The recent chemical warfare waged by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against his own people is a graphic reminder of how indiscriminate war is and how equally indiscriminate those who wage war are. Playwright Tim Ruddy uses the July 1995 genocide at Srebrenica to underscore what happens when innocent people are caught in the crossfire of conflict and are even targeted…
If one of TACT’s missions is to discover and produce lost plays, their endeavors have reached a significant level of success in their recent production of William Inge’s “Natural Affection” which has not been seen in New York City since its short 1963 run at the Booth Theatre. The significant themes of this remarkable play are precisely the themes of…
Something is cooking at the ever so edgy and inventive La Mama Ellen Stewart Theatre – Irina Brooks’ adaptation of “Shakespeare’s Sister” – and it is absolutely delicious. Bloomsbury Group writer Virginia Woolf imagined the existence of Shakespeare’s sister while she was preparing a lecture on women and fiction, a somewhat ambiguous subject. Woolf wrote, “The title women and fiction…
One of the many facets of Origin’s 1st Irish Festival is the little jewel “McGoldrick’s Thread” which shines with family values that are steeped in Irish tradition. It carries a heartfelt message that is timeless and delivers it with the help of some high spirited Irish dancing and sentimental songs. The story is simple with an old theme. There can…
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…
Despite being second cousins, Ronnie (Jessica Myhr) and Danny (Seth Reich) have had a romantic attraction to one another since childhood and are finally able to confess and consummate their love for one another at the annual family reunion in Philadelphia in January 2009. This is not an easy reunion: Ronnie is married to gambling-addicted Steve with children and second…