A Queer Midsummer Night’s Dream
Mauckingbird Theatre Company presents a gender-bent look at Shakespeare’s famous play for a woman wert thou first created; Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting, And by addition me…
Best of Philadelphia Theater, 2009-2010
August 2 saw the announcement of the 2010 Barrymore Awards. I only saw about 25 plays by 10 companies this season, so my pool of plays is somewhat smaller, but…
A Demonic Tour de Force: The Screwtape Letters Returns to the Lantern Theater Company
C.S. Lewis‘s The Screwtape Letters is more overtly religious than his allegorical children’s books. But just as an appreciation for the Narnia tales does not require a belief in talking animals and…
An Evening Without Woody Allen
Not everyone likes Woody Allen’s comedy, it can be a bit high-brow, idiosyncratic, or vulgar for some tastes, and like any comedy, some of his works from decades past are…
1812 Productions’ An Evening Without Woody Allen, now onstage at Plays and Players
“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work… I want to achieve it through not dying.” — Woody Allen Woody Allen might be the preeminent comic mind of our time, as Oscar Wilde and Mark…
A Brief History of Early Publishing in Philadelphia
Early publishing in Philadelphia has a rich and storied history. William Penn founded Philadelphia in 1682; within three years the nascent town had its first printing press. The first American…
Theatre Exile’s "Shining City" at Plays and Players
The past year has seen some great stagings by Irish playwright Colin McPherson in Philadelphia. The Arden’s brilliant Seafarer was followed by a stripped down performance of The Weir by…
Philadelphia Theater Calendar April 2020
What’s on Philadelphia theater stages in April 2020.
Octavius Catto and the Pythians of Philadelphia
Black baseball in Philadelphia has roots that go back to the end of the Civil War.
Shakespeare in Philadelphia: The Arden’s Romeo and Juliet Introduces a Season of the Bard
Four hundred years after his death, William Shakespeare remains the world’s most produced playwright. For evidence of his enduring popularity look no further than the region’s stages: there are at least five…
Bruce Graham Scores Again with Theatre Exile’s Any Given Monday at Plays & Players Theater
Acclaimed local playwright Bruce Graham returns toTheatre Exile with Any Given Monday (now onstage at Plays & Players Theater), a sport-themed world premiere geared to ride the success of his popular The Philly Fan. Unlike…
"Golden Age" – Philadelphia Theatre Company
“Great art is dangerous, that’s why there’s so little of it.” —Bellini, in Terrence McNally’s Golden Age Philly theater hacks were spoiled for choice last week when three Philadelphia theater…
Philadelphia Theater Calendar January 2020
Which plays are onstage in Philadelphia in January?
No Deceit: Lantern Theater’s Scapin is a Treat
A classic work of comic literature, a joyous reworking by one of the best clowns in modern theater, an imaginative staging by a top-class Philadelphia company, and puppets: the stage…
Conor McPherson’s The Weir: Subtlety and the Supernatural at the Curio Theatre
Irish playwright Conor McPherson has been called the “finest dramatist of his generation” (London Telegraph) with works that are “as near to perfection as a play can come” (New York Times). Philadelphia has…
