Author Archives: Bill Hirschman
A Century Later the Issues Remain in Dramaworks’ Camping With Henry and Tom
Thirty years ago, Mark St. Germain wrote a play Camping With Henry and Tom fictionalizing an actual meeting among Ford, Edison and President Harding. Given the politics, religion, racism, civic responsibility, and technology issues set in 1921, then the production at Palm Beach Dramaworks this month, he might have written it last week.
Comic ‘Fat Ham’ Echoes Hamlet Thru African-American Prism
Fat Ham, which tells of a young gay man at his Black family’s contentious backyard barbeque, is basically a huge grin. The fact that the ingenious plot intentionally echoes Hamlet does not cover up that this is simply a fun farce.
‘Sylvia’ is a Bad Dog From Curtain Call Playhouse at the Willow
If all of us liked the same things, it would be a truly dull world, but occasionally, like in Sylvia produced by Curtain Call Playhouse playing at the Willow Theatre, you have to wonder what a playwright was thinking when they took pen to paper.
Beliefs and Responsibility Grapple In Miami New Drama’s World Premiere Birthright
How do deeply held beliefs – religious, social, moral — guide us, persist, deteriorate or see us mutate as time and events challenge their truth and erode the bond among those raised on them. Birthright at Miami New Drama is an overwhelming, dense, heroically ambitious study of young people defining their identity and grappling how it copes with the modern world.
Dealing With Crippling Grief Is At Center of Theatre Lab’s The Impossible Task of Today
For some, grief is a long haul, the raw pangs never subsiding, but thriving, almost dictating a person’s daily actions even years later. At least that’s the way it is for Jack Jordan, the center of the emotionally gripping The Impossible Task of Today, a world premiere making its debut as part of Theatre Lab’s annual Owl New Play Festival.
A Sweet Slice of Theater: “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse
By Mariah Reed Waitress follows the story of Jenna, a talented pie maker working in a small-town diner who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. Haunted by her mother’s legacy of hardship, she finds refuge in baking, pouring her emotions into imaginative, …
Feature: Theatre Lab New Play Festival Explores ‘The Happiness Gym’
Over a decade, Theatre Lab has built a reputation for exploring some of the newest scripts, visions and techniques in the field. But this month’s The Happiness Gym as part of its annual festival breaks down the wall between traditional styles with a mode you don’t expect.
‘Something Rotten’ Isn’t; It’s Hilarious For Musical Fans
In one of the most hilarious production numbers in recent musical comedy written specifically for musical fans, imagine: alternating lyrics among Shakespearean quotes, ribald puns and a chorus line holding up A Chorus Line’s resume photos.Slow Burn’s Something Rotten careens at Mach speed with the exuberant energy.
Respect: A Musical Journey of Women at Pompano Beach Cultural Center
By Jan Sjostrom Respect: A Musical Journey of Women mixes potholes with well-maintained pavement. A checklist from a recent road test of the Pompano Players’ production at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center might read like this: A truck-load …
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