An air of mystical eternity permeates northern California’s Humboldt County. It’s not just the heady aroma of eucalyptus or the mist-shrouded sun floating silent over rolling hills at dawn. A pervasive spirit of ageless magic breathes soulful mantras beneath the surface of Humboldt’s every nook and cranny, vista and shady grove, day and night. Small … Continue reading
This opinionated essay constitutes my review of Brick Road Theatre’s educational, politically relevant, soaring production of LGBT composer Mark Blitzstein’s notorious 1937 play with music The Cradle Will Rock. If you value being an educated (and entertained) theatre patron, don’t miss it. It runs through March 18 at The Cox Playhouse in reconstruction-crazed downtown Plano. … Continue reading
Dare to tread where death abounds? The Blighted Heart surely killed the critic as he wrote his front row review of this 9-act torchy blunder. The farce it’s part of, Stiff, is simply to die for. Laughing, that is. Find this frenzied, farcical delite at The Barrow Group Theatre (TBG Theatre) through March 3, 2018 … Continue reading
When William Moulton Marston created the fictional Amazonian character Wonder Woman for DC Comics (first appeared in 1941), he probably had no clue of the paradigm shifting, multi-generational impact and popularity she would have. Nor could he have imagined the impact one creative, intelligent, impassioned producer/advocate, a veritable Wonder Woman in her own right, could … Continue reading
Best of 2017? DFW fosters a diverse, vibrant theatre community with more talent expanding its depth and range every year. Many interesting roles for women in 2017…. Despite the focus on harassment issues and the #MeToo paradigm shift, DFW theatre trends towards more parity in male/female engagement. It’s always easy to recall an array of … Continue reading
Most human life consists of an ongoing, benumbing experience of mundane, routine existence. What “drama” appears isn’t all that pretty. We seek out events and connections that transport us beyond that limited experience, that can add hope, context and meaning. We long for joyful release in living our often-frustrating lives. Truly creative theatre can transport … Continue reading
Thomas Ward·Saturday, November 11, 2017 Last night I saw Prism Movement Theater’s LEAR. It is a wordless adaptation of KING LEAR focusing on Lear, her Daughters, and the Fool. It was a fantastic piece and I’m so glad I was able to see it. This isn’t a review of the production, I’m just trying to … Continue reading
““I’m a person who doesn’t like summer or sunshine,” said Ellen Fairey, playwright and self-proclaimed melancholic.” opens a February 2010 nytimes.com article about then emerging playwright Ellen Fairey. For a woman with a decidedly pessimistic view of life, good fortune has certainly flooded her creative path. Chicago’s established Profiles Theatre booked her play Graceland before … Continue reading
Conventional, traditional productions of William Shakespeare’s King Lear, included in the 1623 First Folio, feature a substantial cast that includes fourteen speaking characters of some primary impact, plus an assortment of officers, soldiers, attendants and messengers. In Prism Movement Theater and Theatre Three’s co-production, called Lear, running through November 19th in the intimate Theatre Too … Continue reading
The concept of “re-imagining” performance art seems to be en vogue lately, discussed and debated as if it’s something new, innovative. There’s nothing much new about it. William Shakespeare “re-imagined” virtually every play published under his name, and it has worked out quite well for him and about 500 years’ worth of theatre audiences. Very … Continue reading
