Director Michael Ryan Fernandez,  selected by Firebelly Productions for its 2009 Young Directors Project, is obviously a smart fella who has given serious thought to his craft. He gives us every reason to believe that he will be around for a long time.

When you think of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart may not be the first work that springs to mind.  The quirky dark comedy about the three Magrath sisters of Hazlehurst, Mississippi lacks the grand importance of works that usually reap such prestigious awards.  Yet the charms and depth of the […]

A Body of Water by Lee Blessing                             Directed by Michael Ryan Fernandez Produced by Firebelly Productions Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy After seeing Firebelly’s spellbinding, well-polished production of Lee Blessing’s poetic play A Body of Water, I felt a hunger for human interaction. The edge-of-seat suspense kept me holding my breath until the last revelation.

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT By Eugene O’Neill Directed by Kathi Gollwitzer Produced by Firebelly Productions Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy In this soul-stirring Firebelly production of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize winning, autobiographical play, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the ghosts of the past ebb and flow like the tides. Sounds of the sea draw us […]

Nothing Sacred By George F. Walker Based on the novel Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev Produced by Firebelly Productions Directed by Robb Hunter Reviewed by Tim Treanor Once in a great while, a production can be of such high quality that it redeems a mediocre script.  Firebelly’s production of Nothing Sacred is not one […]

Written by William Shakespeare Produced by Firebelly Productions Reviewed by Tim Treanor Closeted conspirators: Dave Daniels (Aguecheek), Brian Lee Huynh (Fabian) and John Tweel (Belch) (Photos Ray Gniewek) This is good Shakespeare. This is damn good Shakespeare. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most difficult comedies, full of implausible developments and astonishing cases of mistaken identity. […]

Proof by David Auburn Produced by Firebelly Productions Reviewed by Tim Treanor Proof is less a great play than a great opportunity for actors to put together a memorable and satisfying evening of theater.  The slender plot revolves around the discovery of a complex and significant mathematical proof locked in the desk drawer of Robert […]