By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI. – January temperatures rarely rise above 30 degrees here, so indoor activities are welcomed. Local theatergoers can watch a foot-stompin,’ whooping and hollering Texas hoedown in the 1970s musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, courtesy of Bombshell Theatre Co. This theater company is devoted to bringing little-seen musicals to […]
By ROY BERKO Since 1959, Dobama Theatre has been dedicated to premiering important new plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality. The Land of Oz, is a good selection for them to undertake. Dobama’s multi-talented artistic director Nathan Motta has incorporated his training as a music composer with his […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out”) There’s no more an appropriate time to present Irving Berlin’s ‘Holiday Inn’ than during the festive season of holiday time. With songs like “White Christmas” and “Let’s Start the New Year Right,” it’s a no-brainer that people looking for holiday cheer will wrap themselves in something warm and […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) Sharai Bohannon is an activist playwright who doesn’t shy away from tackling issues that some might feel uncomfortable discussing. When a group attempted to mount a production of her play Craigslisted without authorization, she fought back, even when they threatened her with legal action. For her efforts, which […]
By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – Some funny anecdotes were once relayed by playwright Catherine Trieschmann to Milwaukee Repertory Theater Artistic Director Mark Clements. They initially led to a few laughs between friends. At the time, Trieschmann was writing some humorous essays about her experiences with other theater groups. Inspired by these stories, Clements urged […]
By ROY BERKO Describe the Night, which is now on stage at Ensemble Theatre, is Cleveland Heights native Rajiv Joseph’s 2018 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play. Joseph was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo, which starred the late Robin Williams in […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken a minute, but the only play to ever win both an Olivier Award in London and a Tony Award on Broadway has finally arrived in The City That Care Forgot. The Play That Goes Wrong, currently on the boards at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It would seem The NOLA Project, those upstarts who mostly came to New Orleans from New York’s Tisch School just prior to the landfall of Hurricane Katrina and, despite all obstacles, elected to stay in the Crescent City and break theatrical barriers of all kinds ever since, […]
By ANNE SIEGEL MILWAUKEE, WI – With the mid-term political elections just weeks away, one of Milwaukee’s newer theater companies uses that timing to open The Totalitarians, a 2015 political satire written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb. The play is simultaneously horrific and hilarious as it dissects the daily activities surrounding a political campaign gone amok. […]
By ALAN SMASON, WYES-TV Theatre Critic (“Steppin’ Out“) It’s taken 16 years since it first bowed at the Public Theatre and 15 years after it became a Broadway smash, but In the Heights has finally arrived, making its regional New Orleans theatre premiere. The first Lin-Manuel Miranda musical to win a Tony Award for Best Musical, In […]