Theatre Lab Advocates For Artists In The Time Of Covid-19 With An “Online Original Monologue Festival”
Like anything else, the internet age has its blessing and its perils. On the “blessing” side, it enables instant connection among people who could physically be oceans apart, which has allowed for unprecedent collaboration, communication, and innovation. Recently, it’s also become more important than most of us could have ever predicted as efforts to “flatten the curve” of the current COVID-19 pandemic have precluded nearly all in-person interaction.
A Playwright Procrastinates/Suggested Showtunes For Strange Times
After all the initial panic, I’ll admit that one of my first thoughts on being mostly-entrapped at home for the foreseeable future was: Great! I can finally finish revising my thus-far-singular attempt at a full-length play!
On “Hadestown,” Capitalism, Broadway, Politics, And Yes, The Pandemic
When the first wave of coronavirus panic hit, I honestly thought everyone was just being paranoid. The virus, after all, was still states away, and I remained flippantly sure that even if it did come this way, it would not be coming for me—or on the off chance it did, I would emerge unscathed thanks to my freakishly good immune system. My resistance really ought to be toast given my horrendous sleeping and eating habits, but I can’t remember having anything more serious than a cold in years.
Some Wheely Good Fun At “Helen On Wheels”
Pigs Do Fly Productions continues its sixth season with Helen On Wheels, a play by Cricket Daniels that first produced in 2014. The company’s unique mission is to show that over 50 can still live their lives in interesting, involved, and exciting ways and showcase performers over 50 in the process.
“Beauty and The Beast” At LPAC Is As Enchanting As Ever
NOTE: Spoilers from here on out on this because I’m assuming most of you know the story!
It’s always interesting to look back on a favorite childhood fairy tale with an adult’s eyes. I got the chance this weekend at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, where Beauty in the Beast is running only until this March 8th.
Comedy Can’t Get Much Darker Than “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Gynecologic Oncology Unit…”
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City is now playing until this March 1 at the Sol Children’s Theatre, courtesy of theatre company Primal Forces. The 2016 play by Halley Feiffer is not to be confused with A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, the famous Sondheim musical the former work’s title is an exceedingly wordy riff.
Art And Identity In “My Name is Asher Lev”
The West Boca Theatre Company’s current production of My Name Is Asher Lev earns a unique and high compliment: of all the plays I’ve written about in the past 5ish months (my, how time flies), it’s the only one that I left actively inspired to create.
A Royal Time At “The Glass Piano”
Theatre Lab’s fifth season continues with The US premiere of The Glass Piano by Alix Sobler, which premiered last year at London’s Coronet Theatre—loosely based on the utterly fascinating case of the real Princess Alexandra of Bavaria. The Glass Piano explores the story of a princess who suffered from a delusion that she had swallowed a grand glass piano as a child and must maneuver delicately to avoid shattering it.
A Fulfilling “Fulfillment Center” At The Lake Worth Playhouse
The Lake Worth Playhouse’s acclaimed Black Box series is back until this February 9th with a quietly stirring production of Fulfillment Center by Abe Koogler, which premiered off-Broadway 2017. The play’s title does double duty, serving as both a literal description of the corporate warehouse it revolves around and an ironic nod to a set of characters who seem incapable of fulfilling their own — or each other’s — emotional needs. The story aptly encapsulates the play’s two major themes: nigh-inescapable human dissatisfaction and the potential for capitalism to deepen that dissatisfaction.