Archives for July 10, 2010

As someone who was reading classic DC and Marvel comic books before the members of this production were born, I see the affection in their staged readings of actual comic stories in Superheroes Who Are Super! Unfortunately, I don’t really feel the love in these comic renditions by Philadelphia’s Save The Day Productions.

For those who have always enjoyed those buddy action movies that Hollywood pumps out, “Ouch, That Hurts!” is a nice little Fringe hors d’oeuvres for your enjoyment.  Running barely 30 minutes in length, this original comedy revolves around two soldiers in Iraq contending with sand, sergeants, scorpions, and terrorists.

Elisha Clark Halpin couldn’t perform as scheduled due to an injury, but her company, ETCH Dance Co, filled the Apothecary with dramatic tension and angst. The program was entitled how frail the human heart, but Halpin’s creations are not for the faint of heart.

Losing It begins with a tantrum.  Madeleine Russell, the play’s author and star, storms on stage, bellows, and throws a chair, a stack of books, some trash and a potted plant to the ground.  She comes close to chucking a laptop before calming down.  It was, needless to say, an abrasive start and, frankly, I […]

“Home is where my parents live.” “Home is a place you go back to.” “Home is where I sleep at night.” These definitions were part of Alaine Handa’s creation Chameleon. Like the creature that changes color, we acclimate to our environs. What makes Handa’s production intriguing is that she has researched and interviewed Third Culture […]

iSchool Musical is the latest hilarious brainchild of the Washington Improv Theater’s iMusical, The Improvised Musical.  Inspired by the overwhelming popularity of Fox’s “Glee”, iMusical decided to develop its own “high school musical” format and created iSchool Musical for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival.

Duets is a collection of three one-act musicals exploring the ups and downs of romantic love.  Two actors, the boyishly handsome Jonny Price, and Bligh Voth, whose achingly lovely voice easily fills the small Clinic venue, play all the roles. 

Vijay Nathan, a standup comedian of considerable gifts, takes us through a whirling tour of her amusing life in this pleasant romp at the fabulous Chief Ike’s Mambo Room. Despite the title, there is little gynecology in her routine. There’s hardly time for it, or for the subject of medicine at all.

Equilibrium is a collection of five very short plays done by graduates of the Theatre Lab Honors Conservatory, Buzz Mauro’s and Deb Gottesman’s excellent program of theater education. The best of these is clearly the last: The Greener Lot (Playwright: Carl Brandt Long), in which a young couple (Echika U. Agugua and Mark Ludwig) believe, […]

Two perverted men in raincoats. On a park bench. Outside a girls’ school. Think you know what’s going on? Just wait til they start calling each other Sigmund and Karl, claiming to have witnessed events from a hundred years ago – throw in some torture talk and vague references to Chilean dictators, and you have […]

Alternative Methods is a world premiere work in which Patricia Davis examines the role of psychologists involved in interrogation and torture of an Iraqi prisoner.  While the play stacks the deck a little more than needed, thanks to a strong cast, the play is mostly successful dramatizing and illuminating important ethical issues.