Picture, if you will, a small liberal arts college. A feminist professor of literature. A white male undergraduate on an athletic scholarship. Unconscious bias kicked in yet? Such unthinking assumptions form the central thread in Third, now playing at Redwood Curtain Theatre. The play, Wendy Wasserstein’s last (it premiered just a few months before she […]
Front Row
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Viva las Mujeres!
It is September 1987, and the Reagan Administration has recently passed the Simpson-Rodino Amnesty Act, enabling thousands of undocumented immigrants to become legal residents. Such is the case for the five women working at the Latina-owned and operated Garcia Sewing Factory in East Los Angeles, the focus of Josefina Lopez’s Real Women Have Curves, currently […]
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Glow and Flow
An impressive variety of 11 choreographed pieces with 50 dancers compose Luminescence, the Humboldt State University Dance Program’s spring concert. The production is the culmination of original student and staff work, crafting choreographies, costuming, staging and lighting. Modern, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary and other dance styles are included in the many interpretations performed. Luminescence is a […]
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A Bloody End
The final years of Richard of Gloucester, in which he became Richard III and was crowned king of England, were violent, tumultuous ones. They served as the final chapter of the War of the Roses, a bloody bit of business that spanned about three decades in late 15th century England. William Shakespeare’s Richard III, first […]
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Stitching Together a Life
It would be a mistake to think of Quilters as a play — rather, it is a metaphor for the lives of pioneer women of the 19th century Midwest. There is no traditional story arc and the only constant in the casting is Marilyn Foote in a masterful performance of quiet strength as Sarah, the […]
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The Power of Faux News
Political intrigue is timeless fodder for dramatists and with an overtly political play like Julius Caesar, it’s tempting to start correlating key characters with members of the current administration. Is Trump Caesar or Brutus? Is Bannon Cassius or Antony? And what of the upstart Octavius? In Shakespeare’s day, he was likely the character attracting the […]
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Dance Off
On Saturday, 21 dance groups and soloists will hit the stage at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts, each hoping to take home prize money to further their goals in professional dance. Dancing Stars of Humboldt will give the audience a vibrant spectrum of dance, from Irish step to ballet to hip-hop. Modern, jazz, […]
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The Lady Doth Persist
Emilie du Châtelet is an all but forgotten figure whose contributions to scientific knowledge brought together physics, philosophy and gender in a challenge that continues to resonate today. She met an untimely death in 1749 as a result of an accidental pregnancy before she was able to resolve the two most important questions she had […]
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Family Circles
Don’t hold Eleemosynary‘s title against it. It’s a clever device by playwright Lee Blessing (whose Going to St. Ives was a popular production at Redwood Curtain Theatre last year) that plays into the content of the piece. It means “charitable” and it is the winning word in a national spelling contest. Eleemosynary, now playing at […]
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O-o-oklahoma!
The play Oklahoma! and I go back a ways. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s famed play was, at the age of 8, the very first live theater I ever saw. My family was on a summer camping trip near Santa Cruz, and my parents took my sisters and I into town one night to see […]
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Fairytales and Nightmares
Pantomime evolved from the Italian commedia dell’arte into a peculiarly English theatrical style that takes a well-known folk tale and adds cross-dressing actors, slapstick, musical interludes and audience participation — think Benny Hill without the sexual innuendo. It’s a Christmas tradition I grew up with, so I was delighted that fellow Brit and (appropriately) Dell’Arte […]
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Through a Humboldt Looking Glass
Each year, Dell’Arte MFA students create a holiday show that plays, largely free of charge, to the community from Point Arena to Cave Junction. The students not only write, design, choreograph, costume, light and stage the production but also take it on the road to schools, community centers and theatres large and small. Being Dell’Arte […]