by Barbara Waldinger Henrik Ibsen is a tough act to follow. At the end of his 1879 masterpiece, A Doll’s House, audiences gasped as Nora Helmer left her husband and three children, delivering what George Bernard Shaw famously called “the door slam heard around the world,” presumably never to return.…
by Macey Levin Playwright James Anthony Tyler’s work has been performed in several off-Broadway and regional theatres including the Berkshire Playwrights Lab in Great Barrington, MA, whose Some Old Black Man by Tyler transferred to New York this past season to very good reviews. Williamstown Theatre Festival is currently producing…
by Roseann Cane In the days following the end of the Civil War, a young Confederate soldier named Caleb (Justin Pietropaolo) painfully makes his way into his once-grand Richmond family estate to find the place in ruins. Caleb, too, is in ruins: a bullet in his leg has been left…
by Roseann Cane There are rare occasions when audience hooting, hollering, and foot-stomping add to the enjoyment of a night of theater, and Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, which just opened at the Capital Repertory Theatre, is a sterling example of just such a treat. One of the…
by Barbara Waldinger Imagine a production of Macbeth without the witches. No “When shall we three meet again?” No “Double, double toil and trouble: Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.” No cauldron for that matter; no murderers to kill Banquo or Macduff’s family—only blood magically spurting from their chests. These are…
by Macey Levin When you go to see Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar at the (which you should,) brace yourself for a compelling story, intense When you go to see Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar at the Chester Theatre Company (which you should,) brace yourself for a compelling story, intense disagreements, profound emotions, terrific acting…
by Roseann Cane I was just shy of 15 when Hair opened off-Broadway and began to cause a stir in 1967, a pivotal time in American culture. When a significantly revised version of the show opened on Broadway in 1968, it rapidly permeated the culture it reflected. It’s impossible to…
by Gail M. Burns The original London production of The Mousetrap, which opened in 1952, is STILL running; and there are endless amateur stagings every year all around the world. But if you’ve managed never to see it, this production at The Theater Barn is your opportunity to enjoy a…
