Category: Theater
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In Loving Memory of Heather Artena Hughes, RIP
Today we mourn the passing of Heather Hughes, a young and vibrant woman, whose life came to an end early Wednesday morning, due to late-stage lung cancer one day before she would have turned 45. She is survived by her son, her fiancee, and her…
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Bardolatry and Its Discontents
Shakespeare is treated with a true idolatry–Bardolatry. Producing groups do not help when they treat audience members like sheep and imply that they need not understand Shakespeare. Theaters are there to pass down the Law. They expect that the barbarians simply arrive at the Church…
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Wing-It Productions’ Election Show: The Show Where Everything’s Made Up and the Points Don’t Matter
As I sat in my seat and the tattered giant American flag went up as the backdrop on stage, President Obama left the stage. No, I was not amongst thousands of onlookers in Charlotte, NC, or sitting in front of my TV or computer screen.…
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Seattle’s Shame: More Canadians Have Seen Le Frenchword’s Fancy Mud Than Seattleites
It’s a matter of fact: More Canadians have seen Fancy Mud than Seattle citizens. What makes this even more damning is that the Seattle trio have performed their debut production exponentially more times, and in more venues around town during the last couple of years…
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The Paradise Theater School in Chimacum, WA: An Ideal and Idyllic Theater Company
Of all the places one would think one would encounter daring, rigorous and experimental theater, it is likely that Port Townsend, the charming Victorian harbor town on the Olympic Peninsula, would not be the first town to come to mind. It would be even more…
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Against Complacency: Pratidhwani’s Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) Bridges a Gap
The death of most Shakespearean productions is complacency. The director “knows” what the play is about. The actors “know” how Shakespeare sounds. The audience “knows” what to expect. But what if they don’t? What if none of this is true? What if everyone involved has…
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Kittens in a Cage at Annex Theatre
We’ll get to the vagina jokes, the lesbian obsessions, the greaser language, and the revealing costumes. These elements of Kelleen Conway Blanchard’s Kittens in a Cage, while varyingly successful in flagging attention, are not the soul of the play.
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Yes, It’s 14/48 Once Again; No, It’s Not Old Hat (Never Is)
Going into Thursday’s general meet-and-greet, none of the 50 invited artists will know whether they will be acting, writing, directing, designing or singing for the weekend. In other words, this weekend will truly be an artistic free-for-all. It will be glorious.
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Theater Schmeater’s Parallel Lives: Two Great Performers and…
The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives, currently being produced by Theater Scmeater, was written by Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney back in 1989, which makes the play old enough to be considered a chestnut. This presents an insurmountable hurdle in providing anything but an…
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Poetic realism vs. realistic poetry: Suddenly Last Summer
Of Tennessee Williams, naturalism and defying expecations.
