La Mama E.T.C. Archives - TheaterScene.net

La Mama E.T.C.

There’s Blood at the Wedding

May 29, 2018

Packed into Theodora Skipitares’ "There’s Blood at the Wedding" are multiple takes on how authorities have abused their powers, too often killing innocent people. By theatricalizing and stylizing their stories, Skipitares zooms past the political and digs deeply into the emotional debris left over after a series of brilliantly staged traumatic scenes. [more]

Distant Observer: Tokyo/New York Correspondence

March 26, 2018

Noted theater artist John Jesurun wrote the opening sequence. From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Jesurun engaged in a collaboration with Japanese playwright and director Takeshi Kawamura. They each wrote alternating 10-minute sections with Aya Ogawa translating the Japanese portions into English. This technique is an homage to the Japanese poetical form renga where different authors contribute to a poem. [more]

The Pill

January 29, 2018

This comedy/drama/fitful musical also suffers from major tonal challenges, as it strains to push all of our emotional buttons. It’s a shame, because the cast gives it their all. Particularly good is Zoe Wilson, as Leni, a severely depressed teenager whose body dysmorphia has led to self-cutting and bouts of suicidal ideation. Wilson is just the right mix of pained and angry. Whenever she speaks, or sings, The Pill feels centered and we’re ready to delve deeper into Leni’s personal struggles. [more]

This is Mary Brown

June 19, 2015

Brown portrays a myriad of characters including her father, siblings, mother, and other family members seamlessly – giving the audience a taste of what the family dynamic was like. She recounts the joyful moments such as her parents meeting and falling in love as well as the sorrowful ones – the children discovering their mother’s drinking problem and then deciding how to share the responsibility when it came to an intervention. There is no doubt that this Irish family has personality – but the realness and strength emerges from the ashes. [more]

On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover

March 18, 2015

Whether or not I am convinced that Hillary Clinton needs to take a lover, and indeed how confident I am in Meek’s sexual aptitude for the task, the presentation was a great success triggering booming laughter thanks to a wit wholly unaccounted for in this age in America, a repartee most welcome to this writer. [more]