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A Passion for Justice:  The Clarence Darrow Story
by Jack Marshall and Paul Morella
directed by Jack Marshall 
produced by The American Century Theater & Clarence Darrow Productions
reviewed by Steven McKnight

There’s an old saying that the secret to success for a trial lawyer is sincerity - if you can fake that, the rest is easy.  A close second is passion and the aptly named A Passion for Justice: The Clarence Darrow Story has an abundance of both (more…)

Dr. Cook’s Garden 
written by Ira Levin
directed by Ellen Dempsey
produced by The American Century Theater
reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

Dr. Cook’s Garden is a wickedly good time.  In a quaint little homespun Vermont town, a treasured family doctor reveals just how much he loves his perfect little town and how far he will go to keep it perfect.  (more…)

• The Titans
• by Robert McElwaine                       
• Directed by Jack Marshall
• Produced by The American Century Theater
• Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

Realizing we are eavesdropping on authentic conversations from the Oval Office and the Kremlin in The Titans keeps you on the brink of your seat. (more…)

• The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
• by Tennessee Williams
• Directed by Stephen Scott Mazzola
• Produced by American Century Theater
• Reviewed by guest reviewer Gary Maker 

It is 1915, and there’s a nightingale in Glorious Hill, Mississippi whose wings aren’t working right, and her name is Alma Winemiller (Vanessa Bradchulis). Alma is a woman of a certain age - fans of Tennessee Williams will know exactly what I mean by this - whose dreams are slowly becoming deflated.

Part of it is that her voice, lovely instrument though it is, is simply insufficient to support a career and she must make her way as a vocal teacher. More importantly, though, her eccentricities - she sings and talks to the birds she feeds in the town square - isolate her from her narrow-minded neighbors, (more…)

• Happy Birthday Wanda June           
• Written by Kurt Vonnegut
• Directed by Ellen Dempsey
• Produced by American Century Theater
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson
  

Who knew that Kurt Vonnegut had enough drama up the same sleeve that created such a seminal work as Slaughterhouse Five, to create a funny and poignant play?  Or that the issues raised in his inaugural attempt at playwriting would still be relevant and piercingly accurate almost forty years after its opening?  American Century Theater’s enjoyable rendition of Happy Birthday, Wanda June does an excellent job exploring Vonnegut’s ideas about integrity, social justice, duty and the American way.  The superb cast effectively conveys the playwright’s sarcasm and provocative wit. (more…)

• Cops
• By Terry Curtis Fox
• Directed by Stephen Jarrett
• Presented by American Century Theater
• Reviewed by Steven McKnight

News flash!  Police officers can be complicated, flawed, and even corrupt human beings at times.  While that revelation may not strike you as particularly compelling or controversial, it had more force in 1976 when Cops, the new production at American Century Theater, was first staged.  Absent that impact, the audience is left with an earnest and professional production of a flawed play that, while containing moments of humor and tension, ultimately amounts to a misfire. (more…)

• Ah, Wilderness!
• By Eugene O’Neill
• Produced by American Century Theatre
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness! shows a light, playful side of the playwright that we probably otherwise wouldn’t know was there.  Yes, there are undertones and hints of the themes that possess his dark and long days’ journeys — references to virtue, manifestation of one’s character, social commentary. And there are the “must haves” in an O’Neill play: a strong take charge even if ineffective mother, and the raving drunk lost in an alcoholic stupor. Actually this piece has not one but two inebriated characters.  It’s an interesting exercise, connecting the dots to sleuth the “O’Neill touch” in this uncharacteristic writing.  Ah, Wilderness! could have plateaued as a simple excursion of art appreciation were in not for several stand-out cast members who breathe life into this rather drawn out, nostalgic tale.  (more…)

Directed by Jack Marshall

Produced by American Century Theater

Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

The American Century Theater’s Hellzapoppin is not ready to pop. Too many cooks in the kitchen, ingredients thrown in from all over the place, the show needs more cooking time. Yet we come back after Intermission. Why? Because in spite of its flaws, the vaudevillian slapstick in TACT’s Hellzapoppin makes a helluva funny show.

Directed by Jack Marshall, TACT’s rewritten version of the Broadway hit that reinvented itself with improvisation every night from 1938 to 1941 is now a chaotic mess the characters ask us to expect. For protection, they attack themselves and the show, calling it a disaster before one of us critics has a chance. (more…)

By Jason Miller

Produced by American Century Theater

Reviewed by Janice Cane

(l to r) Elliott Moffitt and Morgan J. Hall (Photo: Jeffrey Bell)

That Championship Season is the theatrical manifestation of mediocrity, one of the key themes of this story about a high school basketball team reunion.

Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours—about as long as your average basketball game—That Championship Season feels much longer because, well, Coach (Elliott Moffitt) is yelling the whole time. Clearly that was his style back in 1952, when his team was in high school, but his tone is so loud and abrasive even when he spouts little bits of wisdom ("You all need each other. The days of going it alone are over."), it is a wonder the players responded so positively.

(more…)

Produced by American Century Theater

Submitted by Debbie Minter Jackson

 Mary McGowan (left) and Jennifer Robison (right)   Photo: Jeffrey Bell

The American Century Theater’s Drama Under the Influence at the Gunston Theater in Arlington (TACT) is a clever compilation of short plays by early 20^th Century female playwrights.   Once again, TACT has shown that digging through the old dusty attic of America’s theater history can unearth some amazing forgotten treasures.  Some of the writer’s names have a familiar ring, Gertrude Stein and Dorothy Parker achieved celebrity status for their essays and social commentary, and Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal may have been seen by a select few.   Still. their voices as playwrights, along with the works of Susan Glaspell, Rita Wellman and Eulalie Spence, would have receded deep into forgotten history books without TACT’s tireless mission of “…presenting great, important, and neglected plays of the Twentieth Century.”  At times stunningly serious, other times playfully whimsical, the plays were written and produced between 1914—1931, a time of tumultuous political change, financial uncertainty, and looming devastation of World Wars.  The early voices of feminine identity emerging through this period and contained in these pieces are painstakingly real, refreshing, and quite engaging. (more…)