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HERE WE GO: GO

HERE WE GO: GO

Here we go. Where to start? I watched this production three times over a 25-hour period. Here We Go is a short one-act (in three parts) by British playwright Caryl Churchill — about 45 minutes in total. Churchill is one of the smartest playwrights I’ve encountered,...

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CASEY AND DIANA: MAYBE YOU HAD TO BE THERE

CASEY AND DIANA: MAYBE YOU HAD TO BE THERE

A strange thing is happening to what is, to me, recent gay history: it’s being made holy. I’m thinking of director Joe Mantello’s TV version of playwright Mart Crowley’s 1968 script, The Boys in the Band, for instance. Mantello’s interpretation is an endless parade of...

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DANCE NATION: A FRACTURED STATE

DANCE NATION: A FRACTURED STATE

The Search Party’s production of Dance Nation didn’t leave any residue, it didn’t leave a mark on me, which is disappointing. In an essential way, the world of Clare Barron’s script is a perfect fit for the themes she sets out to explore. She introduces us to a group...

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — AND COARSENESS

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — AND COARSENESS

Jane Austen’s novels are known for their wry wit and nuanced observation of gender and class among the landed English gentry in the late eighteenth century. Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is more like… a cartoon? A panto? A very long...

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DEAD DRONE: DEAD ON ARRIVAL

DEAD DRONE: DEAD ON ARRIVAL

Dead Drone is one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen thousands of shows. It’s the writing. Even scripts this bad often start off with the best of intentions, of course. In Dead Drone, playwright David Mott takes on climate change, the toxicity of social...

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BURNING MOM: DIDN’T LIGHT MY FIRE

BURNING MOM: DIDN’T LIGHT MY FIRE

It’s not terrible. That's the best I can muster. Playwright and director Mieko Ouchi’s Burning Mom, which is based on her own mom’s experience, is about a 63-year-old Calgary woman named Dorothy, who heads off to Burning Man with her adult son Kevin and his pal...

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