This was an enormously exciting production of Merchant of Venice, a reminder that theater can be (in fact, must be!) nervy.
Theater
Theater Review: “Pipeline” — A Didactic Excursion
Dominique Morisseau’s earnest Pipeline is a “message” play, American style.
Theater Review: “The Children” — After the Damage Has Been Done
An apocalyptic backdrop gives the play urgency, especially given the current worldwide struggle to contain the Corvid-19 virus, which has already claimed thousands of lives.
Theater Review: “Nina Simone: Four Women” — Theater of Social Concern
There’s much to admire and appreciate about this MRT production; but the play’s lack of a solid dramatic spine is a crippling problem.
Theater Review: “A Tale of Two Cities” — Beware the Revolution!
Given Dickens’ penny-a-word driven verbosity and his fondness for resolving every plot point with a flurry of coincidences, adapter McEleney seems undecided: is this history play a tragedy or a farce?
Theater Review: “The Treasurer” — Lives of Quiet Disconnection
Cheryl McMahon is quietly spectacular as Ida, who tries desperately to conceal her cognitive decline behind a wall of egocentric cheerfulness that borders on the frantic.
Theater Preview: “Citrus” — World Premiere of a Choreopoem
The stories in Citrus exhibit a powerful commonality: these portraits of th3e experiences of black women suggest that, over time, everything and nothing has changed.
Theater Review: “She the People” — Part Protest Rally and Part Catharsis
As my second wave feminist companion said as we left the theater, “That was hilarious. And I am SO ANGRY.”
Theater Review: “Manahatta” — Breaking the American Myths
The only way forward, to go beyond American myths of innocence, is to confront the enduring crimes of the past.
Theater Review: “Sweat” — Icarus’s Children
For me, Sweat hits its riveting stride in its second half, when the pressures of the strike tests the relationships of its working class characters.