VIEWPOINTS – Musical revivals that have something new to say

Over the last few months, I had a chance to catch a quartet of revisionist musical revivals that made me sit up and pay attention to material I thought I … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Children and Art, or Theater during the Holidays

There is something completely disarming about how children respond to the spell cast by live performance. This is particularly evident during the holiday season – the time of year families … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Mark Gerrard’s hilarious STEVE breaks free from the past

We are officially living in a post-Larry Kramer world, as evidenced by two currently running gay-themed Off-Broadway plays that, on the surface, uncannily deal with the same issues. In addition … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Women at Work: A tale of ten playwrights

Earlier in the fall I had raved about Washington, D.C.’s unprecedented and altogether triumphant Women’s Voices Theater Festival. All the while, I was also keeping close tabs on new works … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – HOUSEWORLD creates a gloriously messy immersive world

When it comes to immersive theater, can you have the best of all worlds? Andrew Hoepfner’s ambitious site-specific Houseworld, which closed last weekend at Brooklyn’s atmospheric San Damiano Mission, thinks … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – At Odds: Theater & Magic

Already this season, three shows, both large and small, have prompted me to contemplate the relationship between magic and theater. These two genres of performance strike me as diametrically and … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Two timely revivals celebrate Arthur Miller’s centennial

Arthur Miller, one of our great and most-produced playwrights, was born on October 17, 1915 birth, and this year marks the centennial of his birth.  To commemorate this landmark, two … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Women & Shakespeare: Taking ownership of HENRY IV

Perhaps in (subconscious) reaction to the Globe’s incredibly successful “original practices” productions of Twelfth Night and Richard II, in which men take on the women’s roles as was the practice … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Dabbling in some experimental theater, for better or worse

You never know what you’re going to get when you dabble in experimental theater. Indeed, this was the case with two avant-garde productions I had both the fortune and misfortune … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – The dysfunctional family is alive and well in the theater

The dysfunctional family has long been a reliable staple in the theater. Audiences have long flocked to see juicy familial dramas, particularly those featuring domineering matriarchal characters, in plays by … Continue Reading →