BWW Review: OSU's STUPID F---ING BIRD Challenges Audiences to Rethink Life, Art in Complex Performance
In many ways, the Ohio State Department of Theatre's latest production, "Stupid F---ing Bird," resembles the stage on which it is presented - an intimate performance space bordered by jagged-edged support beams, backed by planks of overlapping wooden boards and strewn with overturned paint buckets, plastic sheeting and stacked chairs. Indeed, this "lovingly deconstructed" version of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" has the feeling of a work in progress, like something built right before one's very eyes.
BWW Reviews: WAITING FOR OTHELLO and DESDEMONA: Two Plays, Two Acts, and One Hit
The Trebuchet Players' production of DESDEMONA: A PLAY ABOUT A HANDKERCHIEF features top-notch acting and an emotional depth so luxurious you could get lost in it. Homegrown talent Bryan Maynard's silly, self-aware, but not self-serious, play WAITING FOR OTHELLO features equally talented performers and loads of humor. Both plays poke fun at ridiculous gender stereotypes while evoking laughter and tears in equal measure.
BWW Reviews: Scriptwriters/Houston's 23rd Annual 10X10 Showcase is Inspiring and Thought-Provoking
To say that Houston has an exceptional theatre scene is an understatement. One of my favorite aspects is that there is always something new to see. Last night I had the pleasure of attending Scriptwriters/Houston's 23rd Annual 10X10 Showcase, a production that highlights original plays by local playwrights. Scriptwriters/Houston's annual 10X10 production, in association with Next Stage Press, features ten new plays, each lasting ten minutes in length. A welcome addition to this year's production is the inclusion of eight original monologues. This year's sampling of original works paints an intimate portrait of humanity and ultimately creates a nuanced and unforgettable evening of entertainment.
BWW Reviews: Theatre Southwest's DRACULA is Resplendently Gothic and Inspired
Dracula is a name that invokes fear and terror in me. Not because it is a horror story, but because just about every adaptation of Bram Stoker's legendary Gothic novel gets it so wrong that I am left completely cold and empty. Astonishingly, this is not the case with Theatre Southwest's brilliant and opulent production of DRACULA, written by Steven Dietz and directed by Ananka Kohnitz.
BWW Reviews: TSW's THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA is Absorbing and Suspenseful
Theatre Southwest is currently producing a fascinating production of Tennessee William's thrilling and tense THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA. The 1961 drama is set at The Costa Verde Hotel in Puerto Barrio on the West Coast of Mexico in the summer of 1940. The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon is leading a tour group of Baptist women from Texas through Mexico, but makes an unplanned stop at the hotel, which is owned and operated by his friend, Maxine Falk. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, Shannon slowly unravels, exposing his secrets and sins. An impoverished and entirely broke New England spinster, Hannah Jelkes, and her aging grandfather, a poet losing his mind, arrive at the hotel as well. Without any money, the duo hopes to lodge at the hotel with the promise to earn some money and pay upon checkout.
VIV! Returns to Edge Theatre, Now thru 2/17
Edge Theatre presented Viv! (The Story behind the Legend of Vivien Leigh) in Houston in December, but the show is having an exciting afterlife. It returns to Houston with the original cast the following Valentine Day weekend, suitably enough, since the love of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier was one of the great love stories of the 20th Century. With Tyrrell Woolbert as Vivien and James R. Monaghan as a devoted fan, running 80 minutes with no intermission.
VIV! to Return to Edge Theatre, 2/14-17
Edge Theatre presented Viv! (The Story behind the Legend of Vivien Leigh) in Houston in December, but the show is having an exciting afterlife. It is being presented in Miami the weekend of Feb. 8-10, and returns to Houston with the original cast the following Valentine Day weekend, suitably enough, since the love of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier was one of the great love stories of the 20th Century.
BWW Reviews: VIV! is Entertaining and Insightful
Edge Theatre is presenting Jim Tommaney's VIV! (THE STORY BEHIND THE LEGEND OF VIVIEN LEIGH) at Midtown Art Center. At the top of the 80 minute one act, Robert Strong, is at home in his Greenwich Village apartment and using his Quija Board to summon Cleopatra as played by Vivien Leigh. The actress enters through the front door and uses the opportunity to discuss her life with an avid fan.
