Storytelling, on perhaps its most basic level, is a means of transmitting memories and messages from one generation to the next. As such, it becomes a sort of ritual. By sharing our stories with others, we’re released from the burden of carrying them …Read more
Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts is, to put it bluntly, nonsensical. An avant-garde opera with a libretto by Stein and a score by Virgil Thomson, it’s more word-driven than plot-driven: the libretto repeats the same lines endlessly, strings …Read more
A CIA newbie with orders to remove the Chilean President walks into a bombed out palace. What could go wrong? In Mark Wilding’s delightful comedy Our Man in Santiago, loosely inspired by the Nixon Administration’s failed attempt to remove the Chilean …Read more
Gertrude Stein once said of her own writing: “if you enjoy it, you understand it.” If that’s true, then I suppose I understood My Onliness: a world premiere musical about a mad king and his rebellious subjects. While I’m still parsing its intended me …Read more
What’s it like to work at a job that’s slowly sucking the life and soul out of you–and is it worth it? That seems to be one of the questions asked by Alexander Perez in his dark comedy Randy’s Dandy Coaster Castle, directed by Rebecca Martinez and p …Read more
“There’s no reality in which I don’t fall in love with you.” So says a nervous but excited bride on her wedding day, as she and her husband-to-be wait for their civil ceremony. A 10-minute one act, Iphis and Ianthe at the Courthouse is inspired by Ov …Read more
From time to time, a play can take you by surprise. That was the case with Chain Theater’s macbitches, written by Sophie McIntosh and directed by Ella Jane New. While intrigued by the premise—when a freshman lands the coveted role of Lady Macbeth, fo …Read more
Eartha Kitt was described by Orson Welles as “the most exciting woman in the world.” Yet for 10 years, she was blacklisted from work in the United States. Why? Because she spoke her mind in front of Lady Bird Johnson. At a White House women’s luncheo …Read more
What makes a play queer? Is it simply a queer cast? A queer aesthetic? Or something more? Billed as a queer and gender-blind, abridged and I quote “hilarious version of this beloved classic,” Sister Shakes Productions’ Romeo & Juliet (presented b …Read more
A year ago, I had the opportunity to review Alexander Perez’s dark comedy Randy’s Dandy Coaster Castle, which follows a team of overworked, underpaid employees at a rundown amusement park already in its death throes. Then playing at IRT, the producti …Read more
