2010 |2009 |2008 |2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Amazing Untold Stories
of Catalogues, by Jonathan Kalb
Two pieces by the British experimental troupe Forced Entertainment perform
the unlikely feat of limning the entirety of human life via an absurd
and obsessive gesture of listing.
Exclamation Point,
by Kevin Byrne
In its latest madcap exploration of human fallibility and impossible idealism,
the National Theatre of the United States of America turns its satirical
guns on the Chautauqua tent-shows that toured rural America in the 19th
and early 20th centuries.
Best Supporting Roles,
by Loren Edelson
In the new Classical Theatre of Harlem/Harlem Stage co-production of Chekhov's
Three Sisters, directed by Christopher McElroen, the supporting
characters take center stage.
Round Two/Round One,
by Eric Bentley
Bentley was the translator of the American premiere of Arthur Schnitzler's
Reigen (La Ronde) in 1955. In this preface to his new
version of the play, he makes the case for reading play as art rather
than propaganda.
RECENT ARTICLES
Our Caretaker,
by Lydia Stryk
A contemporary playwright living "somewhere between Berlin and New
York" describes the irreplaceable presence of Harold Pinter.
The Looking Glass,
by Caridad Svich
Designed for performance in an art gallery, Tim Crouch's new work England
is an experiment in identity-exchange and a tour-guide-style, continent-hopping
journey through broken love, life-threatening illness and the longing
to transcend cultural divides.
Modern Geek Theater,
by Paul David Young
Joseph Silovsky's one-man, one-robot show The Jester of Tonga
is delightful immersion in geeky, resourceful, low-tech invention, but
it's also oddly ambivalent about its subject matter and evasive about
the author's connection to it
The Long and the Short
of It: An Interview with Tim Etchells, by Jonathan Kalb
The principal writer and director of the British experimental theater
group Forced Entertainment speaks about the company's "durational"
performances that last between six and twenty-four hours.
Nothing But the Truth,
by Terry Stoller
A new collection of essays and other texts about contemporary documentary
theater explores the techniques and thought processes behind "verbatim
plays."
On a Burning Altar,
by Caridad Svich
The belated New York premiere of Sarah Kane's scandalous 1995 play Blasted
shows how much larger this much-discussed playwright's work always was
than its original Cool Britannia context suggested.
A
Note on Death, Modernism, and Mark Morris's Staging of Prokofiev's Romeo
and Juliet,
by Martin Harries
In 1941, Prokofiev disclaimed the tragic ending of his ballet Romeo
and Juliet as a "barbarism," inserting a happy ending instead.
Now Mark Morris's staging of the later version revives the question of
which ending was truly barbaric.
Coming of Age: Mamet at Sixty,
by Robert Vorlicky
David Mamet claimed to have converted to conservatism in a notorious Village
Voice essay earlier this year. A probing article uses his two most
recent plays, November and Keep Your Pantheon, to show
that the full truth is a bit more complicated than that.
Vijay Tendulkar (1928-2008),
a tribute by Balwant Bhaneja
A translator and adaptor reflects on the life and career of one of India's
foremost playwrights, the greatest of an embattled group of modern writers
who subjected Indian social reality to merciless scrutiny.
Ophelia, Thrice Born,
by Loren Edelson
Aya Ogawa's new play Oph3lia interweaves three different tales
of adolescent girls and young women who embody and embellish aspects of
Shakespeare's fallen heroine.
Macbeth's Young Frankenstein
Moment, by Adam Casdin
The much-ballyhooed version of the Scottish play starring Patrick Stewart
is in fact "overstimulated" and weakened by the same amped-up
"hurly burly" as several other current Broadway blockbusters.
Breaking Ice,
by Alexis Soloski
An American critic journeys to Reykjavik for the first version of "Lokal,
an international festival of art and performance."
The Gold-Painted Plaster Leg
of Love, by Kevin Byrne
The National Theatre of the United States of America's production of Moliere's
Don Juan is another of the company's brilliant exercises in authentic
fakery.
A Playwright's Worries,
by Theresia Walser
A well-known German playwright breaks a cultural taboo by speaking her
mind about the uses and abuses of director's theater. An essay translated
by Claudia Wilsch Case.
In a Garden State:
Jason Grote in conversation with Caridad Svich
The author of 1001, recently premiered at the Denver Center Theatre
and Baruch Performing Arts Center in NYC, speaks about politics, boredom,
surviving as a playwright, and what it's like to be from New Jersey.
back to top |