When my local high school announced it was slating Hairspray as its spring musical, I was terribly skeptical. Although the school, like the city, is extremely diverse, I had only rarely seen a non-white kid in their productions. At that school, as at many schools, theater is for white kids. Ken Gibson, the theater teacher […]
So, I wasn’t supposed to even be at KCACTF this year. But I got a call from a friend who needed a favor, and I went to help out for a few days. I’m so glad that I did. I love the festival—all the students fluttering with nervous excitement in line for Irene Ryans at […]
I saw this show a while back, and when I didn’t write about it in a timely fashion, I figured I would skip it. But I can’t stop thinking about it, so here we are. The show, directed by Ben Lambert, was an all-female production of Caryl Churchill’s 1976 play about a 17th-Century witch hunt. […]
I was very excited when I heard about the 2019 summer/fall season at the American Shakespeare Center: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. I’m kind of obsessed with Shakespeare’s Roman plays. Due to other obligations and theater-going opportunities, I didn’t end up seeing them until the end of the season. I […]
The first time a friend invited me to see a show at Synetic, I rolled my eyes, but went along. I’ve seen some of my favorite shows by saying yes to invitations I didn’t think I was interested in. This was no exception. The show was Romeo and Juliet, which I had just finished directing […]
It seems like Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody is the play of the year. Theater people will know what I’m talking about–if you are in that world, every year, there’s some play that everyone you know is doing. Last year, it was The Wolves, Men in Boats, and, oddly enough, The Seagull. Nobody seems to know why […]
When I heard that Quill was doing an all-female Taming, I felt like this was the rare production of this text that I could handle seeing. I’m not a fan of the script. It’s not just the abuse that I don’t like (although there’s that). I also don’t think that the Bianca suitor plot is […]
Our local community theater put up Peter Pan and I took the kids. I’ve seen some things at Valley Players in the past that were outstanding (Outside Mullingar is a favorite). A few kids my kids knew were in the show as well. I should preface this by saying that I cannot even begin to […]
Shenandoah University, just up the way in Winchester, has a summer musical series. They bring in professional actors for most of the principal roles and their students make up the ensemble. I knew the general outline of Ragtime, but hadn’t ever seen it performed, so I wanted to see it. The production was outstanding, musically, […]
It’s not every day that a little theater in rural Virginia prints the words “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” on its posters. When ShenanArts decided to mount Angels in America, I knew I had to see it, if only to encourage this kind of programming. I hadn’t ever seen Angels staged, although I have […]