Plays

The relatively unfamiliar cast of this West Coast production could not be better. Howard is distinguished and forceful as the once-famous artist now reduced to nothing and aching for a fight with his greatest enemy; Ross is imperious and elegant as the once-powerful curator used to always having her way, now seeking out her greatest love. Their scenes together strike fireworks. [more]

Through a series of intertwining monologues, Boys and Girls follows four young Dubliners before, during and after their respective sexual encounters. Though the characters never interact, their stories weave through one another, forming fascinating juxtapositions. While one of the boys fails to seduce his love interest at a bar, the other laments his passionless, anonymous alley hookup. While one of the girls describes the thrill of a first-time experience, the other wonders if her committed relationship is physically fulfilling. The result is a comprehensive, truthful account of adolescents learning to understand male-female dynamics. [more]

  Katie Kreisler and Brian Avers in a scene from Poor Behavior (Photo credit: James Leynse) [more]

Strands of barbed wire run across the stage and remain so throughout the performance. The stage is divided by a train track. The walls are bare brick. The lighting often shifts to varying shades of darkness. Luggage is strewn around. Smoke flows briefly at one point. Scenes are punctuated by the sound of Czechoslovakian singing. The actors wear basic black clothes. Director, scenic and costume designer Daniel Hrbek masterfully creates powerful images. Horrors are conveyed by imaginatively utilizing very simple elements. Mr. Hrbek also succeeds in staging and pacing the action arrestingly along with the actors. [more]

While Sullivan does not seem to have turned his company into a coherent ensemble, the production is always easy to understand and unambiguous. The diction is always clear, though at times the sound design by Acme Sound Design seems to be at the wrong level. King Lear is a difficult play to bring off with its unrelieved outsized tragedy, and using actors not practiced in interpreting Shakespearean roles may not be the best casting. It is also possible that the production will achieve greater depth as the performers have more onstage time. This is a King Lear more than a little disappointing from such a talented group of theater artists. [more]

Guy Van Swearingen and Kamal Angelo Bolden in a scene from The Opponent (Photo credit: Carol [more]

Jack Hofsiss, the Tony Award-winning director of The Elephant Man, keeps the acting reined in while the dialogue becomes more and more blasphemous. Veteran actress Brenda Currin makes the discontented Mother Superior a believable character but the other four performers seem to be asked to posture rather than put any faith in their roles. [more]

Playwright Ross Howard gives us a locked-ward play. Set in a psychiatric hospital, we meet three long-term residents, their orderly, a nurse, and a doctor. The patients' maladies are not specified. Mostly they seem merely simple, with mental ages of between roughly five and eleven, so it's not clear why they're in hospital rather than some sort of group home. Martin (Christopher Daftsios) in particular seems an innocent; Anna (Dana Benningfield), a recent emigrant from Latvia, is a bit paranoid; Duncan (Andy Nogasky) is intelligent but awkward like an early adolescent, and struggles with hydrophobia. [more]