2011 A Space Odyssey meets It’s A Wonderful Life in walkabout dream-time. Doors open unexpectedly, physically, metaphorically, virtually and otherwise…. Pretty, average, twenty-something Joyce has a bad case of the blah-blahs and whines about it in no uncertain terms: her job, her life, her friends, and her boyfriend Karl, especially. Average, intellectual, not too hunky … Continue reading
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My Best of Live Theater in DFW 2009
Magic on stage in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region. A wealth of creative theatrical endeavor: satisfying, dignified and quirky, heart-warming and spine-chilling, thought-provoking and side-splitting, high art to lowly farce. Performance ritual reveals truths of the human condition through magical transformation. Or we hope that happens. Here’s what wove that special magic for me this year, … 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
Upstanding Start: Upstart Productions at the Green Zone
If playwright Lonergan were firing up the metaphorical grill to barbecue for his drinkin’, partyin’ buddies from the 1980’s, he’d marinade the bloody meat in a liberal dose of angst-ridden narcissistic nihilism with a liberal salt shaker’s worth of misogyny. Master playwright David Mamet he is not, bludgeoning the audience with fine-tuned balance of savagery and cunning in imagery and character. Yet this initial stage endeavor shows the promise that filled his coffers with later film ventures. It also affords a young company like Upstart Theater nuanced fodder to sink their artistic teeth into, particularly under the wise guidance of a seasoned director like Rene Moreno. Look for more high caliber performance from these “upstarts.”
Rate this dish? Medium rare to extremely well done. Continue reading
Dream of Godless Madness: KDT’s Psychos Never Dream
Kitchen Dog Theatre’s mission statement says the company chooses plays that invite audiences to be “provoked, challenged and amazed.” Complimented by a reverberating rock score as sound, sallow-hued, soul-draining lighting effects and a set that unfolds like a hot pillow house hide-a-bed, this production of Dennis Johnson’s Psychos Never Dream is resoundingly awesome in its ability to do all three. Continue reading