So, in Native Son, Bigger Thomas (Clayton Pelham, Jr.), a man with no options, lives in a one-room apartment on the South Side of 1940 Chicago with his mother (Lolita Marie) and his brother (Tendo Nsubuga) and his sister (Renee Elizabeth Wilson) and also a black rat the size of an alley cat. And though […]
Archives for April 2, 2019
Review: columbinus at 1st Stage
Twenty years on. And the horror of April 20, 1999 has not only not dissipated, but it also seems to have continually intensified with each mass school shooting. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Countless others that run together like one big blob of shameful gray in America’s collective mind under the mental banner of “another Columbine.” Since […]
Ayad Akhtar’s Junk draws David Andrew MacDonald back to Arena after 34 years
When David Andrew MacDonald takes the stage as Leo Tresler in Arena Stage’s Junk, an economic thriller that exposes the financial dealmaking behind the mergers and acquisitions boom of the 1980s, it will be his first appearance on an Arena stage in 34 years. Written by playwright Ayad Akhtar, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize […]