Does a fact have a beginning, middle and end, or is it static and unliving? Perhaps its existence is immutable, but what of its pertinence or purpose? Do facts serve truth, or is it the other way around? And where does story fit in this philosophical quagmire? Do the answers impact our daily lives? These […]
Front Row
Posted inArts + Scene
Mind Games
There are a lot of bold ideas in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s production of Gaslight that will likely come to fruition in the run. On opening night, I was left with fewer answers and unresolved intrigue. However, what is theater that does not risk or dare and inspire questions of its audience? This is one of the many we are […]
Posted inArts + Scene
She Kills Monsters on a Quest at CPH
A brilliant theatrical script leaves room for designers to be bold in their decisions. And if you pair that with a raucous cast obviously enjoying themselves, an audience will share in the joy and overlook or even justify some imperfections. Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters is that script and it is a pleasure to witness […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Death of the Author
Metafiction is hard, it requires an understanding of the source material with an open mind to the stylistic choices of the author, which might seem perverse to a fan of the original text. This problem increases with live theater, where the audience is expected to not only bring an awareness of the thing referenced, but […]
Posted inArts + Scene
NCRT’s Tiny Beautiful Things
Be honest. You read the advice columns. Even if it’s just to be snarky about other people’s problems. Or perhaps you’re secretly hoping the solution to a problem you’ve been sitting on will magically appear under someone else’s name? On that admittedly broad assumption, I’d be surprised if Tiny Beautiful Things, now playing at North […]
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Dreaming Big
From the moment Managing Art Director Calder Johnson took the opening night stage to introduce A Midsummer Night’s Dream at North Coast Repertory Theatre, clad in an outfit out of a Hunter S. Thompson book, I knew this production was going to be different. The first fully rehearsed production in more than two and a […]
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EXIT Theatre’s Indie Development
When you approach the building on the Arcata Plaza in which EXIT Theatre is located, the first thing you’ll notice is first-floor occupant Moore’s Sleep World (“Sale, Sale, Sale” “Welcome back Students …”). And then to the right side on the front part of the building there’s an “Aikido” sign promoting the Northcoast Aikido studio. […]
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The Children and The Unstrung Harp
THE CHILDREN. It was a dark and stormy night … when Rose (Rae Robison) let herself into the cottage occupied by her old friends Hazel (Pam Long) and Robin (Gary Sommers). The reunion gets off to a rocky start when Hazel hits Rose over the head, thinking she is a burglar. Thus begins The Children […]
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Rocky Horror Revival Rises in Ferndale
I wish I’d brought my Erotica red lip stain to Ferndale Repertory Theatre to mark the first-time audience members’ foreheads with a large V to anoint them into the cult that is the The Rocky Horror Show, first mounted in 1973 with music and lyrics by Richard O’Brien, and adapted for the screen as The […]
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Zandezi Asks, ‘Where is the Justice?’
That’s the fundamental question in Zimbabwe Theatre Academy’s Zandezi, now playing at Dell’Arte’s Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake. What matters more to a man: that he prove he’s been wrongly convicted, or benefit from an amnesty program? That he care for a sick cellmate or accept that sufficient food comes at a price? That he […]
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Reflections on Joan Schirle’s World
Every morning when I sit at my dining table, I see the card Joan Schirle sent me this last holiday season. “Hope to see you in the New Year in person!” she wrote in effortlessly fluid green script, signing off with a heart and a big curly J. And every morning when I sit down […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Laughing in Shakespeare’s Shadow
It only took close to 500 years for a musical that enacts my unpopular opinion that Shakespeare has become a model of elite and pompous thespian culture in which good acting is determined by mere participation, historically documented BIPOC people of the period apparently didn’t exist (except for that one guy) and migraine-inducing word salads […]