The ancient Mesopotamians, the ancient Egyptians, the African peoples of Silluk and Pangwe, the Amerindians, the Karens of Burma, and the Incas all have folkloric tales about the creation of humans from clay, earth, or mud. Their deities, in short, fetched clay and made humankind. Will Power’s “Fetch Clay, Make Man” chronicles the making of the man Muhammad Ali from…
“It is time to enjoy happiness with those we love and to realize that we are at a time in our lives when enjoying today means more than worrying about tomorrow. It is time to celebrate the fact that we have finally learned what life is about and how to make the most of it.” (An Excerpt from When All…
When the synopsis of a dramatic performance offers more information than the performance itself, the creative team needs to perhaps evaluate ways to more effectively translate script to stage or examine the script itself to see if it needs the intervention of a dramaturge. Such is the case with Janet Behan’s recent offering about the life and times of her…
At the beginning of the second act of Derek Ahonen’s “Cheaters Club,” Susan, Pat, Charlie, and Linda storm Savannah’s Chaney Inn looking for their cheating spouses. After the first act, the audience re-enters the Abrons Art Center feeling equally bamboozled by their hosts The Amoralists. This well-intentioned (and hastily concocted) mélange of Southern Gothic, magic realism, SNL comedy, and Seth…
“Wake, awake, for night is flying,”/The watchmen on the heights are crying;/”Awake, Jerusalem, arise!” (By Philipp Nicolai, 1556-1608, translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878) Despite the watchmen’s recurrent and plaintive admonition to join the ranks of the awake, humankind has doggedly chosen to consort with the perhaps less discomfiting echelons of the asleep, the unconscious, or perhaps even the lifeless. Ken…
“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that…
If one desired seeing someone dancing on nails, he or she could view one or more of several short videos on You Tube depicting that activity: one woman even balances pots on her head while dancing on nails. Alternatively, one could view Paul Manuel Kane’s new play “Dancing on Nails” at the wonderful Theatre 80 in St. Mark’s Place in…
The short description of “Safe” provided by the producers indicates that Penny Jackson’s play is about Nina, “an affluent prep school girl from the East [who] meets a dangerous man” and raises the question whether Nina “will be safe.” The wonderful thing about Ms. Jackson’s play is that the audience is never quite sure whether the dangerous man is suspected…
Storm the Prison for Wretched Lesbians! Free the Lezzers from the Jodi Foster Wing! So chants the well-meaning straight Nair-do-well Jean Jackman (Anthony Wemyss) as he rallies the “troops” to free imprisoned lesbians who, twenty years since the start of the French Revolution, still do not have civil rights. Surely the man who helped bring down the oppressive absolute monarchy…
“Dwight” is an ill-conceived new play about a group of unlikable LGBT friends (well, no one really knows Cash’s precise sexual status) who hang out in Cash’s BIN, recycle, create art from their recycled treasures, and grumble a lot, especially when Dwight is around – which is most of the time. They unfortunately mistake ex-gangbanger Lex as their enemy even…