San Diego Theater Reviews
George and Martha can't live with, or without, each other. At the end of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? two questions surface: Can they live without the fantasy, the one safe subject, that …
Awhile back, I wrote a feature about D.J. Sullivan, who has taught acting in San Diego for 40 years. I couldn't let her get away without some thoughts on her favorite topic: subtexts. "You see …
On paper it looked like a lock. The same Cygnet Theatre team that did award-winning work with Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof last year -- director-scenic designer Sean Murray, actors Jim Chovick, …
Lee's home-style diner's at 1621 Wylie Avenue, in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Across the street, the Prophet Samuel, bejeweled with rings, lies in an open casket at West's funeral parlor. A block-long queue of mourners wants …
In his youth, John Donne (1572-1631) was a hot Metaphysical poet who wrote salacious verses and thought Shakespeare, his elder by eight years, a doddering oaf. Donne yoked religious language and topical references to his …
Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /mnt/disk1/sdreader/php/smith_show.php on line 87 Flawed scripts, polished productions. The long, sketchy first act of Enchanted April, at Lamb's Players, recalls Chekhov's Three Sisters. …
Depending on who does the defining, Erika and Jessica are either semi-permanent or entry-level clerical workers at Solomon, Greenspan, Sachs. In their mid-twenties, they see themselves as semi-permanent and fast-tracking toward their chosen career, whatever …
One actor speaks. The other listens. They talk back and forth through a scene. But D.J. Sullivan's teaching a class on "overlapping dialogue," where the actors should jump on each other's lines. For Sullivan, the …
Who cares for the caregiver? Adriana Sevan assumed that when her best friend Rhonda was seriously injured, Sevan would stay by her side, see to her every need, and all would quickly heal on love …
In Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy, Amanda's married to a philanderer named, appropriately, Loveless. He ran off to the Continent and, for a decade, celebrated "the diversity of God's creation." Hearing she died, Loveless returns to …
Two of the most useful books I've read about theater: Moss Hart's Act One and Michael Shurtleff's Audition. Hart's concerns playwriting, not the craft so much as the tenacity it demands. He wrote one a …
In Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart, Doc's young son Scott is going to the dentist for the first time. And just about everyone else in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, is having the adult equivalent. Lenny MaGrath …
David and Ben, aspiring writers in their mid 20s, meet at a restaurant for a victory celebration. One just broke through. Now you'd think it'd be David. He's dressed more for success -- looks like …
Around the turn of the century, a theatrical movement spread through San Diego that's still growing. Every company in the county, it seems, is doing staged readings. With only one or two rehearsals, three max, …
Gabriel and Chantelle have been affianced for a long time (too long, suggest some of their friends, who speculate about the delay). They have an "open relationship," which means, in their case, Chantelle has remained …
One of the unwritten rules of theater: never let the audience get ahead of the story. If they can anticipate where you're going, you've lost them. Coughing bouts break out. Programs crackle. Chins nestle on …