SHE STOOPS is an 18th-century comedy of manners and mistaken identities by Oliver Goldsmith. It is considered by many to be the most enduring of…
View More SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (Quintessence): A contemporary 18th-century comedyAuthor: Julius Ferraro
WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT (InterAct): Are You Black Enough?
Drury’s funny, traumatic, inventive and timely play will stab at you, personally, at least once. She asks whether it is important that a story be told, or if it is more important that it be told in a certain way. She uses the events in Namibia to illustrate the cracks in our own culture, the divides caused by racial issues even among a group of people who would probably all vote for the same candidate..
View More WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT (InterAct): Are You Black Enough?HANNAH (Hella Fresh): The glories of the sober mind
In response to a story I wrote about LSD, a college creative writing professor told me that it’s never a good idea to give characters…
View More HANNAH (Hella Fresh): The glories of the sober mindLUCKIEST KID (White Pines): 60-second review
Philly-based playwright Martha Kemper’s memoir-based LUCKIEST KID is an achievement just this side of brilliant. Playing the protagonist and main speaker in a story of…
View More LUCKIEST KID (White Pines): 60-second reviewThe Perfect Company in the Perfect City: REGENCY AND REVELRY at Lantern Theater Company
It’s now two hundred years ago that the famous line was published: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of…
View More The Perfect Company in the Perfect City: REGENCY AND REVELRY at Lantern Theater CompanyDO NOT PUSH (GDP): Clown Symphony
Where invention, precision and skill are present, great theater is possible. Alex Suha, creator of DO NOT PUSH, has applied all of these attributes with a clever…
View More DO NOT PUSH (GDP): Clown Symphony[76] BASTARD PIECE (No Face Performance Group): Fringe review
You are in a spacey kind of facility thing. It’s all white in there, with some technological lookin’ kinda lights. There are three doors; soon,…
View More [76] BASTARD PIECE (No Face Performance Group): Fringe review[74] BEYOND THE LIGHT (Leila Ghaznavi and Pantea Productions): Fringe review
Beyond the Light is a devised puppetry/theater/music/acrobatics/dance exploring unrequited love through whimsical, nighttime wonderment. A blonde boy and a black-haired girl stand in separate shadows,…
View More [74] BEYOND THE LIGHT (Leila Ghaznavi and Pantea Productions): Fringe reviewVictor Fiorillo, A Doll’s House, and the role of the reviewer
A review by Victor Fiorillo of EgoPo Classic Theatre’s A Doll’s House got Phindie writer Julius Ferraro contemplating the role of reviewer. This is part of Phindie‘s…
View More Victor Fiorillo, A Doll’s House, and the role of the reviewer[70] ONE YEAR (MamaCITA Five): Fringe review
Anyone stumbling into ONE YEAR by accident, like I did, will realize immediately that they had broken in on something transcendent. In front of a backdrop…
View More [70] ONE YEAR (MamaCITA Five): Fringe review[68] EMANCIPATION SWEET, A PLAY WITH MUSIC (Theatre for Transformation): Fringe review
Theatre for Transformation is a Lancaster-based company focused on performing African-American stories for diverse audiences. This active group has toured their original works to over…
View More [68] EMANCIPATION SWEET, A PLAY WITH MUSIC (Theatre for Transformation): Fringe review[40.2] THE OBJECT LESSON (Geoff Sobelle): Fringe review
A bit disjointed, with long transitions, Geoff Sobelle’s contribution to this year’s Fringe Festival is best seen as a collection of short meditations on—or parodies of—clutter,…
View More [40.2] THE OBJECT LESSON (Geoff Sobelle): Fringe review[28.1] THIS IS NOT A THEATER (Navin Rawanchaikul, Navin Production): Fringe review
Navin Rawanchaikul has created an epic portrait of the history of Philly’s historic Plays and Players Theater. Hundreds of faces have been painted with photographic…
View More [28.1] THIS IS NOT A THEATER (Navin Rawanchaikul, Navin Production): Fringe review[2.1] AJAX, THE MADNESS (Attis Theatre): Fringe review
Men are made into animals. Animals turn into men, and then are murdered. Bloody, bloody Ajax. His story settles in on you, in the way…
View More [2.1] AJAX, THE MADNESS (Attis Theatre): Fringe reviewSAINT JOAN, BETRAYED, a preview: Really cool masks and puppety things
Aaron Cromie, one half of a double-act with Mary Tuomanen, describes with relish the process of creating their latest Fringe piece, Saint Joan, Betrayed. For Saint…
View More SAINT JOAN, BETRAYED, a preview: Really cool masks and puppety thingsTHE HOMOSEXUALS (Quince): Ten turbulent years for one young man, six friends, and an entire community
And the festivities continue at GayFest! with Philip Dawkins’s acclaimed play THE HOMOSEXUALS. Gritty and thoughtful, with a broad scope of characterizations and universally relatable themes,…
View More THE HOMOSEXUALS (Quince): Ten turbulent years for one young man, six friends, and an entire communityNOIR (GDP): Theater fatale gets off the beaten path
Little known theater company, GDP Productions, takes a shot at classic crime cinema with NOIR. Played in the shadowy, speakeasy-like back bar of R Bar…
View More NOIR (GDP): Theater fatale gets off the beaten pathCIRQUE DU GAY (Quince): Circus in stockings and buttless chaps
Dennis Porter, part of the three-man CIRQUE DU GAY, is trolling up and down the aisle at Plays and Players Theatre in a clown suit.…
View More CIRQUE DU GAY (Quince): Circus in stockings and buttless chapsDon’t Worry Philly, There Will Be Theater in August
August is not the best of theater months. For most theaters, mainstream and small, the season is still a September or October to May session.…
View More Don’t Worry Philly, There Will Be Theater in AugustPlayed in Philadelphia (PHM): The insanity of Phillies fans
I went to the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent last week on a tipoff from Mary Syndor. “The Played in Philadelphia gallery,” claims their website,…
View More Played in Philadelphia (PHM): The insanity of Phillies fans