By Luke Edward

Publisher’s note — This is our second review of this play, both Luke and I attended the production.

Spotlight center — a Man atop a stone, gun in hand, as music reminiscent of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odessey plays about. It is a gloomy beginning, creating a mystique about the stage which does not rise; we are entranced, seduced by a theatrical display worthy of high compliments. John (Scott Graham) is a “virgin” screenwriter, lost in his first major effort, torn from both wife and child. Driven to an almost insomniac state by his work, he begins to hallucinate an amoral character of his own creation. What results is a both tragic and hysterical show, meshing visual media with brilliantly painted lighting and a scarce stage aptly appropriate for Ami Dayan’s intelligent work. [Read more...]

By: Walter Ruff

The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffin is the kind of play that makes you laugh in an uneasy way. One question this wonderfully acted production asks is pointed and direct — can a play about four mentally challenged men living together in a small apartment be humorous without the focus of the joke being the handicap? The answer in the case of The Boys Next Door is yes. This play is not hilarious because the characters are mentally challenged but instead because they say and do things that are comical. Jeff Keenan who directed last season’s Colorado Catechism for Journeymen Theater is able to balance the laughs and poignant moments in such a way that there are very few times that the laughs feel misplaced. The Boys Next Door is truly inspiring and thought provoking–the characters seem to become your long time friends by the end of the show.

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By: Luke Edward

Suffering can be humorous; this the Three Stooges understood. The trick is context. Generally, being involved in a car wreck is not funny. Curly, sprinting from a knife-wielding gorilla, is. Natural Theatrical’s latest presentation, Alexa’s Necklace, an original work by Paula Alprin (of Natural Theatricals) and directed by Susan Alison Keady, is a classical example of great wit out of context. Alexa’s Necklace is the story of Esther (played wonderfully by Karen Doubek), a mother literally delusioned by the sudden death of her daughter, Janine (portrayed by both Molly Bennet and most notably by Aimee Meher-Homji). Grief leads to blame, and we expect to be indulged in the psychological battles of a distraught mother.

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Top Girls

By: Walter Ruff

Margaret Thatcher’s England of the 80s has a lot in common with George Bush’s America of 2005. It is those similarities that make Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls a play that is relevant today and quite possibly into the foreseeable future because, while times have changed, the basic human desire to be successful at all costs has not. Whether the price tag of that success is a true bargain is the question being asked in this play by one of the twentieth century’s most talented playwrights. You will be pondering that question long after you have left the confines of Theatre On The Run. That is what is wonderful about this play — it makes you think and laugh and then think some more. Of course in the end the costs are worth it; although women have evolved so much in society, it is as a result of numerous sacrifices by many strong women throughout history.

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