Posted in November 2009 …

Good Things, Still Waiting: Stage West

Good things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes. Walking out of a performance of Scottish dramatist and poet Liz Lochhead’s play Good Things at Stage West, I realized I was still waiting. I have tremendous respect for the wide-ranging body of creative work created by Stage West artists. Earlier this year … Continue reading →

Swamped with Misfortune

What a technical delight. Jeffrey Schmidt directed as well as designed set and sound for Theatre Three’s current production of Lanford Wilson’s 1980 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Talley’s Folly. His creative juices and resourcefulness shine in assembling the derelict boathouse set for the play. It’s simple and effective–all elements recyclable, re-used lumber, found objects, masses and … Continue reading →

Zen-ergy Shoots the Moon at Undermain Theatre

Watch a small child get lulled to sleep by a fantastical tale that concludes in total peace and quiet. As the final moment of Undermain Theatre’s production of Port Twilight: A History of Science wound down to a silent, “zen-ergized” finale on opening night November 14, I could feel most of the audience join me … Continue reading →

Don’t pity this whore: Slasher at Kitchen Dog

Slasher is way too bold and bright to pity as a whore. Kitchen Dog Theater’s production of Alison Moore’s national stage hit is more of a bright-eyed, new ‘recruit on the street’ type of play, a saucy tart oozing charm and redemptive qualities in flashing neon-lit burn. Moore’s high dudgeon farce weaves two close-hooked themes … Continue reading →

Slither On By: Theatre Too’s Snake in the Grass

Snake in the Grass by Alan Ayckbourn? Let it slither on by. Billed as a “ghostly comedy”, this featherweight 2002 sample of Ayckbourn’s prolific writing (seventy two full-length plays, many award-winning) hardly does justice to his masterful scope and style. As presented by Theatre Too, it feels oddly set in Grey Garden’s backyard, minus the … Continue reading →

Full Sail Ahead: Port Twilight premieres

Sci-fi thrillers make perfect viewing for autumn nights. Undermain Theatre sweeps into Fall 2009 with the world premiere of Port Twilight: or A History of Science (A Chronicle of Folly, Wisdom and Madness). It’s a sci-fi fantasy/ thriller by Len Jenkin, one of the nation’s most distinguished playwrights, directed by Lakewood resident and Undermain Theatre’s … Continue reading →

Ochre House’s Empty Room: Fill your Head

Rock music mantra “free your head,” echoed across the late 60’s-early 70’s, when our nation’s repressive government pitted a frightening arsenal of mind control techniques against the drug and free spirit ideology-induced revolutionary paradigm shift of a rebellious generation. SDS, the Weathermen, Socialist Workers Party members, Earth First-ers and the artists and musicians who crystallized … Continue reading →

As Minds Lie: Second Thought Theatre

A Lie of the Mind. I want to call it “LIES of the Mind”. All the characters in this play inoculate themselves from life’s painful realities with lies. Layers of ‘em. That’s only one aspect of Sam Shepard’s dramatic masterpiece about spousal abuse, family dysfunction and the path of self-destruction his despondent, degenerate characters crawl … Continue reading →

My Nightmare on Pearl St.

Like most theatre-loving folks in Dallas and as a regional theatre critic, I was very curious to see what the experience of attending a performance the new Wyly Theatre would be like. I got my chance this past Friday night, October 30, when Dallas Theater Center inaugurated its use of the Wyly Theatre with the … Continue reading →

Talk Radio at Upstart: Catch the ‘Tude

Check out the audio interview with featured actor Elias Taylorson on This Week in the Arts. Tough to find a DVD of Oliver Stone’s 1988 screen adaptation of Eric Bogosian’s Pulitzer-nominated play Talk Radio. A cult favorite flick featuring Bogosian and a fresh-faced Alec Baldwin, it’s not filed by the hundreds on the local Blockbuster … Continue reading →