After a solid run from upstart Renegade Company, THE AMISH PROJECT is getting a revamped co-production with star indie company, Simpatico Theatre Project. Janice Rowland…
View More 60-second review: THE AMISH PROJECT (Simpatico/Renegade)Category: Reviews
InterAct’s ASSASSIN Hits Hard
Every week there seems to be another news story about the dangers of NFL football. The average career length for an outfield offensive player (running…
View More InterAct’s ASSASSIN Hits HardASSISTANCE (Wilma): 60-second review
Cutting close to the bone, Lesley Headland’s ASSISTANCE is a protest, as provocative as Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal (1928), exposing the Darwinian-exploitative nature of the 2013…
View More ASSISTANCE (Wilma): 60-second reviewA Darker Emerald Isle: Lantern’s THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE
The Lantern Theater Company’s production of THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE completes its presentation of Martin McDonagh’s Leenane Trilogy, following 2007’s THE LONESOME WEST and…
View More A Darker Emerald Isle: Lantern’s THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANESharing a Cerveza with THE DRUNK LION
“My mom always told me to be careful accepting invitations, but how often does a Mexican lion invite you to a cantina?” Philadelphia has bright…
View More Sharing a Cerveza with THE DRUNK LIONSATCHMO AT THE WALDORF (Wilma): A genius performance by John Douglas Thompson
For some time I’ve read effusive descriptions of John Douglas Thompson’s acting. They are all true—he is an incredible talent. In SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF, now in a brief run at the Wilma Theater, Thompson brilliantly portrays Louis Armstrong, the musician’s hard-nosed talent manager, and other characters, switching diction and mannerism so completely that he seems to inhabit different bodies with each change.
View More SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF (Wilma): A genius performance by John Douglas ThompsonPOOKIE GOES GRENADING (Azuka): The filling for your existential doughnut hole
Behind a thick veneer of such entertainingly hilarious absurdity, Azuka Theatre’s world premiere production of J.C. Lee’s POOKIE GOES GRENADING explores the self-serious commitment necessary to produce any works of artistic expression. Lee’s script is theatrical comedy at its best, fast-paced fun with seriously smart dialog and perceptive underpinnings.
View More POOKIE GOES GRENADING (Azuka): The filling for your existential doughnut holeWalking Fish’s PROBLEM CHILD is One To Love
Kensington’s Walking Fish Theatre continues its presentation of George F. Walker’s Suburban Motel series with PROBLEM CHILD. Walker’s cycle features six plays set in the…
View More Walking Fish’s PROBLEM CHILD is One To LoveFever Dream’s BEYOND THERAPY Is No Couch Potato
There is something appealing about short theater. A ten to thirty minute play can be unapologetically funny, without aiming for emotional depth or bothering with character…
View More Fever Dream’s BEYOND THERAPY Is No Couch PotatoDivided By Faith: Curio Theatre’s THE RUNNER STUMBLES
“At night I wonder how you are feeling, what you think, if you’re happy, if you can sleep. Even when I pray, I wonder what…
View More Divided By Faith: Curio Theatre’s THE RUNNER STUMBLESALP D’HUEZ (Hella Fresh): One couple’s twisting mountain stage
Kensington cops may ask why you’re on rundown Ormes Street, but don’t get rattled: the play happening inside the Papermill Theater satisfies like mom’s chicken…
View More ALP D’HUEZ (Hella Fresh): One couple’s twisting mountain stageRFK (New City Stage): Remembering the Turmoil and Ideals of the Sixties
With all the mud-slinging in the current American presidential campaign and negativity about the state of our nation, it is an appropriate time, before the…
View More RFK (New City Stage): Remembering the Turmoil and Ideals of the SixtiesExperience an Original Sonic Happening at the Fringe with Found Theater Company’s ELECTRIC JUNGLE
Found Theater Company’s latest foray into the Fringe Festival is everything the Fringe should be: experimental, inventive, boundary-breaking, and thoroughly engaging. Devised by Found’s young…
View More Experience an Original Sonic Happening at the Fringe with Found Theater Company’s ELECTRIC JUNGLEThis House Is Made of Waste Products Only: Thinking about Kyohei Sakaguchi
Though Sakaguchi is relatively unheard-of in the United States, his Zero Yen House project has traveled as close as Canada, and with the sustainability movement in full force here, heʼs a figure who bears extensive discussion.
View More This House Is Made of Waste Products Only: Thinking about Kyohei SakaguchiTreats of the 2012 Philly Fringe: THE GHOST SONATA and THE MAIDS
One of the great things about the Fringe Festival is the opportunity to see independent companies perform works unlikely to be attempted by more established…
View More Treats of the 2012 Philly Fringe: THE GHOST SONATA and THE MAIDSRED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE (Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental): 2012 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival
An early version of this show lit up the Live Arts Festival in ’05, and I couldn’t wait to see the latest manifestation of the collaboration between Thaddeus Phillips’ Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental and Wilhelm Bros. music. The production has grown up over the intervening years. It’s bigger, wider, and deeper, and just as amazing and magical.
View More RED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE (Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental): 2012 Philadelphia Live Arts FestivalCREDITORS (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): Everything Great Theater Should Be
August Strindberg’s CREDITORS is a revenge tragedy of classic proportions, a modern descendant of the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare. His unnerving story of a love…
View More CREDITORS (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective): Everything Great Theater Should BeFringe Festival Takes Flight with Nichole Canuso Dance Company at the APS Museum
RETURN RETURN DEPARTURE considers the fleeting nature of time and the human compulsion to capture it, and there can be few more poignant examples than an ephemeral dance duet at sunset, videotaped for posterity by the performers themselves.
View More Fringe Festival Takes Flight with Nichole Canuso Dance Company at the APS MuseumA Rare and Satisfying CYMBELINE at Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre
CYMBELINE is one of Shakespeare’s later and lesser-known works, not often performed and hard to classify. Though inspired by legends about an ancient British king…
View More A Rare and Satisfying CYMBELINE at Philadelphia Shakespeare TheatrePlenty of Pulp: THE END OF CIVILIZATION at the Walking Fish
Some of the best entertainments are plot-heavy pulp mysteries: the film Double Indemnity, Raymond Chandler’s stories, Agatha Christie’s plays. With unemployment, serial killing, prostitution, addiction, and…
View More Plenty of Pulp: THE END OF CIVILIZATION at the Walking Fish