I’ve heard about Faction for a while now, but I hadn’t been able to catch one of their shows until a couple weeks ago, when I saw their Henry V. Faction of Fools is a commedia dell’arte troupe. Some of their members have actually gone to Italy to train with people who have received that tradition […]
The other day, Silas asked me what the first show I directed was. My go-to answer is a pair of one-acts, selected by my high school drama teacher, when I was 14 (tenth grade). They were Sorry, Wrong Number and What Button to Press. The former was a radio drama adapted for the stage, and the latter–all I remember is […]
TW: Rape, murder. It’s not every day I get to see an early modern play that I haven’t seen or read before, but somehow I missed The Changling. Lucky for me, Brave Spirits was on that. The Changling is a rape and murder story. Fun times. The direction, by Charlene Smith, who I believe also went […]
So, I went to see Duchess in a rep with The Changling at Brave Spirits Theater in Alexandria. I had mentioned to Bridget that I was going to see this, and she told me this was a terrible idea. JC also said that I probably shouldn’t do it. I think they were right. I think the production […]
Let me tell you, it is a weird thing to see 18-year-olds in 2018 perform a play about being on the brink of turning 30 in 1990. This production was great and interesting–and also kind of surreal. The problem, I think, with doing Tick, Tick…Boom! right now is that it isn’t far enough away, but it […]
I saw Men on Boats at Bridgewater College as a participating production for KCACTF. It was fantastic. The script tells the story of the Powell Expedition, while asking questions about the typical story, which, of course, we only have from Powell himself. One cool thing about this script is that the playwright, Jaclyn Backhaus, said that she […]
The Wolves is being performed literally everywhere right now. If you are in the United States, the odds that there is a performance of it this weekend within a hundred miles of your present location are very high–and I recommend that you go avail yourself of the opportunity to see it. I hadn’t seen it […]
I saw As You Like It as a participating production for KCACTF Region 2. This production did some interesting work in terms of gender bending. The wicked duke was a female actor in a dress, but with a mustache–sort of gender nonbinary, I guess. Touchstone had half of their costume as a female and half male, […]
TW: This response mentions suicide. I’ve probably mentioned that one super fun thing I get to do is respond to college shows for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). I enjoy traveling to these shows, talking with students about their work and their process, and getting a feel for the kind of work […]
I took the kids to see a student matinee of As You Like It at the American Shakespeare Center. This turned out to be a great move. The audience mostly consisted of high school students. My kids were about as well-behaved as any of them, and I wasn’t self-conscious about their wiggling energy. One thing I […]