The story of Euripides’s third place finish in the 431 B.C. Athens Dionysia festival is one to warm the hearts of unsung writers everywhere. The great Greek…
View More Two Philadelphia companies take Medea in new directions
Category: Theater
The best source for independent coverage of Philadelphia theater.
Stirring BLACK MONK Offered Up by Simpatico
“Forget all the laws of optics, which the legend does not recognize” —Anton Chekhov, The Black Monk Attempting to summarize the best modernist short stories…
View More Stirring BLACK MONK Offered Up by Simpatico
Simpatico concludes its Philadelphia season with David Rabe’s THE BLACK MONK
“She began dressing, too. Only now, looking at her, Kovrin realised the danger of his position — realised the meaning of the black monk and…
View More Simpatico concludes its Philadelphia season with David Rabe’s THE BLACK MONK
Live from Philadelphia… it’s 4SW Live! (FREE show)
4SW Productions is launching onto the Philadelphia theater scene with a showcase of short comedic plays next Monday in the third-floor space at Plays & Players theater.…
View More Live from Philadelphia… it’s 4SW Live! (FREE show)
Twelfth Night at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre
The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre opens its 15th Anniversary Season with Twelfth Night. Directed by Artistic Director Carmen Khan, the production promises to be a fun look at this…
View More Twelfth Night at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre
Romeo and Juliet (Lantern Theater Company): Do we need another R&J?
You may ask, “Do we need yet another production of Romeo and Juliet?” The answer is yes we do. This is the Lantern. Next question? The…
View More Romeo and Juliet (Lantern Theater Company): Do we need another R&J?
New City’s TERRORISM Presents a Sardonic Look at Modern Life
Passenger: It’s madness — what sort of an age do we live in? You don’t feel safe anywhere now, only at home… First Passenger: At…
View More New City’s TERRORISM Presents a Sardonic Look at Modern Life
A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: Three Things We Can All Like
As a lover of theater, beer, and meat-filled pastries, I’ve been excited by the ads and positive buzz about this series from Tiny Dynamite for…
View More A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT: Three Things We Can All Like
Philadelphia’s BRAT Productions makes the theater of the absurd even more absurd
Eugene Ionesco’s absurdest masterpiece The Bald Soprano (“La Cantatrice chauve”) ends as it begins: with an Englishwoman talking about french fried potatoes. Her husband isn’t listening, but this…
View More Philadelphia’s BRAT Productions makes the theater of the absurd even more absurd
Inis Nua Finds a Home with LITTLE GEM
Since 2004, Inis Nua Theatre Company has been entertaining Philadelphia audiences with provocative new Irish and British plays, staged at venues around the city. The…
View More Inis Nua Finds a Home with LITTLE GEM
A Valentines Playdate in Philadelphia
“First dates are stressful,” says the postcard for Matchbox Theatre Projects Valentines Day special,The Playdaters. As we all know, the 100th date can be just…
View More A Valentines Playdate in Philadelphia
African American History Month, onstage in Philadelphia
I’m writing this on February 4th, on what would be Rosa Parks 99th birthday. Parks herself is represented onstage in Philadelphia tonight, at the end…
View More African American History Month, onstage in Philadelphia
Fun for a Night, Hell for a Life: Luna’s Toxically Humorous BACHELORETTE
We’ve all met someone like her: the beautiful ex–prom queen with a cutting wit, overconfidence, and the forgivable tendency to say something hopelessly stupid and…
View More Fun for a Night, Hell for a Life: Luna’s Toxically Humorous BACHELORETTE
Interview with James C. Tolbert III
James Tolbert has decades of experience on stages in Philadelphia and around the country, most recently as the lead in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come…
View More Interview with James C. Tolbert III
WHY TORTURE IS WRONG AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM (New City): Side-Splitting Satire on a Timely Topic
Written by Durang (a Bucks County native) in 2009, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib and in the midst of America’s unending involvement in the Middle East, WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM will have you howling, as well as questioning the sanity of our elected officials, national security advisers, and the growing reactionary fringe of our voting populace (if you don’t already).
View More WHY TORTURE IS WRONG AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM (New City): Side-Splitting Satire on a Timely Topic
Feliz Navidad! UN VIAJE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY at Kensington’s Walking Fish Theatre
UN VIAJE—A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY is running at Walking Fish Theatre in Kensington (Philadelphia), PA through December 30. (Photo courtesy of B. Someday Productions at Walking…
View More Feliz Navidad! UN VIAJE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY at Kensington’s Walking Fish Theatre
Annual Philadelphia show salutes seminal TV comedy
Now in its sixth year, 1812 Productions’ This Is The Week That Is has become a cherished Philadelphia theater tradition. Described by 1812 artistic director Jennifer Childs…
View More Annual Philadelphia show salutes seminal TV comedy
Wild Bunch in Wild Punch in Kensington
California transplant John Rosenberg opened the Papermill Theater in an old (you guessed it) paper mill in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia in 2010. Since then, it’s…
View More Wild Bunch in Wild Punch in Kensington
A Versatile Acting Showcase in The Renegade Company’s THE AMISH PROJECT
“What happens to a person when they live in a world where you can’t believe anything and the things you don’t want to believe are…
View More A Versatile Acting Showcase in The Renegade Company’s THE AMISH PROJECT
A theater which has been destroyed…
Just came across this quote by the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca: The theater is one of the most expressive and useful…
View More A theater which has been destroyed…