Despite some missteps and miscasting bumps along the way, this staging faithfully captures playwright August Wilson’s searing poetic vision.
Theater Interview: Performer Bill Irwin – Channeling Samuel Beckett
“Samuel Beckett’s work speaks to me because he’s a very visceral writer. And, because I have training as a clown, I think of him as a natural clown.”
Book Review: Steve Stern’s “Village Idiot” — Painted into a Corner
Steve Stern’s novel about the Jewish expressionist painter Chaim Soutine is more informative than it is engaging.
Poetry Commentary: Native American Poet and Activist Joy Harjo at Tanglewood — A Disappointment
Many have surrendered to Joy Harjo’s undeniable shamanistic charms and classify her as a national treasure.
Theater Review: “Hurricane Diane” — A Whimper Rather than a Whirlwind
Madeleine George’s uneven 90-minte one-act comedy/drama borrows heavily on Greek mythology to zip up the misadventures of a cluster of suburban women in New Jersey,
Theater Interview: Tennessee Williams and Censorship
“A lot of censorship in America has to do with the impulse to shut down what women have to say, literally hanging and burning them as witches to shut them up.”
Book Review: A Valuable Reminder of Lorraine Hansberry’s “Radical Vision”
In the process of exploring the ideas that shaped Lorraine Hansberry’s understanding of her art and the world, the volume confirms the writer’s relevance during these troubled but potentially transformative times.
Book Review: “Cheese, Wine, and Bread” — On the Menu, Confession and Fermentation
The current rage for inserting the personal/confessional in everything from cookbooks to literary criticism can go too far.
Book Review: John Edgar Wideman — Masterful Stories that Bear the Weight of Reality
A singular muscularity infuses these short stories, a confidence that astonishes.
Book Review: “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis” — Gun Violence Run Amuck
Children Under Fire examines gun violence in America, focusing on how it is threatening our nation’s children.