Archives for July 11, 2010

At least it’s a good premise – selling your soul to Satan – and it features young hipster roommates in the Internet age.  And the writing has promise and potential despite the dual-author syndrome where portions of the play reflect the distinctly different styles of the two writers, Lee Alan Bleyer and Jessica Pearson.

This “mind-expanding musical romp through the world of numbers” is a fun-filled exploration of the role and evolution of numbers. It is enjoyable enough, and filled with imagination for children’s theater goers.  Not that us elders couldn’t afford a trip to “Numbers Land”

It’s a bit of a puzzle whether Mark Whitney is an idealist with the heart of a cynic or a cynic with the heart of an idealist. He uses both like a double-barreled shotgun aimed at the Patriot Act, mandatory sentencing guidelines and other fear-mongering policies that are eroding our constitutional rights.

You know a story is in trouble when the characters need to explain it to each other. Thus when June (Caitlin McCormick), on the heels of her marriage to Billy (Trey Ervine), feels obliged to detail the process by which she pried Billy away from older sister Betty (Elise Edwards) to Betty, who doubtlessly knows […]

Which would YOU choose?  A lifelong ride in an electric wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down?  Or a one-way ticket to oblivion, – call that, to round off the metaphor, a seat in the electric chair where YOU can pull the switch?

There is no one I know who is neutral about Sarah Palin – it’s either enthusiastically supportive or strong ly opposed, so it was fitting that the performance called The Tea Party Project began with an image of Palin: the Tea Party provokes similarly divisive reactions.

The Cloak Room by Tracy Harris is the story of Mansel ( JaBen Early), a tormented man who has just lost his mother, Ruby ( K. Clare Johnson), his girlfriend, and a garage full of coats. It is through these coats that Mansel’s dark past and severe psychoses manifest themselves.

Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue  – Finn McCool is an experience from the moment you enter the tent.  Upon entering I was handed a program, a fan, and a sheet of paper with a message that began “SAVE THIS PAPER!! YOU WILL NEED IT FOR THE SING ALONG”.

“My name is Slash Coleman. I’m a Jewish scientist – in my mind.” With these opening words, the performer of the one-man show Chaidentity articulates ground rules that, not surprisingly, he quickly defies.

The plot is silly and hard to follow, but who cares? James Levy has created a bath of aural joy, put it in the hands of some gifted musicians, and engaged some first-rate performers to sing the hell out of it. Thank you, brother Levy.

K.W. Kuchar’s ten/thirtyfour – the title derives from the police code for “riot in progress” – aspires to describe the aftermath in Washington of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. Kuchar tries to adopt the documentary style of Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project or Anna Deavere Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, and, to a certain extent, […]

Push/Pull Theater Company’s production of Macbeth is tight, literally and metaphorically. The action – and there’s a lot – takes place in Fort Fringe on a stage that looks about 12 by 16 feet with a ceiling 10 feet above. The cast of 17 flies through the script, delivering the lines with intensity and transitioning […]