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 DebateAuthor: Christopher Munden
Why’s Everyone Such a Critic?
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 Why’s Everyone Such a Critic?Talkin’ Irish with Madi Distefano of Brat Productions
Six theater companies came together this season to create the Philadelphia Irish Theatre Festival, which featured eight contemporary plays from the Emerald Isle. Brat Productions…
View More Talkin’ Irish with Madi Distefano of Brat ProductionsBrat Productions’ CRAIC Fringes the Irish Theatre Fest
There are some 400 million native English-language speakers in the world and about 6 million of them live on the island of Ireland, but the…
View More Brat Productions’ CRAIC Fringes the Irish Theatre FestCommedia, Terrorism, and Royalty: Inis Nua’s DUBLIN BY LAMPLIGHT
Cast members from Inis Nua Theatre’s DUBLIN BY LAMPLIGHT, playing in Philadelphia PA through May 14. The Royal Wedding and the death of international terrorist…
View More Commedia, Terrorism, and Royalty: Inis Nua’s DUBLIN BY LAMPLIGHTBastille to Broad Street: The French influence on Philadelphia architecture
Paris’s reputation as a a city of architectural beauty is long-held and its emblematic structures have influenced generations of Philadelphia architects and designers. This cultural…
View More Bastille to Broad Street: The French influence on Philadelphia architectureAmaryllis Theatre Company Brings an Excelente LYDIA to the Adrienne
As Octavio Solis’s sublimely crafted play Lydia opens, the Mexican American Flores family is struggling to cope with the aftermath of a terrible car accident.…
View More Amaryllis Theatre Company Brings an Excelente LYDIA to the AdrienneBleak Complexity: SPEAKING IN TONGUES at the Walnut’s Independence on 3
As SPEAKING IN TONGUES opens, two couples are about to cheat on their partners. Their dialog develops in unison; each pairing uttering the same lines.…
View More Bleak Complexity: SPEAKING IN TONGUES at the Walnut’s Independence on 3In the Swing: A Brief History of Baseball in Philadelphia
Baseball in Philadelphia is riding on a wave of success by the hometown Phillies, winners of four straight National League East titles and two of…
View More In the Swing: A Brief History of Baseball in PhiladelphiaOne Woman, Many Voices: LET ME DOWN EASY at PTC
There are many voices in this nation’s health care debate, and Anna Deveare Smith could probably act out them all. In LET ME DOWN EASY,…
View More One Woman, Many Voices: LET ME DOWN EASY at PTCBCKSEET Productions’ Losing the Shore
You never expect lighthearted comedy when going to a show by BCKSEET Productions. Argentine prison dramas, biting Edward Albee plays, and a Christmas show depicting Santa…
View More BCKSEET Productions’ Losing the ShoreUpdike’s guide to reviewing
Submit to whatever spell, weak or strong, is being cast. Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his…
View More Updike’s guide to reviewingIt’s The End of the World As We Knew It: New City’s PTERODACTYLS at the Adrienne
PTERODACTYLS takes place in a sterile Main Line living room (set design Cory Palmer), a fitting setting for a work reminiscent of Victorian drawing room…
View More It’s The End of the World As We Knew It: New City’s PTERODACTYLS at the AdrienneThe New and Old of It: Interview with BCKSEET’s Gregory DeCandia
BCKSEET Productions has staged more than thirty plays in their eleven-year history, about half of those in Philadelphia, the city the company has called home…
View More The New and Old of It: Interview with BCKSEET’s Gregory DeCandiaCalifornia Fresh: New theater company launches in Kensington arts space
The back streets of Kensington may not have much in common with Hollywood
View More California Fresh: New theater company launches in Kensington arts spaceIt’s “theater”
Philadelphia is in the United States, so I’ve decided that theater should be spelled theater, not the English/French theatre. Right.
View More It’s “theater”THE CRUCIBLE (Tri-County Performing Arts Center)
Like many people, I was introduced to THE CRUCIBLE in a high school English class. The teacher dutifully told us that it was a play…
View More THE CRUCIBLE (Tri-County Performing Arts Center)LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE by Theatre Exile at Plays and Players
Playwright Martin McDonagh delivers a powerful political message in the most palatable of pills
View More LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE by Theatre Exile at Plays and PlayersDon’t worry folks, he’s not like that in real life (or so he claims): Interview with Blasted’s John Jezior
Actor John Jezior has become well known to Philadelphia area audiences through his work on Shakespeare productions; he has performed in nearly half of the…
View More Don’t worry folks, he’s not like that in real life (or so he claims): Interview with Blasted’s John Jezior“Great Expectations” at Curio Theatre
Charles Dickens asked in his will that no memorials be erected to him and so the life-size sculpture of the author in Clarke Park in…
View More “Great Expectations” at Curio Theatre