“After great pain a formal feeling comes–/The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;/ This is the hour of lead/Remembered if outlived,/As freezing persons recollect the snow–/First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.” (Emily Dickinson, 372) On a visit to Cairo, Egyptian-American Leila (played with a passionate intensity by Alia Attallah) suffered great pain on two occasions. The assault in a…
“Held Momentarily” being presented as part of NYMF at PTC is certainly on the move and getting closer, I hope, to a prolific destination. Since first viewed at the 2014 NY International Fringe Festival it has experienced welcomed modifications that are beneficial to the growth of this pleasant chamber musical. In this present incarnation the book, music and lyrics are…
Portraying himself and explicating his understanding of the creative process in “Head Voice,” Ethan Andersen has continued to re-work his new musical (originally workshopped in New Orleans in 2010) and showcase it in this year’s New York Musical Theatre Festival. The result is mostly quite pleasant and often impressive. Mr. Andersen writes sophisticated music and his score here is quite…
“It was just a simple dinner,” is far from the truth of Darryl Reuben Hall’s “The Dinner,” a fiercely accurate drama involving race equality, the birth of white privilege, and media brutality in our nation. This play, given life thanks to the money-sharing Kickstarter, is a post-Civil War piece that tells the story of Booker T. Washington’s journey of becoming…
A character is nothing more than imagination, a flick of a ballpoint pen from a playwright, and an actor who struggles to find their voice. “6 Actors in Search of a Character” attempts to be a comedy set out to prove the notion that there is no reality in theatre. But, instead, tells a random, un-relatable plot that twists and…
Goodness, rich people are nice. That is the lesson of S. Karlan’s “Good Company” when Leslie, a prostitute, is purchased by the wealthy Paul, an older man who keeps her in his house as a live-in friend. She quickly is enamored with the multimillionaire as he gives her everything her heart desires, but betrays him to her pimp because, well,…
With a traditional Broadway structure, a delightful and often “edgy” book, and engaging lyrics and music, “Pope: An Epic Musical” chronicles a pontifical journey of epic proportions. The Pope of this musical (played with superhero charm and a winning vulnerability by Sam Bolen) navigates his way through his own adventures with danger, temptation, fidelity, and faith. There are no Sirens…
The Potomac Theatre Project (PTP/NYC) has selected two Howard Barker plays for their 29th Season. PTP/NYC is a remarkable theatre collective that has always been willing to take risks in presenting challenging plays in repertory. This 2015 Season is no exception. Mr. Barker’s “Scenes from an Execution” is brilliant and the production at Atlantic Stage 2 is as scintillating as…
“I am not meant to be understood. Don’t you see? Oh, you miserable, well-meaning, always-on-the-right-side, desperate little intellect! Death to be understood. Awful death…” (Galactia to Rivera, Scene Nineteen) The best learning results from the learner grappling with an authentic situation, with rich dense text, and with self and others. This process translates to the development and appreciation of the…
“Who would fardels bear,/To grunt and sweat under a weary life,/But that the dread of something after death,/The undiscovered country, from whose bourn/No traveller returns, puzzles the will,/And makes us rather bear those ills we have/Than fly to others that we know not of?” – William Shakespeare, “Hamlet,” Act III, Scene I “Puzzle the Will” (part of Hamlet’s epic soliloquy…