Apr 05

An Interview with Playwright Felicia King on “White Pearl”

White Pearl
Written by By Anchuli Felicia King
Directed by Nana Dakin

Royal Court Theatre
10 May — 15 June, 2019
Sloane Square
London SW1W 8AS
Directed by Priscilla Jackman

Sydney Theatre Company
24 October — 9 November, 2019
Lennox Theatre, Riverside Parramatta
New South Wales, Australia
Directed by Desdemona Chiang

Studio Theatre
November 6 — December 15, 2019
Milton Theatre, 1501 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20005

Interview by Diana Lu

DL: Can you tell us about yourself, how you became a playwright, where you got the idea for your play White Pearl?

FK: I am half Thai, half Australian. I grew up between Thailand and Philippines and then moved to Australia when I was quite young. My whole life has been spent as a global citizen in the broader international community with lots of other ex-pats, lots of like immigrant kids. I’ve always been really interested in global culture, and in 2016 when I started writing this play, I saw that a bunch of ads for skin whitening companies, a lot of them Thai ads, were going viral on my news feed. Continue reading

Nov 04

All Together Now #11: On Artists Mark Lipman and Jenee Halstead

All Together Now #11 

Presented by All Together Boston
Saturday, Nov 9, doors at 6 PM
Midway Cafe, 3496 Washington St, Somerville
Tickets are found HERE 
Facebook Event Page

Article by Noelani Kamelamela

(Somerville, MA) A day before their first dress rehearsal for All Together Now #11, collaborators Mark Lipman and Jenee Halstead sounded excited and hopeful, clearly in the middle of their creative process. A three way call before Halstead’s latest gig was bouncy and peppy with occasional noises as the connection faded in and out.  Deferring politely to each other at times, they had an easy back and forth and provided me with insight into their recent reworking of the performance art piece “Welcome to the Closet.” 

Photo by Jon Beckley.

Continue reading

Jun 13

It’s Amazing What One Can Do with Some Time and Creativity

Article originally posted on Consumerist:

Guy Stuck Overnight In An Airport Makes Awesome “All By Myself” Music Video, All By Himself
By Mary Beth Quirk, June 11, 2014

What’s a solo traveler to do when you’re forced to spend the night in an empty airport, its waiting areas and carousels echoing with the resounding solitude that can only be found in such a place in the wee hours of the morning? Make a music video set to Celine Dion’s “All By Myself,” naturally.

A man waiting overnight in Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport found himself with a lot of time on his hands and Dion’s song in his heart.

So he used his smartphone, a wheelchair and a water bottle as his camera crew and spent the night making a music video, visiting various spots around the seemingly empty airport.

“I had a person behind a ticket counter give me a roll of luggage tape before she left,” he says on his Vimeo page. “I then used a wheelchair that had a tall pole on the back of it and taped my iPhone to that. Then I would put it on the moving walkway for a dolly shot.”

He made use of his computer bag’s extended handle, and would prop it up using different items to get the right angle for the shots. He also employed sweet moves of his own.

“For the escalator shot I had to sprint up the steps after I got my shot so the computer bag didn’t hit the top and fall back down.”

All by myself from Richard Dunn on Vimeo.

Awesome.

Apr 25

You Can’t Stop Her. Hell, She Can’t Stop Her: PAULA POUNDSTONE

Acquisitioned from the NSMT facebook site

Presented by North Shore Music Theatre
Beverly, MA
April 19th, 2014
NSMT on Facebook

Review by Craig Idlebrook

(Beverly) If a career coach ever did an aptitude test on a young Paula Poundstone and didn’t find she was cut out to be a comedian, that coach was a loser. Angular, socially awkward, and blessed and cursed with OCD that causes her to let loose a constant stream of sarcastic chatter, Poundstone found her calling on the comedy stage. She owned the North Shore Music Theatre for one night this past April and left the crowd feeling happy and confused. Continue reading

May 14

Theatre is where my heart is.

VID00453

ONLY 6 DAYS & 8 HOURS LEFT.  WILL YOU HELP? (as of 7pm EST 5/14/2013)

by Becca Kidwell

The idea for Swiftly Tilting Theatre Project came out of my deep need and love of theatre, which I want to share with everyone.  I forgot when I started the kickstarter that this didn’t mean demanding more from those who have more or not giving to those who have less.

Everything good and right in my life has happened when I have been honest and true.  That doesn’t change because it is “business,” IF WE’RE GOING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN, WE’RE DOING THIS TOGETHER! Continue reading

May 10

“Little” Bianca

A special thanks to our Queen Geek for allowing me to use a photo of her

A special thanks to our Queen Geek for allowing me to use a photo of her

TO HELP THESE IDEAS GET PLAYED OUT, PLEASE SUPPORT SWIFTLY TILTING THEATRE PROJECT’S KICKSTARTER–ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT!!! 5/10/2013.

SWIFTLY TILTING THEATRE PROJECT’S Website
SWIFTLY TILTING THEATRE PROJECT’S Facebook Page

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW by William Shakespeare, JANUARY 9-19
The Chain Theatre, 21-28 45th Road, Long Island City, NY

IPHIGENIA AT AULIS by Euripides, April 2014
Poco Theatre at The Secret Theatre, 4402 23rd St, Long Island City, NY

In the clamor of Katerina’s shouts, Bianca is often looked at as a passive, secondary character.  Often dismissed as quiet and innocent, we neglect to see her cleverness and cunning.

Continue reading

Feb 24

Melanie Garber’s Ephemeral Direction Of Dreams and Mysteries

548619_10152332862015103_1430469856_n

A Dream Play

Presented by Heart & Dagger Productions

By August Strindberg, Translated by Harry G. Carlson
Directed by Melanie Garber

February 22, 2013 to March 2, 2013
The Factory Theatre
791 Tremont Street, Boston

Directing Profile by Becca Kidwell

photo credit:  Drew Linehan

photo credit: Drew Linehan

Melanie Garber has a dancer’s sensibility of direction with Heart & Dagger Productions’ A Dream Play, but this is not a surprise.  She has shown this intricate direction in Actor’s Shakespeare Project’s Medea, Fresh Ink Theatre Company’s Priscilla Dreams The Answer, and Heart & Dagger’s Crave.  Not only does Ms. Garber make words come alive, but she also brings life to words. From the initial moments of each of the productions, she chooses specific, distinct movements that create the environment of the play. Continue reading

Dec 03

Book Review: “The Director’s Voice, Volume 2”

The Director’s Voice: Volume 2
edited by Jason Loewith
TCG Books (Theare Communications Group)
Cover design by Mark Melnick
$22.00
www.tcg.org

Forward by Arthur Bartow, “The Director’s Voice”

Introduction by Jason Loewith, dramaturg, producer, playwright, director and Executive Director of the National New Play Network.

Includes interviews with Ping Chong, Anne Bogart, Julie Taymor, Mary Zimmerman, Michael Kahn and James Lapine, and many others.

Review by Kitty Drexel

Jason Loewith is filling some rather large shoes by editing and compiling the follow-up to Arthur Bartow’s “The Director’s Voice.” Loewith assures his audience that this second book is not a sequel but a continuation of the conversation started by the first. In it, he seeks to guide readers to a greater understanding of the director’s role as theater maker, actor ameliorator and money spender. Continue reading

Jun 12

THE BEAUTY: CANDICE BERGEN SURVIVES STROKE, TAKES BROADWAY STAGE

ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS interview airs on Thursday, June 14th at 10pm/9c on MSNBC.

The Best Man by Gore Vidal, Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (Broadway), 3/6/12-9/9/12, http://thebestmanonbroadway.com/.

“Candice Bergen is one of the great beauties – and most famous and versatile actresses – of her time. She speaks candidly with Harry Smith about how she has dealt with aging and the mild stroke she had six years ago. She looks back on her breakout role as Murphy Brown, and remembers growing up with her internationally-famous ‘puppet brother,’ Charlie McCarthy, who was given voice by her father, the ventriloquist and comedian Edgar Bergen.  She is now appearing in a Broadway play, ‘The Best Man,’ and she shares the stage with such bold-face names as John Larroquette, James Earl Jones, Eric McCormack and Angela Lansbury.”–Copy by Brian Gross

Jun 11

Happy Medium Theatre’s The American Plan

The American Plan by Richard Greenberg, Happy Medium Theatre Company, Factory Theatre, 6/8/12-6/16/12, http://www.happymediumtheatre.com/.

Feature by Gillian Daniels

Happy Medium Theatre’s The American Plan starts off light.

Set during an early-1960’s summer, a young couple meet cute and begin a hesitant courtship near a resort in the Catskill Mountains.  The first act sets up initially simple obstacles, mysterious pasts and disapproving parents.  By the second act, the play finally bears its teeth, revealing far more bile for the age than its nostalgic exterior would suggest. Continue reading