The Civil War. A crucible struggle. An informed citizen must study the war and understand that it wasn’t the Good Guys vs. the Bad Guys, a war fought simply to end the vicious institution of slavery. The questions raised –…
Category: Reviews
“Measure for Measure” by Ten Thousand Things Theater Company at Open Book
Ten Thousand Things Theater Company (TTT) has just opened a wonderfully tantalizing offering that is likely to invite discussion—once again—about Shakespeare’s “problem play,†his dark comedy, Measure for Measure. The plot turns on sinister questions. After learning that he jilted…
The Cat In The Hat at the Children’s Theatre Company
The Cat In The Hat (on the Children’s Theatre Co.‘s Cargill Stage, through December 2) is a remount, helmed by the estimable Jason Ballweber, of a production that originated in the U.K., at the National Theatre. CTC utilizes the National’s…
The 2012 Ivey Awards
The 2012 Ivey Awards celebration did it up right again last night with sparkly gowns, tearful winners and lively entertainment. This year the Iveys chose to feature the work of theater sound and lighting professionals, and any self-respecting theater…
Tales from Hollywood at the Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater’s 50th season begins with “A Celebration of Christopher Hampton†and Hampton’s play, Tales from Hollywood, a canny “what if†that follows the fortunes of  writers forced out of Europe prior to WW II by the Nazi’s mounting violence and…
Red at Park Square Theatre
John Logan‘s Red (at Park Square Theatre, through Oct 7) suffers from a problem often afflicting two character plays: sameness. Indeed, in Red, the same basic scene gets played and replayed. Mark Rothko paces his NYC atelier, contemplating the large…
Buccaneers at the Children’s Theatre Company
The Children’s Theatre Company sets sail this fall with Buccaneers by Liz Duffy Adams (book) and Ellen Maddow (music). Billed as a “swashbuckling pirate musical,†the show for children delivers on all the appurtenances you’d expect, with scrappy pirates (in…
The Way Of Water by Frank Theatre performing at the Playwrights Center
Even in the best of times, the characters in Caridad Svich‘s intense The Way Of Water (Frank Theatre performing at the Playwrights Center, through September 30) lead a close-to-the-bone life: living in shacks, enduring the choking humidity of southern Louisiana,…
The Brothers Size by Pillsbury House Theatre performing in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio
Tarell Alvin McCraney‘s The Brothers Size (a Pillsbury House Theatre and The Mount Curve Company co-production, performing in the Guthrie‘s Dowling Studio, through September 29) is, on a superficial level, a troubled-young-brother drama. Oshoosi Size, recently released from the penitentiary,…
Waiting For Godot at the Jungle Theater
Lord preserve Samuel Beckett (and Harold Pinter, and Eugene Ionesco and Edward Albee, et al) from the predations of literary theorists who have declared him “important,” a practitioner of something called, airily, “theater of the absurd,” a playwright with deep…