Sari Caine’s “The Chess Lesson” is a delightful trope for humankind’s inveterate attempt to understand “how things came to be.” Was there a creation? If so, was it a “big bang” or a divinely orchestrated event? Were there rules governing that creation? Did humankind “disobey those rules? Whose rules were/are they: those of some divine being or rules created by…
Google ‘flipside’ and cumulate a variety of search results: from the online fantasy manga/comic to the burger and bar restaurant in downtown Fairfield. The term as it refers to the B-side of a vinyl record is rarely used today with the advent of CD’s, the iPod, and other mp3 players. ‘Flipside’ is used to indicate the B-side of a vinyl…
What would result from collaboration between William Butler Yeats, T. S. Eliot, the multiple authors or sources behind the Pentateuch, Julie Taymor, the Trinity, John Wayne, Cain and Abel, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, a host of other luminaries, and the genius of Robert Askins and Jose Zayas? None other than the winning offering from the terraNOVA Collective “P.S. Jones and…
Recent Williams College graduate Jonathan Draxton tackles weighty matters in the world premiere of his “Soldier” in New York City at HERE. This tightly wound fifty minute production challenges the audience to question when one who has committed heinous crimes against humanity has demonstrated the level of remorse that warrants forgiveness and reconciliation. These are perhaps questionably attainable qualities for…
The stars of Barry Kleinbort’s “13 Things about Ed Carpolotti are Virginia Carpolotti, her intriguing daydreams about her deceased husband Ed, and her imaginary piano-playing and singing friend. These three stars are better known as, respectfully, Penny Fuller, the book by Barry Kleinbort, and pianist Paul Greenwood. Honored many times for her Broadway, Regional Theatre, and film performances, Penny Fuller…
Jimmy Carter was President of the United States in 1978 when Stephen Schwartz’s “Working” opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. The national unemployment rate then was 6.1%. Remarkably, after spiking at 9.6% in 2010, the “New York Times” (December 7, 2012) reports the jobless rate is edging down “to its lowest rate in four…
I have taught in urban high schools for the past eight years and have heard many stories from many students about being bullied and have been asked many important questions about coming out by LGBT students. One of the most touching queries came at an open house for middle school students trying to decide which high school to attend. After…
“Thus in silence in dreams’ projections, Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals, The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand, I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young, Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad, (Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d and rested,…
Like her spirit-sister Penelope, the Older Woman in “A Summer Day” waits patiently and anxiously for the return of her “man of the sea” Asle who left one rainy, windy autumn afternoon many years ago on his Odysseus-like epic journey of self-discovery. Jon Fosse’s “A Summer Day” chronicles one day of remembrance for this woman who years ago watched her…