“Everything is Moving”: Leah Stein Dance Company explores DEEP LISTENING
Composer Pauline Oliveros once said, “At all times, everything is moving.” For the last year, Philadelphia choreographer Leah Stein has put that to the test. Stein, seven dancers and seven singers have used Oliveros’s Deep Listening practice to investigate dance, music, and theater composition.
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COMMUNITAS (Almanac): The Contortionist and the Dancer
The action in COMMUNITAS could be best described as four people taking turns carrying one another around a space, then falling off, then swapping who carries whom. In a way, it is structured around a continual exploration of ways to make two or more people into one. Balance is challenged not by standing on a tight rope, but by joining two bodies at a single point and leaning precipitously apart; disassemble and repeat as necessary.
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HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (Walnut Street Theatre): 60-Second review
J. Pierrepoint Finch (Jeremy Morse) is a determined window washer with a handbook “How to Succeed in Business” and a dream to navigate the corporate maze. Step one: apply for the job at a major corporation.
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NOTES from the INCUBATOR (Simpatico): Entry Three: World of BI(?!)LINGUAL
When you hear the word “bilingual” what do you picture in your mind? International, business-y personnel? Or one of those lucky kids who happened to have parents who speak different languages? Or growing up in a different country? Well, I’m don’t fit in any of those scenarios, except being international, sure, but that’s about it. None of my family speaks English. I learned it in school because I had to, and was awful at it. I hated the subject throughout the years of forced education. But then life turns in a strange way, and somehow I ended up in this city with an unpronounceable name for almost a decade now. My every day life is in English. I ask myself over and over again: “What am I doing here?”
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Interview with Charlotte Ford: The untenable career of a successful Philadelphia theater artist
Philadelphia’s theater scene is better than ever—haven’t you heard? But so few of its practitioners can eke out a living wage from it. This interview Charlotte Ford takes a serious look at how poor the health of the theater industry is in this city.
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ALTAR BOYZ (11th Hour): Raising the Praise!
The fast-paced spoof about a boy band saving the souls of an audience of sinners on the last stop of their “Raise the Praise” tour is filled with witty references to the Bible, the Passion of Christ, and the Catholic liturgy. The Boyz—aptly named Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham–proselytize to prospective believers in real time through their songs, employing post-modern technology, current slang, and choreographed moves that gently skewer such popular acts as the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.
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TIGERS BE STILL (Azuka): 60-second review
Despite the bleak premise, laughter and jokes run throughout Azuka Theatre’s TIGERS BE STILL. This dark comedy looks at the things people do to cope with tragedy, and finds the humor in these strange displays.
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Photo Essay: BalletX dances on The Porch at 30th Street this Wednesday
Contemporary ballet company BalletX presents a free lunchtime performance this Wednesday at noon as part of the cultural programming series at The Porch at 30th Street Station. The company will present selections from their acclaimed Winter Series 2014
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ALWAYS COMING SOON: THE FUTURE (BRAT Productions): Alternative Cabaret with a Timely Message
Vaudeville, bouffon, and circus meet progressive rock in BRAT Productions’ ensemble-devised cabaret performance ALWAYS COMING SOON: THE FUTURE. It’s a compelling combination that entertains, mocks, and provokes through BRAT’s signature high-energy music, intriguing visual design, and dynamic physical theater which begins the moment you enter the venue as aggressive carnival buskers hawk popcorn, drinks, and breaths of fresh air to the incoming audience.
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Presidential Theater: New City Stage Company concludes its season with THE WEST WING FESTIVAL
New City Stage Company concludes its season-long look at at the American political summit with THE WEST WING FESTIVAL, a series of (FREE!) staged readings at the Adrienne Theater Skybox.
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IN A DARK DARK HOUSE (Simpatico Theatre Project): Oh! Neil LaBute is not just a sadistic prig!
At the opening night performance of LaBute’s IN A DARK DARK HOUSE I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity: Suddenly an entire oeuvre littered with cruel antihero bastards made sense.
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DIRECTOR’S CHOICE (PA Ballet): Julie Diana’s luminous pas d’adieu
Roy Kaiser’s ‘Director’s Choice program proved to be one of the most artistically rich mixed bills PB has done and during their 50th anniversary season. , It featured the arrestingly intimate pas de deux between retiring dancer Julie Diana and real-life husband Zachary Hench.
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THE DURANG SHABANG! IRC stages night of seldom-seen Durang shorts
The Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium gives local audiences the chance to see Christopher Durang at his comic best in a series of seldom-performed shorts, THE DURANG SHABANG! in two performances (6pm and 8pm) at L’Etage Cabaret, on Sunday, May 18, 2014.
View More THE DURANG SHABANG! IRC stages night of seldom-seen Durang shorts
RED-EYE TO HAVRE DE GRACE (Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental): New York Theatre Workshop sees a reshaped Philly Fringe hit
I have taken the train up from Philadelphia to the New York Theatre Workshop to see how RED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE has fared since I last saw it. I had discovered it in the Philadelphia Live Arts workshop production in 2005. Between that iteration and the world premiere at Philadelphia Fringe Festival in 2012, an evolutionary process took place.
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THE FUTURE has arrived: Interview with Peter Gaffney, musical creator of BRAT’s latest production
In ALWAYS COMING SOON: THE FUTURE, BRAT Productions takes another look at what the future holds, and the auguries are not pretty: Derelict clowns, aggressive barkers, and obscene control culture. But THE FUTURE is funny and fun: It’s another of the entertaining rock cabarets which the company has launched in recent years,
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WOODY SEZ (People’s Light & Theatre Company): A Down-Home Musical Revue on the Life of Woody Guthrie
A touring revue on American singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie (1912-67), WOODY SEZ—on the road for seven years and now on stage at People’s Light & Theatre Company in Malvern—is an eminently likeable concert biography for fans of the respected folk musician and activist for the disenfranchised. Featuring 27 of Guthrie’s most famous songs (including his populist American anthem “This Land Is Your Land”) interspersed with snippets of his life story and folk wisdom, the show traces the highlights and low points of his times, [. . .]
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LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Bristol Riverside Theatre): Don’t Feed the Plants!
The outlandish parody of the horror and sci-fi genres, now in production at Bristol Riverside Theatre, still elicits laughs and gasps from appreciative audiences and delights with a score of period-style rock, Motown, and doo-wop numbers. BRT’s show, directed with spot-on timing by Susan D. Atkinson, embraces all the retro-camp in the story of Seymour Krelborn
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SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Hedgerow): I hated Jane Austen, but I love this
I took a seat on one of the long, cushioned benches at the unusual Hedgerow Theatre, a grist mill from the 1800s, for the opening night of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. Satisfied that at least I was introduced to such a beautiful place, I wondered what Jane Austen was going to smother me with this time.
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The Return of the mEEps (White Pines)
Ed Swidey’s mEEps return for a one-night only show at White Pines place in Elkins Park, May 9, 2014.
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MIDWAY AVENUE (Nichole Canuso Dance Company): “Carry as much as you can while dancing”
Midway Avenue is a dance/theatre work that speaks to the sensation of memory as kinetic experience, one in which choreographer/performer Nichole Canuso repeatedly refers to…
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