 2013I wish I could say that Quidam, Cirque’s recent offering at Brooklyn's Barclays Center – another calling card venue – was a joyous occasion. But alas the evening, with many empty seats, too few oohs and aahs, and numerous late arrivers trekking down the aisles, was riddled with disappointment.
-
Ed Herendeen on Shepherdstown's Theatre Festival
Presenting and Defending New Plays at CATF
By: - Jul 28th, 2013During a visit to the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shephardstown, West Virginia we met with the artistic director Ed Herendeen. We discussed the process of commissioning Mark St. Germain's Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah. It transfers soon to Barrington Stage Company. We debated the controversial Modern Terrorism which we had seen the previous evening. This is the first of two parts of that lively dialogue.
-
Indianapolis Theatre Update
Links and Schedules for Upcoming Season
By: - Jul 28th, 2013Melissa Hall is a theatre critic who covers Indianapolis and the Mid West for Stage Write. This is an update of current summer theatre with previews and links to companies and fall schedules.
-
Barefoot In the Park at Dorset Theatre Festival
Neil Simon's Classic Romantic Comedy in Vermont
By: - Jul 27th, 2013Simon's witty dialogue still works 50 years after Barefoot in the Park was first a smash hit on Broadway. The Dorset Theatre's production, though pleasant and paced for laughs, lacks the sweet romance that would make this romantic comedy warm and memorable.
-
Johnny Baseball Traded to Williamstown
Rounding Third in Extra Innings
By: - Jul 26th, 2013Since a world premiere and mixed reviews at American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge in 2010 the musical Johnny Baseball has undergone extensive revisions. On the intimate Nikos Stage its a hit for the Williamstown Theatre Festival where is has a short run through August 3. While feisty and mostly upbeat the energy shifts from fan outrage over the alleged Curse of the Bambino to a love story and the complex theme of institutional racism. That's at least three balls to keep in the air. Take away the fan base for the Red Sox and Yankees in the Berkshires and you wonder if the show has the momentum to make the playoffs.
-
Southern Comfort at Barrington Stage
Poignant New Transgendered Musical
By: - Jul 25th, 2013In varying stages of gender reassignment and an ability to pass in hostile Bubba Land a circle of friends are the focus of a new musical Southern Comfort having its world premiere at Barrington Stage. For audiences willing to accept this complex work on its own terms the experience to remarkable.
-
Elements Theatre Company of Cape Cod
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, August 9-11 and 16-18
By: - Jul 25th, 2013Elements Theatre Company of Cape Cod kicks off its 2013-14 year-long tribute to William Shakespeare with one of his most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, August 9-11 and 16-18 at Paraclete House, Rock Harbor, Orleans. The inspiration for numerous adaptations, including Ingmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night,†Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,†and a star-studded 1999 feature film with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the perfect escape on a hot summer’s eve.
-
Nicholas Martin’s Gorgeous Pygmalion at WTF
Stars Robert Sean Leonard and Heather Lind in Shaw’s Masterpiece
By: - Jul 24th, 2013As a strong willed, crafty and independent guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle sold flowers to support herself. As a refined lady, transformed through a wager between the linguists Professor Henry Higgins and his colleague Colonel Pickering, in order to survive in circa 1913 London, she is forced to sell herself. As Shaw wrote his feminist inspired play there was no happy ending. Few if any directors have adhered to his intent which infuriated Shaw. In this stunning Williamstown production director Nicholas Martin provides a new twist,.
-
Adams Updates The Salem Witch Trials at CATF
A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World
By: - Jul 24th, 2013With A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World it seems that Liz Duffy Adams has taken on the daunting challenge of a sequel to Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible. The real life adolescent hysterics who sent the innocent to the gallows, Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis, reconnect with widely divergent views a decade later. The new play is a part of the 23rd annual Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
-
Jane Martin’s Riveting H2O at CATF
Intriguing Drama by Mysterious Playwright
By: - Jul 23rd, 2013Of the five plays of the 23rd Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, through July 28, the most buzz and impossible to get ticket, is generated by the elusive Jane Martin’s H2O.
-
Sam Shephard's Heartless at CATF
Triage in West Virginia
By: - Jul 23rd, 2013Sam Shephard's play Heartless had its 2012 premiere at Signature Theatre in New York City. It's getting a rewrite in a second production at Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia. While it has familiar Shepardesque aspects is that enough to breath life back into a surreal and enervating play?
-
Modern Terrorism by Jon Kern in West Va.
Contemporary American Theatre Festival to July 28
By: - Jul 22nd, 2013Jon Kern, a writer for The Simpsons, was inspired by the aborted bombing attempt in Time Square to create the comedy Modern Terrorism: Or They Who Want to Kills Us and How We Learn to Love Them. This darkest of comedies attempts to humanize and humorize a suicide bomber avenging American drone strikes and attacks on Islamic citizens.
-
Contemporary American Theatre Festival
West Virginina Meeting of American Theatre Critics Association
By: - Jul 22nd, 2013The 23rd annual Contemporary American Theatre Festival opened on July 5 and ends on July 28 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Last week some 75 members and guests of the American Theatre Critics Association met in Shepherdstown to view and discuss five new plays. During a brutal national heat wave there was a busy schedule of performances, meetings, lectures, panel discussions, banquets and visits to surrounding Civil War sites. It was an intense and richly informative experience.
-
Big Lake Big City at Lookingglass in Chicago
Theater Noir by Keith Huff Thrills
By: - Jul 21st, 2013At the play’s opening, a spot light focuses on the sculpture of a Modigliani head. Heads in all forms are the focus of Big Lake Big City. Detective Podaris’ head has become unscrewed, Stew’s head screwed with a driver, and head shrink Dr. Susan’s head is stolen. Go figure.
<< Previous Next >>