Robert Israel

Poetry Commentary: Native American Poet and Activist Joy Harjo at Tanglewood — A Disappointment

August 4, 2022
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Many have surrendered to Joy Harjo’s undeniable shamanistic charms and classify her as a national treasure.

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Theater Review: “Hurricane Diane” — A Whimper Rather than a Whirlwind

September 4, 2021
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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,

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Theater Interview: Tennessee Williams and Censorship

September 2, 2021
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“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.”

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Book Review: A Valuable Reminder of Lorraine Hansberry’s “Radical Vision”

April 25, 2021
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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.

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Book Review: “Cheese, Wine, and Bread” — On the Menu, Confession and Fermentation

April 21, 2021
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The current rage for inserting the personal/confessional in everything from cookbooks to literary criticism can go too far.

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Book Review: John Edgar Wideman — Masterful Stories that Bear the Weight of Reality

April 17, 2021
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A singular muscularity infuses these short stories, a confidence that astonishes.

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Book Review: “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis” — Gun Violence Run Amuck

March 23, 2021
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Children Under Fire examines gun violence in America, focusing on how it is threatening our nation’s children.

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Book Review: “Jew-ish: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch” — Nosh Nirvana?

March 1, 2021
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Jake Cohen is “modern” in that he takes a contemporary approach at spreading the gospel; he is an expert at using social media.

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Poetry Review: “Field Music” — Lyrical Visions of Hardscrabble Vermont

December 16, 2020
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The voice in Field Music is disciplined, its cagey earthiness unfailingly engaging our attention.

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Television/Theater Review: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” — Listening to the Lessons of the Blues

December 10, 2020
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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a stellar artistic accomplishment, a blazingly powerful dramatic experience.

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