Author Archives: Bill Hirschman

National Black Theatre Festival Underscores Love Of Theater

This past summer, tens of thousands of African-Americans from around the U.S. and other countries as well jammed 12 venues in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to savor more than 30 tragedies, musicals, comedies, movement pieces, and revues produced by predominantly black theater companies .

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Dramaworks’ Streetcar Delivers Own Scalding Vision Of Classic

Even for Palm Beach Dramaworks, its A Streetcar Named Desire creates a category of its own with an emotionally scalding portrait of flawed human beings scraping each other raw until the inevitable tragedy erupts. But before that, almost chemically mismatched spirits reach out in desperation, fence for position, attack each other, embrace each other and execute a dozen other choreographies in this edition of Tennessee William’s iconic classic

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Family Struggles With Autism In New City Players’ Falling

Underneath, Falling is not just about a family dealing with the complex challenge of living with an autistic adult. New City Player’s profoundly moving production seems to be as much about the scores of well-practiced routines, accommodations and coping mechanisms that make any loving relationship possible long-term.

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Forget The Film When Watching Dramaworks’ Own ‘Streetcar’

When tackling A Streetcar Named Desire, it’s impossible for artists to ignore the 1951 film that made a movie icon of Marlon Brando and provided the last great role for Vivien Leigh. But director J. Barry Lewis, actors Danny Gavigan and Kathy McCafferty don’t fear an audience with vivid memories of the film, they welcome it.

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Harrowing Depiction Of Evil: An Evening With John Wayne Gacy

You may find this hard to believe, but An Evening With John Wayne Gacy Jr., — easily the most off-putting title for a theater piece in many years – is a surprisingly effective, harrowing and highly stylistic depiction of homicidal madness in Ronnie Larsen’s play at Infinite Abyss.

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Boys Of A Certain Age Examines Gay Lives In The Trump Era

Flawed as it is, few would place Boys of a Certain Age in the same ranks as The Normal Heart and The Boys In the Band. But Dan Fingerman’s script being presented by Empire Stage is an incisive and insightful examination of gay life in 2019 that may be eligible as a time capsule of this moment.

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News Roundup: Dramaworks, Jan McArt / Lois Pope, Wick, Playgroup LLC, Slow Burn

Lots of news about Palm Beach Dramaworks’ new play festival, Lois Pope teams up with Jan McArt, Playgroup LLC to close, fundraisers for Slow Burn, GableStage and Insight for the Blind

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Blood, Beer And Toasters: Main Street’s Ferocious True West

With the fearful ferocity of twin jackhammers running amok, the brothers of Main Street Players’ True West clash and crash, attack and retreat in an anguish-fueled release of pent-up frustration that their chosen lifestyles have not worked out.

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Funny & Poignant Grindr Mom Turns A Wife’s Life Inside Out

Crucial to know about Grindr Mom is that while the heroine is a middle-class pearl-wearing politically conservative Mormon who volunteers once a week at the local school, “The Wife” as she is called in Ronnie Larsen’s script is decidedly engaging, likable and genuinely charming — certainly not a monstrous homophobic bigot.

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Wiesenthal Challenges Us To Prevent Tragedy Once Again

Over and over, Simon Wiesenthal’s words spoken in a biographical play written a decade ago based on a man who died 14 year ago, words about events that occurred more than 75 years ago, those words are as vibrant and relevant a direct undiluted challenge to the audience at GableStage in 2019 as anything heard this season in a political rally or debate

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