The play celebrates and honors the life of a great American hero in a way that allows adults and young people to see how much can be accomplished through learning and perseverance.
View More YOUNG FREDERICK DOUGLASS (Beacon): From slave to American hero, the pen defeats the whip
Among the many experimental performances at PIFA this year, this could be one of the most unique and successful.
View More ATTACK POINT (PIFA): Innovative and experimental
MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance), together with Pennsylvania Ballet brought a hot dance night to the Forrest Theater on an unusually freezing April night.
View More SHUT UP & DANCE 2016 (MANNA): 24th MANNA benefit performance
This is a solidly accessible MACBETH, with comprehensible delivery and an easy-to-follow story—the kind of Shakespeare you go see with your high school class.
View More MACBETH (Philly Shakes): Blood should have blood
Throw your preconceived notions about gender aside and ride your own exasperated mule to Quince Productions’ staging of RODEO.
View More RODEO (Quince): “Who you calling a lady?”
The newest collection from PS Books, 50 OVER 50, continues the publishing company’s recent trend of showcasing work by female writers and artists.
View More [book review] 50 OVER 50 (PS Books)
A remarkably original and gloriously entertaining version of the Marlowe play.
View More DOCTOR FAUSTUS (Quintessence): If you want to know everything, go to hell
Leonid Andreyev’s classic tale of love and death in the Big Top is given original interludes of circus acts and live music to set the stage and mood.
View More HE WHO GETS SLAPPED (PAC): Spectacle and sadness at the circus
A critic evaluating TWO TRAINS RUNNING is not an anthropologist studying another culture through their artifacts.
View More Dear White People: TWO TRAINS RUNNING is not a play about race
Beyond being entertaining and thought-provoking, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s AN OCTOROON is an experience
View More AN OCTOROON (Wilma): A melodrama, a social commentary, an experience
New York City deputy mayor Charlie Brock and his wife Myra are hosting a posh party, but something is amiss.
View More RUMORS (BRT): 60-second review
Douglas McGrath tribute to Carole King goes beyond the formulaic jukebox musical to tell a story that stands on its own
View More BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL (National Tour, Academy of Music): A finely woven tapestry
Jesse Cline’s production is solid and holds dramatic intensity throughout, but ‘Victoria Mayo elevates a fine staging into one worth remembering.
View More DOGFIGHT (Media): Love and war
A smart, funny dance piece tracking a relationship, or relationships, through a series of well-expressed interactions
View More SHOW NO SHOW (Gabrielle Revlock & Aleksandr Frolov): Moving relationships
An outstanding ensemble recounts the backstory of Peter Pan in a madcap prequel with music.
View More PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Walnut): A wacky look at the backstory of Peter Pan
Hedgerow Theater presents an original stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel.
View More THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES (Hedgerow): Hercule Poirot at your service
George Bernard Shaw’s play is presented in rich tonalities of color, light, positioning, and sound. It is wide awake.
View More SAINT JOAN (Quintessence): The Maid’s new clothes
Philly’s own, new, funky slice of psychedelia performed at the Mothership.
View More Meet the Moon Jellies: The world’s next funky acid trip of a band
A dichotomy of delight and disgust makes this production such a treat—a feast with many courses, each richly flavored and deeply textured.
View More RICHARD III (People’s Light): Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction
August Wilson is a really good playwright. That’s hardly a bold critical statement, but it’s one confirmed by this vivid production at Arden Theatre Company.
View More TWO TRAINS RUNNING (Arden): 1969, Pittsburgh