For most writers, there is much catharsis in storytelling. In the case of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella The Gambler, the real-life roulette addict wrote with considerable knowledge about a fictional roulette addict. The novel’s true purpose however, i …Read more

For any up-and-coming playwright, the LaBute New Theater Festival, presented by St. Louis Actors’ Studio at 59E59 Theaters, is a big deal. Neil Labute, as prolific as he is prosperous in multiple writing genres as well as directing, is the kind of su …Read more

Upon entering Lower Manhattan’s 4th Street Theatre, the lobby walls catch the eye with stark play/prison related images. Photographic stills set the tone for the looming performance of Key Change, but it is the the written comments from incarcerated …Read more

At the top of this show, a famous quote is echoed.  “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.”  This is a fair assessment. However, the talking in The Count Meets the Duke: The Andersons Play Basie and Ellington only augments this homa …Read more

“Martin was my friend for seven years. He was Campaign Coordinator for Campaign Against the Arms Trade.” With betrayal comes a lingering shame.  The intimacy of a long-term friendship, on the basis of chosen company and shared sentiments, is distinct …Read more

Between the colonial and the carnal, there is much that is shared; amongst them, brutality, oppression, lust and debatable boundaries. In the case of Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine, performed in the round (set-d …Read more

Interpreting the work of Samuel Beckett is for some, an undertaking as formidable and imposing as the contours of the playwright’s granite features. For others, his trademark characters’ oblivion to the slapstick of their own mishaps and the melancho …Read more

Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival is the only festival outside of Ireland that is dedicated solely to Irish playwrights.  In The Quare Land, currently playing at Union Square’s DR2 Theatre, playwright John McManus and director Ciarán O’Reilly (co-f …Read more

Who said becoming a Chinese stand-up comedian was easy?  Stand-up may be a relatively new thing in China, but Des Bishop is propping up the door for others to put a foot in, even if he does have to apply to the censor for permission before every show …Read more

There’s a variety of tricks to writing most archetypal celebrity ‘autobiographies’. First, get in a ghost writer who can either make sense and good grammar out of prerecorded drivel posing as authentic memories, or can sum up the subject matter by pu …Read more