Category Archives: Uncategorized

What do you know about Chopin? It’s probably more than I do.  Let’s see… He was a pianist who composed tons of music for the piano. He was Polish and lived in the 19th century. That’s about it. So that when I heard that People’s Light was presenting a play with music, a one-man-show writtenContinue reading “Monsieur Chopin: A Play With Music at People’s Light”

            Two brothers- a good one and a bad one. One is a liberal English teacher; the other is a convicted murderer and a member of a white supremacist gang in prison. Estranged for many years, circumstances have brought them together as they try to navigate some sort of connection. Do they have any commonContinue reading “Rift, or White Lies at InterAct Theatre Company”

            Ernestine Ashworth celebrates her birthday with a birthday cake every year, from the time she was 17 until the age of 101, though the actress never physically ages. In 90 minutes on stage in her kitchen, we see her life in about two dozen brief scenes as she interacts with her mother, her husband,Continue reading “Birthday Candles at People’s Light”

Though “Dial M for Murder” was written as a stage play in Britain in 1952, most people know it from the 1954 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. It is a most powerful crime thriller dealing with blackmail, infidelity, and a murder plan. With a new twist by Jeffrey HatcherContinue reading “Dial M for Murder at Act II Playhouse”

William Shakespeare had written 38 plays when he died at the age of 52 in 1616. My first exposure to him was when we read “Julius Caesar in my 9th grade class. It was a challenge to read as it was written in Early Modern English, also known as Elizabethan English, which lasted until theContinue reading “Antony & Cleopatra at Quintessence Theatre”

            Quintessence Theatre is bringing two Shakespeare plays with the same cast to run in tandem for March and April.  “Antony and Cleopatra” will open this Saturday, a week after “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of the bard’s most popular. “Midsummer” is a comedy set in Athens with several intertwined stories about love. But thereContinue reading “A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Quintessence Theatre”

“Philly GRIT” is a series of what they call “unfiltered performances by Philadelphia based artists.” Theatre exile began the series last year and this Spring, they are presenting   two plays.  I saw the 70-minute play, “KOAL.” It was a theater experience like none  I’ve had  in years.             On the stage at the start ofContinue reading “KOAL at theatre exile”

The play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” got its title from a line in a short Langston Hughes 1951 poem. It begins “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” Six years later, at the age of 27, Lorraine Hansberry wrote the now classic play. It openedContinue reading “A Raisin in the Sun at People’s Light”

William Shakespeare wrote the romantic comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing” over 400 years ago. Since then, it has played around the world and in the 20th century alone, has won numerous awards with some of the most famous actors portraying the roles. Originally written in five short acts, contemporary theaters have been presenting it inContinue reading “Much Ado About Nothing at Lantern Theater Company”

            Before going to a play, we all do a little research to see if it deals with subjects and themes that we like. After all, a theater ticket is expensive. I am privileged to review plays, so I don’t usually know what to expect. In the case of InterAct Theatre, I am always excitedContinue reading “Quixotic Professor Qiu at InterAct Theatre Company”