Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

The Opponent Is In Ourselves at African Heritage Cultural Center

One of the great truisms of human nature is that often our greatest opponent is ourselves. So while the drama The Opponent is set in a boxing ring where an young fighter and his trainer spar physically and verbally, it’s their own flaws that provide adversaries that they cannot best.

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Corrected List of Carbonell Noms Has Many Changes

A significantly corrected list of 2021-22 Carbonell Awards nominations was released Monday encompassing added nominees, removed nominees, substitutions and recalculations from the list distributed locally and nationally last Friday. The full corrected list is in this story.

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In Fine Performance, Misery’s Annie Wilkes May Seem More Familiar Today Than You Recall

An unintended resonance echoes in Empire Stage’s production of Misery that Stephen King likely did not quite foresee. In a world where some people steadfastly, even violently believe whatever they want to believe, somewhere Annie Wilkes is shrugging and asking “What’s your point?”

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Conolly Adds Dramaworks Role to Seven Decade Career

Patricia Conolly is one of the most prolific actresses you’ve likely never heard of. But you’ve very likely seen her: 3 times as Blanche, 1 as Stella, 2 as Hedda, 16 Shakespearean heroines. This month Conolly will play the 91-year-old grandmother trying to connect with her grandson in Palm Beach Dramaworks’ 4000 Miles.

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2021-22 Silver Palm Awards Announced; Gala Set Oct. 17

A familiar slate of names and talents have been announced as recipients for the newly reconfigured Silver Palm Awards celebrating honoring South Florida theater artists. As with last year, awards will be presented at a gala on Oct. 17 at The Addison restaurant in Boca Raton.

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Main Street Players’ Topdog/Underdog Is Slow Motion Shattering Drama

Main Street Players’ version of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog rewards the patient patron is watching a slow-motion shattering of two brothers struggling with institutionalized racism, poverty, sibling rivalry, and troubled pasts stretching from childhood to last week.

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Theatre Lab’s ‘Red Riding Hood’ Entertains More than Just Kids

So Allison Gregory’s Red Riding Hood is a delightful hoot in which Theatre Lab has mounted a production meant to enrapture young theatergoers, but also liberally peppered with jokes, asides and other humor that only the adults will understand.

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Recreating A Family is Central to Larsen’s Dramedy “The Actors”

Savor an unqualified success with playwright-actor Ronnie Larsen’s The Actors. Copious laughs dominate a seemingly silly sit-com situation, but they recede (though never disappear) as the human angst underneath keeps poking toward the surface until it becomes the reason for the evening.

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Carbonells Name Winners of George Abbot Award and Others

An array of artists and administrators who have helped build South Florida into a nationally-recognized regional theater hub will receive the Carbonell Awards’ highest honors this fall. Among the recipients: The prized George Abbott Award will go to Michael Tilson Thomas and Barbara and Lawrence R. Stein.

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Bent’s Horrors Go Beyond Homicidal Homophobia; Asks What Would You Do If Targeted

Bent deserves honor for putting recognizable human beings amid Hitler’s decimation of homosexuals during the Holocaust – and re-reminding the public of this horror. But rising above the gender topicality of Sherman’s script in Empire Stage’s uneven, but ultimately scorching production are universal issues about the challenge of preserving yourself basic humanity in such times.

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