Review: BLOOD WEDDING at Shaking The TreeOctober 24, 2023Every time I go to Shaking the Tree, I wonder what surprises, delights, and disturbances artistic director Samantha Van Der Merwe and her highly creative crew have in store for us. Federico García Lorca's BLOOD WEDDING, now on stage, has its fair share of all three.
Review: AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' at Broadway RoseOctober 4, 2023AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ is a great musical showcase, as well as a much-needed diversion. The hooting, hollering, clapping, and toe-tapping audience seemed to agree.
Review: HAPPY DAYS at Northwest Classical Theatre CollaborativeAugust 22, 2023Samuel Beckett’s 1961 masterpiece HAPPY DAYS, now being presented by the Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative, is a tragicomic meditation on how to hang onto our humanity as time marches us slowly toward death. It’s equal parts LOL funny and deeply depressing, and it’s eerily relevant to our current post-pandemic world that is also burning.
Review: SIX at Keller AuditoriumJuly 27, 2023Blending 16th century history with modern pop culture and music, SIX is a super-smart, high-energy celebration of women reclaiming the narrative of their own lives. Most of all it’s just really fun.
Review: MYRA'S STORY at Corrib TheatreMay 12, 2023MYRA’S STORY, a solo show by Brian Foster now running at Corrib Theatre, takes an unflinching look at the factors that resulted in a woman becoming an alcoholic and losing her home.
Review: COME FROM AWAY at Keller AuditoriumMay 5, 2023This beautiful musical, based on the true story of how a small town in Newfoundland opened their doors to 7,000 stranded “plane people” when U.S. airspace was closed following the terrorist attacks, is an antidote to skepticism, nihilism, and loneliness.
Previews: GREAT WIDE OPEN at Portland PlayhouseApril 12, 2023Do you remember what it was like to be 17? Excited, angsty, passionate, confused, and hopeful all at once. And maybe you fell in love for the first time with someone who was oh-so-wrong but also perhaps oh-so-right. If any of that sounds familiar, and especially if you happened to be a teenager in the 90s, Jessica Wallenfels’ GREAT WIDE OPEN should be on your radar.