James Tolbert has decades of experience on stages in Philadelphia and around the country, most recently as the lead in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come…
View More Interview with James C. Tolbert IIIAuthor: Christopher Munden
Feliz Navidad! UN VIAJE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY at Kensington’s Walking Fish Theatre
UN VIAJE—A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY is running at Walking Fish Theatre in Kensington (Philadelphia), PA through December 30. (Photo courtesy of B. Someday Productions at Walking…
View More Feliz Navidad! UN VIAJE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY at Kensington’s Walking Fish TheatreAnnual Philadelphia show salutes seminal TV comedy
Now in its sixth year, 1812 Productions’ This Is The Week That Is has become a cherished Philadelphia theater tradition. Described by 1812 artistic director Jennifer Childs…
View More Annual Philadelphia show salutes seminal TV comedyWild Bunch in Wild Punch in Kensington
California transplant John Rosenberg opened the Papermill Theater in an old (you guessed it) paper mill in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia in 2010. Since then, it’s…
View More Wild Bunch in Wild Punch in KensingtonA Versatile Acting Showcase in The Renegade Company’s THE AMISH PROJECT
“What happens to a person when they live in a world where you can’t believe anything and the things you don’t want to believe are…
View More A Versatile Acting Showcase in The Renegade Company’s THE AMISH PROJECTFun new theater at Plays and Players in Philadelphia
Running through November 19, Joy Cutler’s Pardon My Invasion continues a rich traditional of fun theater at Plays and Players. Tucked away on the quiet residential Delancey…
View More Fun new theater at Plays and Players in PhiladelphiaA theater which has been destroyed…
Just came across this quote by the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca: The theater is one of the most expressive and useful…
View More A theater which has been destroyed…Meanwhile . . . a noir-spoof mystery at the Ruba Ballroom
Philadelphia has quite the noir pedigree. It was home to William McGivern, author of the source material to such hard-boiled classics as Rogue Cop and The Big Heat, and David…
View More Meanwhile . . . a noir-spoof mystery at the Ruba BallroomInterAct’s THE HOW AND THE WHY is Well Written and Full of Ideas
“It’s yours, you created it, you gave birth to it. Don’t throw it away because you’re frightened of the implications.” Zelda (Janis Dardaris), an award-winning…
View More InterAct’s THE HOW AND THE WHY is Well Written and Full of Ideas“I see dead artists”: Haley Joel Osment returns to Philly in PTC’s RED
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has used Philadelphia and its environs as the setting for all of his critically acclaimed films, most famously his 1999 breakthrough…
View More “I see dead artists”: Haley Joel Osment returns to Philly in PTC’s REDAn overview of the Philly theater scene
Philadelphia theater is rich in its diversity and output, with over 100 companies presenting thousands of performances every year. The city boasts a long-standing tradition…
View More An overview of the Philly theater sceneTracy Letts’s AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY…A Modern Great at the Arden
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY bookends with characters quoting T. S. Elliot’s “The Hollow Men.” “Life is very long,” begins Beverly Weston (David Howey), the alcoholic patriarch…
View More Tracy Letts’s AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY…A Modern Great at the ArdenBest of Philadelphia Theater, 2010-2011
The Barrymore Awards ceremony is tonight, and I’m not there, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own opinions about the best actors and…
View More Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2010-201110 Picks for 2011 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, and the 2011 edition looks bigger andbetter than ever. The Live Arts…
View More 10 Picks for 2011 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly FringeA Voyage of Wonder: WHaLE OPTICS at the Live Arts
“Meditation and water are wedded forever” —Herman Melville, Moby Dick For last year’s Live Arts Festival, playwright Thaddeus Phillips took us on a trip to…
View More A Voyage of Wonder: WHaLE OPTICS at the Live ArtsJay Cooke: The Philadelphia banker who funded the Civil War, caused one of the nation’s biggest financial collapses, and founded Penn State Abington
This hugely influential Philadelphian was responsible for everything from Little Bighorn to the Crash of 1873.
View More Jay Cooke: The Philadelphia banker who funded the Civil War, caused one of the nation’s biggest financial collapses, and founded Penn State AbingtonMadhouse Theater Company’s PLAYING LENI is Spellbinding
More than any other historical figure and his followers, Hitler and the Nazis are shorthand for evil. Few people emerge from the close contact with…
View More Madhouse Theater Company’s PLAYING LENI is SpellbindingBringing Women’s Voices to the Stage: an interview with Polly Rose Edelstein of Crack the Glass Theatre Company
It’s a common complaint: few good roles exist for female actors in Philadelphia. Indeed even your most ardent male feminist (self-proclaimed) tends to turn his…
View More Bringing Women’s Voices to the Stage: an interview with Polly Rose Edelstein of Crack the Glass Theatre CompanyOld People and Theater (VIGIL at Lantern)
I began to attend Philadelphia theater in earnest about a decade ago, in my early mid-twenties. Consistently, my companion and I would be the youngest…
View More Old People and Theater (VIGIL at Lantern)Theater People vs. Theater Critics…The Ultimate Debate
I’ve been a lover of the stage as long as I can remember. Mostly this love has been realized as a patron of local theaters.…
View More Theater People vs. Theater Critics…The Ultimate Debate