Commedia dell’Arte, the old Italian comedic that forms the foundation for new American comedy The Good Devil (in Spite of Himself), is very much like the Looney Toons of old. Not only is it characterized by slapstick whackiness, recognizable tunes, and situations so direct they appeal to all ages, but it also polarizes audiences when […]

Following the plinkety-plinks of a somewhat less-than-shimmering overture – after all, it is a “junk yard” gamelan – delicately carved puppets transport us through their shadow play.  All in shadow, a wild-haired man touches fingers with a lithe woman in a beautiful courtship, and they whirl through the air in a kind of ecstatic dance.

We think of ourselves as a forward-looking people, but our holidays are all firmly rooted in the past — specifically, in the sepia-tinted days of our early youth, when the air was cold and suffused with pine, clove, and the smell of baking cookies.

What do we have here? Raised hemlines, bobbed hair, bathtub gin, and women who take the bull by the horns. Clearly, we are bee’s knees deep in the Roaring Twenties. And it is a heady time for three ladies who share a close friendship, as they also enjoy the attentions of the swell gents of […]

Framed in a certain way, The Madwoman of Chaillot nearly reads like a news headline. Whether the media outlet is CNN or The Onion depends entirely on what you focus on – because this French satire by Jean Giraudoux blurs the lines between sanity and insanity, real and absurd.

The United States of America has been at war for 14 years. 4489 Americans have died in Iraq. 2356 in Afghanistan.* Over 52,000 wounded. 970,000 disability claims registered with the Veterans Administration. There will be future consequences we can hardly conceive of.