Hath Not a Woman Eyes? How a Female Shylock Changes ‘The Merchant of Venice’
For a production last year in Calgary, a gender switch illuminated the Shakespeare play’s conflicts in fresh and troubling ways.
Category Archives: Opinion
Where Have All the Festivals Gone? A January Wrap-Up
Though American Realness and COIL are sorely missed, there was much international work to take in at this year’s Under the Radar and Exponential fests.
A ‘West Side Story’ That Resets the Choreographic Balance
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s pared-down choreography may depart from Jerome Robbins’s original steps, but is it telling the same story?
Cathedrals Made of Bricks
Caryl Churchill is the only writer working now who says and does something genuinely new with each new play.
Don’t Blame It on Their Youth
The problem with young adult shows on Broadway isn’t that they focus on teens—it’s which teens they focus on.
What I’ve Learned in the Last Decade as a Journalist
Also, a goodbye to my editorial home.
A Tale of Two ‘Little Shop(s) of Horrors’
Two high-profile, celebrity-laden versions of the campy musical are playing on opposite coasts. Which one is better? It depends if you prefer innovation or nostalgia.
Everything Going His Way: My Dad’s ‘Oklahoma!’ Accessibility Journey
Taking my father, a Parkinson’s patient and stroke survivor, to the current Broadway revival was a challenge, but well worth it.
The Long Goodbye
Why ‘Completeness,’ a play about the impossibility of certainty, was singularly hard to finish.
The National Critics Institute: A Love Story
What I learned from the critics and learned to tolerate the crickets.
