Clik here to view.
Was there a point? Taylor Mac at Carolina Performing Arts
New York theatre artist Taylor Mac is in town again. I had high hopes for this show, but they were soon dashed. I’d seen Mac at PRC2 a few years ago in a one-man show that indicated his talents but was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hearts and Flowers: Torry Bend’s Magic
Street Signs Center for Literature and Performance premieres Torry Bend’s most beautiful work yet at Manbites Dog Theater. Grace’s fateful journey. Photo: Nick Graetz. Making art about love–in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Curlew River: Benjamin Britten’s musical drama in a new, powerful staging at...
And you know that she’s half crazy But that’s why you want to be there—Leonard Cohen, “Suzanne,” 1966 We tend to think of the multi-cultural impulse in art making as being something quite recent, but,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
INTO THE WOODS: A Grimm Fantasy Musical at PlayMakers Rep
Lisa Brescia and Carey Cox as The Witch and her daughter Rapunzel, in the PlayMakers Repertory Company’s staging of INTO THE WOODS, the 1987 Sondheim/Lapine musical. Photo: Jon Gardiner. Nel mezzo...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I AND YOU sounds its “barbaric yawp” at Manbites Dog
Barbaric yawp: Natalie Izlar and Gerald Jones III in I AND YOU, at Manbites Dog Theater.Photo: Alan Dehmer. Now playing at Manbites Dog Theater, Lauren Gunderson’s 2013 prize-winning I AND YOU,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE CARETAKER: Pinter’s 3 Men in a Funk
South Stream Productions is currently revisiting Harold Pinter’s 1960 play, The Caretaker, at Common Ground Theatre–an excellent choice of play for the small, actor-driven enterprise. The three-man,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WRESTLING JERUSALEM AT PRC2, through Jan. 11
WRESTLING JERUSALEM. Photo courtesy Aaron Davidman. Aaron Davidman has written and is performing this week at PRC² a very powerful piece of theatre. You might not call Wrestling Jerusalem a “play,” but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FREIGHT: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green. All Aboard!
Actor, playwright, director: J. Alphonse Nicholson, Howard L. Craft, Joseph Megel, on the set of FREIGHT. Photo: Nick Graetz. StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance premiered Howard L....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mystery of Habitus
I don’t know what to say about Habitus, a “living installation” by VECTOR now at Manbites Dog Theater (the event repeats Jan. 15-17) , which described it as “an interactive installation/performance.”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2 Recent Reviews
Links to two recent reviews published on CVNC.org. Click through to read. The splendor of Nrityagram was a bit dim on Jan. 22 at Duke Performances. Lots to Long for in Nrityagram’s “Songs of Love and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lay on, Macduff, And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!
Everyone knows what happens immediately after Macbeth’s challenge in the penultimate scene of Shakespeare’s Macbeth–Macduff slays Macbeth, making Malcolm King of Scotland. But what happens after that?...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Excellent Production of AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE at PlayMakers Rep
I don’t know whether to be more relieved or depressed by the acute timeliness of PlayMakers Repertory Company’s production of An Enemy of the People. On the one hand, Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 script tells...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oh! Little REDBIRD: Bright New Plays at ArtsCenter Stage
Most of the collaborating troupe that’s making REDBIRD sing. Photo courtesy the ArtsCenter. The Carrboro ArtsCenter has generally been a key player in the local theatre scene since its founding in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
REDBIRD Festival, Part Two
Jade Arnold as Abraham Galloway, in Howard L. Craft’s The Fire of Freedom at the REDBIRD new play festival. Photo courtesy the ArtsCenter. From my review published on http://www.cvnc.org with the title...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sassy Savoyards: UTOPIA, LIMITED, This Weekend Only
Durham’s venerable Gilbert and Sullivan group, The Durham Savoyards, Ltd., presents its annual show this weekend only at the Carolina Theatre. This year’s romp is the timely UTOPIA, LIMITED, directed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Long Way Home: 4000 MILES, at PlayMakers
Dee Maaske as Vera, and Schuyler Scott Mastain as Leo, in Amy Herzog’s 4000 MILES, at PlayMakers through April 19. Photo: Jon Gardiner for PlayMakers Repertory Company. PlayMakers Repertory Company‘s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE FAIRYTALE LIVES OF RUSSIAN GIRLS, onstage at Manbites Dog through May 9
Annie (Faye Goodwin) is fed by her “not quite Auntie Yaroslava” AKA Baba Yaga, who eats young girls (Carly Prentis Jones) in Manbites Dog’s striking production of THE FAIRYTALE LIVES OF RUSSIAN GIRLS....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sweet Summer Youth Conservatory: GUYS & DOLLS
L to R: Colin Kless as Benny Southstreet, Ryan Widd as Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Daniel Johnson as Rusty Charlie, on the set of PlayMakers SYC production of Guys & Dolls. Photo: Jon Gardiner....
View ArticleClik here to view.
10 x 10 # 14: The Annual Short Play Festival Goes Nova from the ArtsCenter
I was late to the party on this year’s 10 x 10 in the Triangle–the 14th annual at the Carrboro ArtsCenter–but, WOW! These 10 plays, each 10 minutes long, by 10 authors, performed by 10 actors with 10...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dooley Gives Tough Lessons in PRC’s SEMINAR
PlayMakers Repertory Company production of SEMINAR. Photo: Jon Gardiner. Seminar, currently on stage at PlayMakers Repertory Company (through Nov. 1), is not a Pulitzer Prize winner, but it is bitingly...
View Article