I came to theater through literature: words brought to life onstage. But seeing any small amount of theater, you quickly realize that that much is…
View More JAPANAMERICA WONDERWAVE (Team Sunshine): Post-tsunami, pre-understandingAuthor: Christopher Munden
NORTH OF THE BOULEVARD (Theatre Exile): If the Boss wrote plays he’d write this one
A few years ago I was at that good used bookstore on 20th Street by the Free Library and saw a crowd gathering on the…
View More NORTH OF THE BOULEVARD (Theatre Exile): If the Boss wrote plays he’d write this oneKARMA 101 (GoCar Productions): 60-second review
It’s a pretty safe bet that you didn’t have a high school teacher as cool as Aaron “Gobanna” Pleasant. By turns musician, radio DJ, and teacher at Philadelphia Mennonite High School, Pleasant wrote KARMA 101 to teach high schoolers about the realities of growing up, making decisions, and higher education.
View More KARMA 101 (GoCar Productions): 60-second reviewPhindie Podcast 03: Michelle Pauls
For Phindie’s third Philadelphia Independent Theater podcast, hosts Christopher Munden and John Rosenberg visit the Walking Fish Theatre in Kensington to talk to owner Michelle…
View More Phindie Podcast 03: Michelle PaulsARMS AND THE MAN (Quintessence) plays up the farce
Two main threads run through George Bernard Shaw’s plays: social critique (he was an early member of the socialist Fabian society) and sharp observant humor.…
View More ARMS AND THE MAN (Quintessence) plays up the farce60-second review: FUTURE FEST (Luna)
“One generation’s Orwellian dystopia is the next generation’s comfort-inducing lifestyle.” J. Ferron Hiatt, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI TOY AND NOVELTY. The six short plays in Luna Theater’s…
View More 60-second review: FUTURE FEST (Luna)Literary Legacy: A History of Philadelphia Writers
If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth the reading, or do things worth the writing.
View More Literary Legacy: A History of Philadelphia WritersStill Devastating: RUINED at The Stagecrafters
The outskirts of Philadelphia are blessed with several high quality community theaters, and visits to them are a welcome treat for theatergoers accustomed to the cadence of…
View More Still Devastating: RUINED at The Stagecrafters60-second review: THE AMERICA PLAY (P&P)
Abraham Lincoln’s status as “the Great Emancipator” is a foundational myth of the American nation: a racially loaded narrative explored and satirized by Suzan-Lori Parks…
View More 60-second review: THE AMERICA PLAY (P&P)Wilde’s curious SALOME at Villanova Theatre
They only believe in things that can’t be seen. Oscar Wilde’s witty drawing room comedies are well known to theatergoers. SALOME, an experimental modernist piece…
View More Wilde’s curious SALOME at Villanova TheatreTax time. Is there any money in theater?
Like the rest of us, theater companies have to file taxes. This tax day, we look at some information from the most recent publicly available tax returns (generally 2012) for some major and independent Philadelphia companies.
View More Tax time. Is there any money in theater?60-second review: THE HAND OF GAUL (Inis Nua)
A pleasingly unpretentious comedy, THE HAND OF GAUL is something of a departure for Inis Nua, which generally produces serious works by contemporary Irish and…
View More 60-second review: THE HAND OF GAUL (Inis Nua)Everybody’s talking about TIMON OF ATHENS (PAC)
With their engaging interpretations of classic plays, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective has established a reputation as one of the best and boldest independent theater companies in…
View More Everybody’s talking about TIMON OF ATHENS (PAC)TIMON OF ATHENS (PAC) A rare glimpse at a Shakespeare work
I’m going to go out on a limb and say William Shakespeare is a pretty good playwright. Yet his stories, his speeches, his one-liners have so…
View More TIMON OF ATHENS (PAC) A rare glimpse at a Shakespeare work60-Second Review: EVERYONE AND I (Azuka)
“I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue/ and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and/ casually ask for a carton of Gauloises…
View More 60-Second Review: EVERYONE AND I (Azuka)MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Philly Shakes): A Shakespeare comedy that’s actually funny
When presenting Shakespeare comedies, companies often forget that they should be funny. This is not the case with Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre’s production of MUCH ADO…
View More MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Philly Shakes): A Shakespeare comedy that’s actually funnyPIFA 2013: HSP’s ArkHIVE and other theatrical highlights
“[H]alf-way up the hill, I see the Past Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,— A city in the twilight dim and vast, With…
View More PIFA 2013: HSP’s ArkHIVE and other theatrical highlightsThe Lantern’s noble HENRY V
HENRY V completes Shakespeare’s four-part series on Plantagenet kings of England. No longer the indolent partier, Prince Hal has inherited the English throne, but is…
View More The Lantern’s noble HENRY V60-second review: SEMINAR (PTC)
Writers will find much familiar in Theresa Rebeck’s SEMINAR, which brilliantly satirizes writerly blowhards (a proportionally large subset) and the self-seriousness necessary to pursue this art.…
View More 60-second review: SEMINAR (PTC)Flashpoint lights up the local scene with THE BENDS
Thom Weaver is familiar to me, as he may be to other Philadelphia theatergoers, because it seems every time I see a show with impressive…
View More Flashpoint lights up the local scene with THE BENDS