Josh BaxtSan Diego,
Have you ever had a tune in your head you just can’t identify? That’s the starting point for the Pigpen Theater Company’s raucous and endearing production of “The Old Man and the Old Moon,” a study in controlled, purposeful ...
Emily S. MendelBerkeley,
The aftermath of a horrifying mass shooting is not the cheeriest subject for the theater, although these days, it is unfortunately a necessary one. “The Events,” written by David Grieg in response to the shocking shooting by a ...
Karen WeinsteinLos Angeles,
“Bang. You’re dead.” It is June 28, 1914; Gavrilo Princip shoots the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. World War I is off to a flying start. Or that is the impression one gets from grammar school textbooks. Of course history ...
Nancy S. BishopChicago,
Playwright Lauren Yee calls her play “Hookman" an “existential slasher comedy.” And Steep Theatre’s new production takes her up on that with creative staging, solid performances, especially by the three female leads—and plenty of blood. “Hookman" is smartly directed by ...
ACT presents an excerpt from Peter Brook's nine-hour "Mahabharata"
Emily S. MendelSan Francisco,
“Battlefield,” prodigious director Peter Brook’s unusual new offering, presents a small portion of the “Mahabharata," the ancient Sanskrit epic poem about the disastrous war between two branches of a large ruling family.
In 1987, Brook famously ...
Lynne FriedmannSan Diego,
A retired English banker, who wants nothing more then to tend his dahlia bulbs, has his quiet country life commandeered by an estranged aunt, long past her salad days but not too old to juggle lovers, dodge ...
Nancy S. BishopChicago,
"Not About Nightingales,” an early Tennessee Williams script, is a Depression-era tragedy with many elements that foretell Williams’ genius as a playwright. Its setting—a large prison where the prisoners revolt against their horrific treatment—is unusual for Williams, but the dialogue ...
Aaron KrauseFort Lauderdale,
You can associate any one of many ferocious animals with the formidable, fiendish, she-devil of a school headmistress, Agatha Trunchbull, in renown author Roald Dahl’s beloved tale “Matilda.”
But it’s safe to say we all become mother bears ...
Recalling the "Occupy" Movement at St. Paul’s Cathedral
Emily S. MendelBerkeley,
“Temple,” a U.S. premiere production at the Aurora Theatre, is a powerful exposition on how the religious officials of London’s St. Paul Cathedral reacted to the Occupy movement’s 2011 encampment outside Sir Christopher Wren’s renowned church. Artfully directed by Aurora ...
Lynne FriedmannSan Diego,
A break room in a Detroit auto plant functions as more than a place to store lunch, drink coffee, and engage in company gossip in the thought-provoking “Skeleton Crew,” on stage at The Old Globe.
Gruff, chain ...
