Playwright, actor, and backyard impresario, Tom Dugan does it again! The restraints of the pandemic have abated and Mr. Dugan has produced yet another winner adjacent to his swimming pool where he has erected some risers and put in some comfortable seats. He has built a set with ample theatre lighting, which is controlled by … Continue reading “Cemetery Pub” at Dugan’s Backyard Playhouse
Hiroko Imai and Tomoko Karina. Photo by Jenny Graham There is a certain mystery when Tomoko Karina as Himiko, the key character in the revival of Velina Hasu Houston’s play Tea, makes a dramatic, ethereal entrance gliding across the highest walkway in the Rosenthal Theater and down the stairs to the stage floor. She enters … Continue reading “Tea” at the Rosenthal Theater
Get ready for superlatives because Daf James’ extraordinary play, On the Other Hand, We’re Happy, is given a brilliant staging by director Cameron Watson and a superb cast at Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre. It has a been a long, long Covid night and I have missed Rogue Machine and many other companies, but … Continue reading “On the Other Hand, We’re Happy” at Rogue Machine
Judy Carter’s new comedy, A Death-Defying Escape, now playing at the Hudson Guild Theatre, demands a plethora of superlatives—amazing, brilliant, achingly funny, powerfully tragic, with eye-popping magic tricks— oh, I could go on! Ms. Carter engages the audience with the very personal story of her life as a child growing up as a Jewish girl … Continue reading “A Death-Defying Escape” at The Hudson Guild Theater
To borrow from the Nobel prize winning author, Gabriel García Márquez, playwright Boni B. Alvarez’ new play could be called “Love in the Time of Covid,” but his play, Apartment Living, is an ideal fit for the emotional angst of these times of uncertainty fueled not only by the pandemic, but worse, a vicious war … Continue reading “Apartment Living” at Skylight Theatre Company
All my life since I was in grade school, I believed that Norwegian lemmings committed mass suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff and into the ocean below. How did I know this? Hard to say exactly, but I suspect that the information came from the Disney Corporation and their wild life movies, which were … Continue reading “A Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney” at Odyssey Theatre
Spencer Cantrell, Jennifer Zorbalas and Stephanie Crothers. Photo by Frank Ishman Sarah Ruhl’s 2009 play, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, debuted at Berkeley Rep, then moved on to Broadway where it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and three nominations for the Tony Awards. It has since been produced multiple times in … Continue reading “In the Next Room, or the vibrator play” At Open Fist Theatre Company
I have been curious about the theatre company, Ophelia’s Jump, ever since I saw their mad-cap, streaming version of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice back in the height of the Covid Pandemic. It was kind of rough and not to my taste, but they were there doing what almost all the companies were doing…trying their best … Continue reading “The Hall of Final Ruin” at Ophelia’s Jump
The cast of Marvin’s Room (l. to r seated ) Dean Hermansen, Marek Meyers, Tara Battani, Francesca Casale, Crystal Yvonne Jackson; (standing) Justin Bowles, Kimi Walker, Brian Habicht. Photo: Larry Sandez. Spring is just around the corner. And this theatre critic is emerging from a two-year stint of attending very few live performances and too … Continue reading “Marvin’s Room” at Actor’s Co-op Theatre Company
In the wake of the recent death of Stephen Sondheim, International City Theatre is smart to give audiences a chance to experience some of the great man’s lesser known songs with the musical revue, Marry Me a Little, a potpourri of engaging tunes brought vividly to life by the excellent talents of songsters Katy Tang … Continue reading “Marry Me a Little” at International City Theatre
Paul Myrvold's Theatre Notes 