Kirsten Childs Thinks Big
Her new musical ‘Bella’ is a tall tale about an unlikely Old West heroine.
Category Archives: Critic’s Notebook
Notes From a Celebration: Pacific Playwrights Festival Turns 20
South Coast’s rep for developing new work makes another strong showing.
New Black Fest: The Revolution May Be Theatricalized
Play reading festivals come and go, but there was something electric and urgent about this year, the fest’s 7th.
How One Song Changed the Arc of ‘Great Comet’
More than just a nice showcase for Josh Groban, ‘Dust and Ashes’ makes the non-linearity of mental illness dramatically compelling.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in ‘A Moveable Feast’?
The Book-It Repertory Theatre adaptation of the Hemingway classic takes audiences on a Parisian tour.
Raising the Bar at the Colorado New Play Summit
Denver Center’s annual new-play festival, now in its 12th year, shows writers in dialogue with the moment.
Notes on Shakespeare 400: Too Much of a Bard Thing
Barbara Gaines’s Chicago Shakespeare Theater staged an ambitious yearlong program in 2016. I tried to match that ambition as an attendee, with mixed success.
Four Decades Later, ‘Zoot Suit’ Still Fits
It’s sobering that Luis Valdez’s stirring Chicano protest musical is freshly relevant, but there’s nothing somber about its vibrant new staging.
NYC’s Experimental Fests, Starring Me (and Thankfully Others)
Interaction, immersion, identification, and exploration at this year’s Under the Radar, Coil, American Realness, et al.
Updating the Classics: When, Where—and Why
From ‘Cherry Orchard’ on Broadway to ‘Cymbeline’ in London, period transplants have varied success.
