By half measure, full measure—actually, by virtually any measure—Measure for Measure as produced by the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival is a triumphant excavation of one of the bard’s less-produced works that here proves itself to be just as engrossing as his most popular ones. 

Those who are unfamiliar with the show may want to consult at least a summary beforehand to help make up the distance of the 17th century language, or, as I did, to skim through the script beforehand so as to develop a kind of road map for the events that will unfold. However, combined with crisp direction by Trent Stephens and the cast’s energetic performances, I imagine the fairly straightforward story is likely comprehensible to seasoned Shakespeare fans and newcomers alike. 

Towards the end of A CHORUS LINE, FAU Festival Rep’s final production of the summer, a question is posed about whether musical theater will even survive. It made me smile knowing that this musical written by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, with music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban, not only survived from April 1975 to April 1990 (the first Broadway show to exceed 6,000 performances!), but also won a Tony in 1984 for being Broadway’s Longest-Running Musical. In addition to Tonys for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and more, a Pulitzer for Drama and a Best Musical Olivier Award to boot. So it’s hardly surprising that this American classic remains a favorite regional production choice to this day – embraced for its impressive dance numbers, memorable songs, and the raw revelations of its “chorus line” cast.

Well, you know what they say, right? It’s all good fun until a hydrangea loses its roots.  

To introduce the show now playing at Gablestage in its most basic sense: Native Gardens is a play that revolves around a dispute between neighbors over the potential placement of a fence meant to divide their gardens. But before I contemplate the absurdity of finding myself close to tears at the conclusion of a play about a garden dispute, I suppose I should explain that the show’s true subject could perhaps be more accurately described as the joy that can be found when the sense of common humanity overcomes the surface obstacles to understanding. 

NYC-based playwright Stephen Brown is having quite the moment in South Florida. Boca’s Theatre Lab has/will run two of his recent plays and LITTLE MONTGOMERY (formerly known as “Country Girls”) is currently enjoying a Florida premiere by New City Players (NCP) at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors. If the name “Little Montgomery” rings a bell, you might have enjoyed listening to NCP’s highly creative serial podcast version back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. 

Though the two main characters of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, Lillian and Michael, are both loners by nature, there’s no arguing with the fact that it does, indeed, take two to tango. To name a few more of the styles that this odd couple ends up traversing over the course of the popular play currently on view at Empire Stage from fledgling company Artbuzz Theatrics, it also takes two to swing, waltz, foxtrot, cha-cha, and at least in some cases, contemporary dance. 

South Florida staple “Summer Shorts” is back in action for this year with an exciting collection of brand new short plays brought to us by the participants in Homegrown, a new playwright development program from City Theatre that provides a cohort of Miami’s emerging BIPOC playwrights with creative and networking opportunities over a two year period. 

By Mindy Leaf

It’s been a few years since I last attended a show by Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Theatre and Dance. I do recall their students being quite good and I especially enjoyed how they’d often produce rarely staged gems. So I was nostalgically delighted to discover that after the long pandemic absence nothing has changed – if anything they are better than ever! The plays are still staged at their main Boca campus in the lovely Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre with free garage parking and an impressive art gallery that’s open to the public (at least it was during Saturday’s matinee) and entices you to enter as you make your way down the long, white art-laden hall to the theater’s entrance. 

by Mindy Leaf

Breaking news! Slow Burn Theatre Company ends their famously popular 2022/2023 season with one more exhilarating, high-energy extravaganza!

Laughs and familiar scenes of Miami were memorable in the 2023 “Summer Shorts Homegrown Edition” of eight 10 minute plays, running now through June 25 at the Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami.