What just happened on stage, and why are my arms all goose-bumpy? One of the most delightful aspects of Dallas’ Festival of Independent Theatres is recognizing elements of pure risk-taking in certain productions and the artists who create them. Unrelated elements combine in unique ways. Uncomfortable moods sustain, creating prolonged suspense or examining the human … Continue reading
Posted in July 2012 …
FIT 2012: Leave the Pancakes to IHOP
There’s an edgy urgency to producing short stage work in a tiny venue, where economy of time and space drives focused reality. No leisurely drifting through two or three self-indulgent acts, or gratuitous geeky technical grandstanding. Get on. Set the stage. Inhabit the character. Drive the story. Hit the climax. Get off. Result? Refreshing and … Continue reading
Stage West: Dead Playwrights Society Revives Orton Farce
Ranking right up there with Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” as ‘possibly the funniest play ever written’ to some, Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” earned cries of “filth!” from members of the audience at its initial run at The Queen’s Theatre in London in 1969. In its press release, Stage West describes … Continue reading
A Natural Fit: Festival of Independent Theatres 2012
Attending the yearly FIT Fest (Festival of Independent Theatres) at the Bath House Cultural Center feels like “coming home” to a soul-inspiring balance between art and nature. It’s hazy, humid summertime, July in North Texas. Dallas’ concrete highway loops and treeless boulevards lined with retail hawkers fairly sizzle with speed, isolation and the drive to … Continue reading
Holy Hat-Tricks: DTC’s Jumpin’ Jehosaphat “Joseph”
Need someone to pull a rabbit out of a hat or turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse? Stage director Joel Ferrell is your man. I am no great fan of magic acts. But what I experienced Friday night June 24 at Dallas’ Wylie Theatre was a feat of pure, transcendent magic. Bless director/choreographer … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 