If the quality of a play were measured only on the basis of the sensational effect it had on those who watched it, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s Lidless would be the best play not only in this year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival but perhaps in the entire theater year.
Inana
I had previously read, and enjoyed, the script for Inana before I saw the disappointing production at the Contemporary American Theater Festival. As a play, Inana is a bit of a throwback to a time when theaters were prosperous — big cast, complicated problems, exotic locales. The CATF does not stint on any of the […]
White People
There are white people all over the place. The ones whose dilemmas we observe in J.T. Rogers’ remarkable play are Martin (Kurt Zischke), a Brooklyn lawyer brought in to run a St. Louis law firm, Alan (Lee Sellers), a New York professor with a burgeoning interest in Peter Stuyvesant,
Breadcrumbs
“Words, words, words,” Hamlet sneered at Polonius, who had asked him what he was reading, but to Alida (Helen-Jean Arthur), a brilliant writer now in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, they are the guideposts which will keep her memories aglimmer even as her synapses misfire. They are, to the fiercely independent and private Alida, […]
50 Words
The best play of the Contemporary American Theater Festival 2009 is about your marriage – and mine, and every marriage, young or old, gay or straight, where the partners have, for better or worse, given their souls to each other for safekeeping.
The Overwhelming
The Overwhelming By J.T. Rogers Produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival Directed by Ed Herendeen Reviewed by Tim Treanor “When, in the history of the world,” the cynical American bureaucrat Woolsey (Michael Goodwin) asks Professor Exley, (Lee Sellars), new to Rwanda, “has there been a country with a foreign policy based on ‘It’s the […]
A View of the Harbor
A View of the Harbor By Richard Dresser Directed by Charles Towers Produced by the Contemporary American Theater Festival Reviewed by Tim Treanor “The rich are different from you and me,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once told Ernest Hemingway. “Yes,” Hemingway growled back. “They have more money.”
Stick Fly
Stick Fly By Lydia R. Diamond Directed by Liesl Tommy Produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival Reviewed by Tim Treanor Atop a stack of books in the summer home living room of the übersuccessful Levay family is The Audacity of Hope by Sen. Barak Obama (D. Ill.) The choice is significant:
Wrecks
Wrecks By Neil LaBute Directed by Ed Herendeen Produced by the Contemporary American Theater Festival Reviewed by Tim Treanor Edward Carr (Kurt Zische) is a Chicago businessman who has lost his wife. Wrecks is Carr’s preparation for the eulogy he will utter for his beloved Mary Jo, who rests in the featureless wooden casket behind him.
Pig Farm
Pig Farm By Greg Kotis Directed by Ed Herendeen Produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival Reviewed by Tim Treanor Ultimately, I guess, this is a comedy. I can tell from the death scene. Pig Farm, though, looks for all the world like a modern Steinbeck story.