Review: PURLIE VICTORIOUS at KARAMU
by Roy Berko - October 02, 2024
What did our critic think of PURLIE VICTORIOUS at KARAMU? Neither Ruby Dee or Ossie Davis ever appeared in a Karamu stage production but both had significant presence and impact in the organization and in the lives of Karamu artists. They often visited for speaking engagements, to instruct master cl...
Review: CHILDREN OF EDEN at Western Reserve Playhouse
by Roy Berko - August 13, 2024
CHILDREN OF EDEN, has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. He is the creator of such hit shows as WICKED, PIPPEN and GODSPELL. Unlike those shows, EDEN had no Broadway or off-Broadway productions.
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Review: SPEECH AND DEBATE at Convergence-continuum
by Roy Berko - August 06, 2024
It is entirely appropriate that convergence-continuum, with its tendency of challenging conventional notions by choosing plays because they contain controversial topics, stage Stephen Karam’s SPEECH AND DEBATE, which examines teenage angst as it relates to love, self-acceptance and what happens when...
Review: THE PROM at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre
by Roy Berko - August 05, 2024
In 2010 a gay Mississippi high school student was banned from going to her senior prom by the school’s Board of Education because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date. She challenged the ruling, which resulted in the cancellation of the prom. The student and the ACLU sued the district. ...
Review: ANNIE at Porthouse/Kent State University
by Roy Berko - July 24, 2024
Terri Kent, the Artistic Director of Porthouse Theatre, Kent State University’s summer home on the grounds of Blossom Center, states in her program notes for ANNIE: I believe the arts have the power to transform lives and I believe in miracles....