Category: Theater
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Odin’s Horse and the Lehrstück ohne Lehre
In our post-Bush era, political theater is increasingly rare. In our remote, cozy and often smug city of Seattle it is rarer still. Anything encouraging Americans to get together in a group to solve problems is a general anathema. Stereotypes have hardened. Dialogue is emotional…
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The Skriker: The Bitch is Back
Caryl Churchill is renown for not talking about the meaning of her plays in public. A positive result of this reticence is that her plays retain their complexity as works of art. A negative result is that there is a lot of pure rubbish written…
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Fefu and Her Friends: A Non-Review
It refreshes the soul to go out once in awhile and watch students who still love, still care, still dream about making good work. But it is not only a pleasure to watch the students grow and take chances but also a pleasure to watch…
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A Case of Radiant Moxie: Performer Yana Kesala and the Art of Going it Alone
Cole Hornaday visits with the fiery ball of energy that is Yana Kesala, and talks with her about her upcoming work and what it means to be a Ukrainian dentist’s daughter.
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West of Lenin’s Demon Dreams: Folklore and Forgetfulness
Mr. Smith’s handling of the circular narrative is quite refreshing and refuses to become yet another simple story that gives easy answers. The ending even calls into question the entire evening’s storytelling itself. It is a substantial and enjoyable script, aided by six extremely good…
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The Argument for On The Boards, Part One
For those who value On the Boards, the title of this essay is redundant; and yet, it is with increasing alarm that I find that the majority of my fellow artists are not attending their productions.
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Kidd Pivot’s The Tempest Replica at On the Boards
Kidd Pivot’s founder Crystal Pite has seized the opportunity to put her stamp on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and has crafted a work of jaw-dropping physical intensity and emotional vulnerability.
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Superior Donuts: The Kitchen Sink and the Coffee Pot
In these days of billions of Facebook postings and tweets about the most absurd minutiae in a human life, can banality remain banal anymore? Or has all drama simply been reduced to banality? Omar Willey traces the stream of banality back to its fountainhead.
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UMO Ensemble’s Maldoror: Absurd Lyricism Envelops The Senses
As with all of UMO’s productions, one particularly needs to forget the brand of kitchen sink realism that is often presented on our stages. Instead, in order to begin appreciating it, what is required is an openness of the senses, an awareness of what’s transpiring…
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Upstart Crow’s Titus Andronicus: In Which We Learn That Women Can Also Be Vicious
Of Titus Andronicus it is known that it was once one of Billy Shakes’ least produced plays, because it is one of his more visceral, brute-force works. Its metered language is geared toward the barbarity of its story, and contains little of lyrical beauty usually…
