Pass Over Antionette Chinonye Nwandu Marin Theatre Company “I got plans to get off this block.” … “How we get off this block?” … “Are we fixin’ to get off this block?” … “Let’s do this shit. Pass over.” On a desolate, dark street where we see only a metal guard rail; a crumbling concrete curb with a few weeds poking through; and a lone, oft flickering … [Read more...] about Pass Over
5 E
Gloria
Into a drab-gray, Manhattan office of half-walled cubicles and several desks within touching range of each other drag in one-by-one, three editorial assistants with the morning already half over. Immediately begins a barrage of back-and-forth banter that includes arrow-sharp insults full of cynicism; biting gossip about colleagues not within earshot; and soap-box diatribes … [Read more...] about Gloria
They Promised Her the Moon
One was among the most successful racing pilots of her day and the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953. The other began flying at the age of twelve and by her twenties, was setting world records in flying speeds, distance, and altitude. The former (Jackie Cochran) helped form and finance Mercury 13, a group of accomplished women flyers who underwent the … [Read more...] about They Promised Her the Moon
Don’t Eat the Mangos
While entering the theatre and being tempted to do a few salsa steps to the hip-swiveling Latinx music playing all around us, it is impossible not to notice there are mangos – many rotting – piled on the floor of the tropical house’s kitchen. There is also a tree laden with ripening mangos that is intertwined into the decorative, iron-gate entrance to the house – a tree that … [Read more...] about Don’t Eat the Mangos
Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border
In his book Retablos, Octavio Solis reminds us that as we grow older, memories from our growing up become vignettes that replay over and again – sometimes as poignant reminders of who we are and why are we, sometimes as teachers of what we can still become, and often just as precious gems to be take in silently, reflectively. And while his stories have many universal themes … [Read more...] about Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border
Gatz
Into a drab, empty office setting with its metal shelves full of boxes that are clearly full of folders full of papers walks a man in his blue shirt and tie who sits at a table and attempts to turn on his computer – a clunky-looking model by today’s standards from some time period fifteen-to-twenty years ago. After several frustrating attempts, he opens a small container on … [Read more...] about Gatz
Chicago
Hips snap and swirl. Hands spread their fingers, Fosse-style. Shoulders roll as twelve bodies slowly swing around in unison, grouped together in a triangle that moves in soft but precisely placed steps. Through the center in her black lingerie snakes a slinking gal singing in a smoky, sensuous voice, “C’mon babe, why don’t we paint the town, and all that jazz?” And onto … [Read more...] about Chicago
Tiny Beautiful Things
“Dear Sugar, ... I’m secretly addicted to pain meds.” “Dear Sugar, Icky thoughts turn me on …” “Dear Sugar, My wife drinks while I am at work …” “Dear Sugar, My daughter has a tumor … and I find myself doubting God’s existence.” “Dear Sugar, My birth mother doesn’t want to meet me.” “Dear Sugar, What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck? I’m asking this … [Read more...] about Tiny Beautiful Things
The Fantasticks
In 1960, it was a little musical that broke many molds, especially from the beloved musicals by big Broadway composers/writers like Rogers and Hammerstein, George Abbott, and Lerner and Loewe. It had little plot and became one of several of the earliest so-called ‘concept’ musicals that would later lead to dozens of others such as A Chorus Line, Assassins, and Avenue Q. There … [Read more...] about The Fantasticks
She Loves Me
A single violin roams playfully through its scales, soon followed by a twittering trumpet with a speech all its own. Winds trip over each other before more instruments start a game of leapfrog as their well-played notes and phrases seem to jump and skip all around us. One of my favorite overtures has just been played beautifully with spunk and spirit by the fourteen-person … [Read more...] about She Loves Me
A Doll’s House: Part 2
There is nothing more magical than a night at live theatre when a brilliant script, inspired direction, and a perfectly cast set of actors combine with setting, lighting, sound, and costumes such that each makes its own unique contribution to produce as near a perfect evening as possible. Such is how I felt as I exited Lucy Stern Theater after thoroughly enjoying every minute … [Read more...] about A Doll’s House: Part 2
The Pianist of Willesden Lane
“The most important hour of my week is my piano lesson … I always dress up for my piano lesson … I have to look divine.” And with that, a fourteen-year-old girl who dreams someday of her concert debut at Vienna’s famed Musikverein Concert Hall sits down at the Steinway to play her favorite piece, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, fingers flying effortlessly across … [Read more...] about The Pianist of Willesden Lane
Becky Nurse of Salem
“Before there was this Dunkin’ Donuts, they killed women here they called witches. Before that, they killed Indians. Before that, they had Thanksgiving.” Standing in front of her shopping cart with a mannequin of her great, great, great, great grandmother that she has stolen from the Salem Witches Museum, Becky Nurse gives her first tour at $20 an hour, telling her version … [Read more...] about Becky Nurse of Salem
Groundhog Day The Musical
Phil is pissed, big time. That Pittsburg’s best-known, TV weatherman has to drag himself on February 2 to the podunk town of Punxsutawney, PA to provide live coverage for the stupid tradition of having someone declare if a so-called groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not is totally insulting. To make it worse, on his way to the annual ceremony on Gobbler’s … [Read more...] about Groundhog Day The Musical
Pride and Prejudice
The month of December, Broadway composer Paul Gordon, and Director Robert Kelley have a special, intertwined relationship that time and again has resulted in heartwarming, big-smile-producing gifts for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley audiences. Multiple musicals of the Tony-honored Paul Gordon have appeared and often premiered on that stage, with two of them reprising in Decembers … [Read more...] about Pride and Prejudice
