Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea Nathan Alan Davis The Pear Theatre Eighteen-year-old Dontrell is the kind of son any mother would be so proud to have: Straight A’s throughout school, all AP classes, and now only three weeks before beginning his first semester at John Hopkins University. But his mom cannot stop praying every day that the “t-minus 21” countdown of days … [Read more...] about Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea
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Men on Boats
Men on Boats Jaclyn Backhaus Palo Alto Players Palo Alto Players opens the 2015, Off-Broadway-premiering Men on Boats in which playwright Jaclyn Backhaus seeks to entertain and enlighten us about the first government-sanctioned trip in 1869 down the Green River as it spills ripping and roaring into what we now know as the Grand Canyon. With a twist that mirrors … [Read more...] about Men on Boats
“The Lady Scribblers”
When Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, not only did he restore live theatre that had been banned during the Cromwell/Puritan reign, he declared the roles of women could and should in fact be played by women. During the same period and throughout the reign of William and Mary, women also began to write plays and see them produced, with two even being … [Read more...] about “The Lady Scribblers”
Stage Kiss
Tonsil hockey, pecking, sucking face, tongue wrestling, snogging (in Harry Potter terms), or just good ol’ making out – whatever the nickname, the meeting of two sets of human lips is the central and most-repeated action of Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss. Sometimes barely touching a cheek, sometimes a thwarted attempt embarrassingly missing target, but most often involving long … [Read more...] about Stage Kiss
Love in the Time of Piñatas
Body covered in skin-tight fishnet (black, of course), shoulders bedecked in a cape of shaking circles of metallic colors, beard sparkling with glitter to match his highlighted eyes, and high tops that light up as he prances about, Baruch Porras Hernandez enters the intimate setting of Z Below announcing to his cheering fans: “Hellooooo, everyone! I’m just your friendly, … [Read more...] about Love in the Time of Piñatas
Miss Saigon
The story originating from Puccini’s much-beloved opera Madame Butterfly is well enough known that most audience members arrive – as they might for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – anticipating the tragic ending to its ill-fated love story. Decade-long runs both in London and New York in the 1990s as well as continual, packed-house tours worldwide these past twenty years also … [Read more...] about Miss Saigon
Testmatch
Cricket – a sport created by England and played today mostly by the mother country and countries of her former Empire – becomes the backdrop for Kate Attwell’s Testmatch, now in its time-traveling, gender-bending, hard-reality-and-parody-prolific world premiere at American Conservatory Theater. A Pandora’s Box of issues bursts open in the course of the ninety-minutes, including … [Read more...] about Testmatch
The Chinese Lady
“What is happening is a performance. For my entire life is a performance. These words that you hear are not my own. These clothes I wear are not my own. This body that I occupy is not my own.” In 1834, two traders of Far East Oriental imports to New York arranged for a Chinese girl of fourteen and of the wealthy class to come to the United States for two years in order to … [Read more...] about The Chinese Lady
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
If there is anyone who is curious why President Trump has a picture of Andrew Jackson watching over him in the Oval Office, that person need only sit through a production of Alex Timbers’ (book) and Michael Friedman’s (music and lyrics) Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, now playing at Custom Made Theatre Company. Lyrics like the following make that pretty clear, as Jackson at one … [Read more...] about Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
“Dance Nation”
Dance Nation Clare Barron San Francisco Playhouse The Cast of Dance Nation Thirteen. Oh, God, when I remember thirteen, I get this strange knot in my stomach and a wave of brief nausea. I was already six-foot, two-inches, and stuck out like a sore thumb in the school hallway. I was awkward and stumbled over my size-twelve feet; my voice squeaked; my thick glasses … [Read more...] about “Dance Nation”
“Hickorydickory”
HickorydickoryMarisa WegrzynDragon Productions Theatre CompanyZoe Lytle, Troy Johnson, Allie Bailey, and Sarah HaasIn the imagination of playwright Marisa Wergzyn, the so-called “mortal clock” is a pocket watch every human carries within – one whose chain is wrapped around our hearts, with our death date and time engraved within. A swirling mixture of mystery, science … [Read more...] about “Hickorydickory”
“Macbeth”: Day 3, Play 3, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
MacbethWilliam ShakespeareOregon Shakespeare FestivalDanforth Comins & Any Kim WaschkeHow much do we actually control our own choices and fates in the decisions we believe we are making independently, or how much do we become the puppets of others’ suggestions they have purposely implanted within us to lead us in directions they desire? In the current Oregon … [Read more...] about “Macbeth”: Day 3, Play 3, Theatre Eddys Goes to the 2019 Oregon Shakespeare Festival
“Grease”
GreaseWarren Casey & Jim Jacobs (Book, Music & Lyrics)Broadway by the Bay Nick Quintell, Katharine Andrade & CastWhy are over one thousand people inside the Fox on a sunny Sunday in order to see yet one more Grease, this time presented by Broadway by the Bay’s cast of twenty-two? Probably it is because we just cannot get enough of songs like … [Read more...] about “Grease”
“Life Sucks”
Life SucksAaron PosnerCustom Made Theatre CompanyThe Cast of Life SucksThe cast comes on stage to prepare us. The seven cast members banter about what the play we are about to see is all about, with suggestions that it is about “love,” “longing,” “loss,” and “how fucked up the world is.” With that final, upbeat proclamation and a few of the regular warnings about … [Read more...] about “Life Sucks”
“110 in the Shade”
110 in the ShadeN. Richard Nash (Book); Harvey Schmidt (Music); Tom Jones (Lyrics)Based on the Play, The Rainmaker, by N. Richard Nash42nd Street MoonElliot Hanson, James Schott, Andrea Dennison-Laufer & Jesse CaldwellEven in the best of productions – like the outstanding 2007 Roundabout revival in New York starring the incomparable Audra McDonald along with Steve Kazee and … [Read more...] about “110 in the Shade”
