by | Feb 11, 2015 2:50 pm | Comments (4)
LWT
Tickets for Bad Jews, which opens at Long Wharf Theater on Feb. 18, have nearly sold out — while sparking five outraged calls, and counting, of protest.
The complaint? That Long Wharf, the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven, and the Jewish Federation of New Haven have the chutzpah to present and support a play that might be “bad” for the Jews.
by | Feb 9, 2015 3:57 pm | Comments (0)
JOAN MARCUS PHOTO
Saidah Arrika Ekulona and Harvy Blanks
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Danai Gurira’s Familiar, given her previous work at the Yale Rep, is how traditional it is. What is not surprising is how enlightening and entertaining it is, too.
by | Feb 2, 2015 1:02 pm | Comments (0)
Joey Moro Photo
Drawing room before the French Revolution. Air raid shelter after World War III.
by | Jan 30, 2015 9:49 am | Comments (2)
Allan Appel Photo
As the national touring company of the latest Broadway production of Matilda forms up for its debut at the Shubert Theatre this spring, the talented second-graders at the Worthington Hooker School on Canner Street made their own contribution, a Matilda spin-off production.
by | Jan 22, 2015 1:06 pm | Comments (0)
Contributed Photo
John Fischer of the Shubert with First Niagara’s Paul McCraven.
Fair Haven second-graders will read about a precocious kid who loves reading and overcomes obstacles in her life, thanks to a grant to a local theater.
by | Jan 22, 2015 9:29 am | Comments (1)
Yale Cabaret Photo
For 50:13, the Yale Cabaret’s first play after winter break, the space was transformed into a fascimile of a prison cell in a tall cage — complete with cot, basin, and toilet — surrounded by chairs and tables. In the play, Jiréh Breon Holder, a second-year playwright in the Yale School of Drama, dramatizes life “inside” for Dae Brown, an inmate who has only three days left to serve.
by | Jan 19, 2015 9:31 am | Comments (0)
Dael Orlandersmith’s back at Long Wharf Stage II, and it feels like she never left. She’s sharing uncomfortable truths, but she’s comfortable here.
by | Jan 12, 2015 1:01 pm | Comments (1)
Tom Toner, left, and Leslie Cass in Long Wharf Theatre’s inaugural production of The Crucible.
Charles Kingsley remembers Long Wharf Theatre’s first production, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, as being “awfully well done.” The show — and the theater — opened on July 4, 1965.
by | Jan 6, 2015 2:32 pm | Comments (0)
Craig Schwartz Photo
Veteran stage director Neel Keller had never directed a one-actor, close-to-the-bone autobiographical solo show. Until this season.
The result: Dael Orlandersmith’s Forever, debuting at Long Wharf on Wednesday and running until Feb. 1, digs down to the roots of theater. It’s elemental storytelling that connects us all, no matter how different we may be.
by | Dec 16, 2014 4:00 pm | Comments (0)
Yale Cabaret Photo
Full of references to SF movies and cult TV shows, Ryan Campbell’s The Zero Scenario at Yale Cabaret recalls the days of staged rather than CGI special effects, and manages to be exciting, hilarious, and unsettling all at once.
by | Dec 11, 2014 3:58 pm | Comments (1)
Lucy Gellman Photo
Margaret Mann.
What happens when an unsuspecting Meetup group of cultural aficionados stumbles into the Institute Library on a cold and dreary night, hoping that someone will read a story to them?
by | Dec 9, 2014 10:04 am | Comments (0)
Sam Plattus Photo
MacCoy is a small-time drug dealer somewhere in Appalachia. Little Lady is the mother of his unborn child. They’re hot for each other and desperate to improve their lives. MacCoy’s uncle has a better thing going. So early in the play, Little Lady convinces “Mac” that they have to kill him and take over.
Sound familiar?
by | Dec 8, 2014 2:16 pm | Comments (1)
T. Charles Erickson Photo
Robbie Tann.
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, playing at Long Wharf Theatre now until Dec. 21, is written by Steve Martin, so let’s answer the first question you may have: Yes, it’s funny. It’s very funny. And its best jokes are the ones in which the subject is humor itself — how it works and why it sometimes doesn’t.
by | Dec 8, 2014 9:27 am | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photos
Winfred Rembert
It was expected that the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s annual arts award ceremony, held at the New Haven Lawn Club on Friday, would be a celebration. It also ended up being one of unexpected emotion and depth.
by | Dec 3, 2014 9:50 am | Comments (3)
DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO
Sometimes it takes a village. In the case of artist Tony Falcone and his commissioned pastel illustration honoring the 100th anniversary of the Shubert Theater, it took a team of “insiders.”
Continue reading ‘Shubert Celebrates Centennial With Public Art’
by | Dec 2, 2014 2:12 pm | Comments (0)
Joan Marcus Photo
War. Huh! What is it good for? Well, War—the new play by the hotshot young playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, getting its world premiere at the Yale Rep through Dec. 13 — is good for starting arguments.
by | Nov 28, 2014 12:54 pm | Comments (0)
DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO
Dest at NMS.
Many have heard of it, but ask someone for directions just around the corner from the Neighborhood Music School, located at 100 Audubon St., and very few will be able to tell you how to get there, according to drama department founder and instructor Stephen Dest.
by | Nov 28, 2014 12:52 pm | Comments (0)
Shubert Archives
Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.
The same year the Shubert Theater opened, the Panama Canal was inaugurated, Babe Ruth debuted with the Boston Red Sox, Charlie Chaplin made his first appearance on film, and Harry Houdini performed stunts in New York City.
by | Nov 26, 2014 12:57 pm | Comments (0)
Bathed in flashing pink and green light was a pint-sized, shop-window ready Miss Pussycat — literally. Her head was on a mini mannequin popping out from behind a curtain. She appeared to cheers and loud, ringing claps from the audience. Someone waved a metallic baton. The warmup act, The Simple Pleasure, hopped up and down wildly in their gym shorts and tank tops, spraying sweat as they pumped their fists in anticipation. The DJ If Jesus Had Machine Guns perfected his single dance move of the night.
by | Nov 25, 2014 1:21 pm | Comments (0)
He’s conquered the space-time continuum! He’s aged not a bit! He’s as cute and disheveled as ever. He’s back and waiting for the world to recognize his genius, giving us the skinny on how energy equals mass times the speed of light. Squared.
by | Nov 20, 2014 2:55 pm | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Co-Op students Arinze O’Kwuosah and Donijah Collier rehearse the run up to a sword fight.
“Put your point down and then bring it straight up,” Jim Andreassi said. “He’s a beautiful man. I don’t want to lose any of that.”
by | Nov 19, 2014 5:41 pm | Comments (0)
Christian Shaboo had ventured deep into the territory of “The Laughing Man.” Already he had relayed to the audience the man’s repeated triumphs against the nefarious Marcel Dufarge and his evil daughter; his cunning ways with the Paris sewer system; his facility in talking to animals. With one free hand, the actor wove The Laughing Man’s mask through the air, a layering of red poppy petals, waxy and pungent, appearing before the rapt audience as his fingers flitted to and fro.
by | Nov 18, 2014 5:18 pm | Comments (2)
“You’d never imagine that in this day and age, people would believe in psychics. But it’s big. They’re filling arenas.” So Mark Edward said to a packed house at the Institute Library for the latest “Amateur Hour,” where Edward worked his powers as a medium, then showed how most of it is a crock — and then, somehow, worked his powers again.
by | Nov 18, 2014 1:49 pm | Comments (0)
New Haven Theater Company
The idea behind the phrase “the blind leading the blind” is that without true faith a person is blind and anyone he leads or teaches will be led astray. Both will fall into the ditch. The phrase is apt for Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, which finishes its run at the New Haven Theater Company this weekend.
by | Nov 12, 2014 4:09 pm | Comments (0)
Allan Appel Photo
Kevin Smith, as Sharkey, and Peter Chenot as his maybe friend, Nicky in the New Haven Theater Co.’s production of “The Seafarer.”.
Not exactly looking forward to seeing certain relatives this holiday season? Irritated by that uncle who’s so certain about politics and love that when he hits the whiskey your ear is ringing with his 90-proof wisdom?
I have just the right pre-Christmas vaccine for you.