Shrewd Ambiguities (THE TAMING OF THE SHREW)
[Written for Ed Sylvanus Iskandar’s production, which employed an immersive frame and frequently disrupted Shakespeare’s text via Duncan Sheik pop …
Category Archives: 2015-16
Les Blancs and the Unknown Lorraine Hansberry
“A classical people deserve a classical art.” – Lorraine Hansberry, notebook fragment, early 1950s Part One: A Classical Drama Foretold …
DOGG’S HAMLET/CAHOOT’S MACBETH
In a more than 50-year career, Tom Stoppard (1937-) has established himself as perhaps England’s greatest living playwright. The funny …
The Beast With Two Backs (Othello)
In August of 1600, a 42-year-old man named Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud sailed to London. An ambassador from the court …
Taming of the Screwball (KISS ME, KATE)
The success of Kiss Me Kate in 1948 could not have been more unexpected. Cole Porter, who had experienced a …
Toni Morrison’s DESDEMONA
[Me and Ayanna Thompson during the postshow talkback] Toni Morrison (1931-) is the greatest American novelist of the last 100 …
Bond’s Bingo (BINGO)
Edward Bond (b. July 18, 1934) is among the most influential and intellectual of modern British playwrights. Following George Bernard …
The Stories Not Told (SALOMÉ)
The world of Salomé, Yaël Farber’s reimagining of the biblical tale, is one shrouded in mystery. It is a place …
Bottomless Dream (2015)
[Updating of my old Midsummer note for the 2015-16 Free For All production] There’s a famous proverbial saying about music criticism, that …
Rethinking the Canon (Season Guide)
Six Plays, Six Questions in Search of an Answer What is the point of staging plays that are hundreds of …
Drew Lichtenberg 