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Update: On Friday, March 13, Iowa City Community Theatre decided to postpone performances indefinitely due to health concerns related to coronavirus. For as long as there has been theater, fictional lovers’ stories have culminated in either marriage or death. Love and sex were fun to watch, but not the point of the story. If the […]
Full disclosure, I don’t love the script of this play. Alan Ball is not my favorite playwright and I don’t typically enjoy the female characters he writes. … successful performances of it are heavily dependent on the women who inhabit the roles and the team in charge of putting it up. And every person involved in this production really did the work. […]
I have always subscribed to the philosophy that theater has a responsibility to use the tools at its disposal to expose hypocrisy, contextualize truths and show people who they really are. There is no better way fiction has achieved this goal than with stories that include magic or the supernatural. People are just more honest when they’re making things up. […]
Iowa City Community Theatre’s production of George Reinblatt’s Evil Dead: The Musical is both bizarre and wonderful — in spades. After seeing it Friday night, I went home and watched all three original movies: Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. After this surprisingly swift marathon I have come to the undeniable conclusion […]
Though the recent resurgence of zombie hordes both on- and off-screen may be giving vampires (in general) a run for their money, no one character has been immortalized as often as Dracula. And if TCR’s ticket sales are any indication, this lone monster and his violent delights still have a powerful hold on our collective imaginations. […]
Taboos and our oft-unspoken understanding of, and adherence to, them are fascinating. In general, one learns the key points from their parents: not to undress in public, for example. Over time, we start to intuit other social rules that are less clear cut, like not to tell other people how to parent their kids. But life’s best drama comes in the silent, tense moments just before, or after, someone breaks those rules. […]
“What reality?” you may by now be wondering. “What the heck happens in this play?” But I am not going to tell you. I would not dare spoil one single plot point of this story for you. I wouldn’t dare. I will, however, provide you with a few tantalizing tidbits and a carefully worded warning. […]
Assassins Theatre Cedar Rapids — through March 4 It’s no secret that I’m not a Sondheim fan. And while Assassins pushes the boundaries of his typical style with more edge and rawness than one gets from a production of Company or Into the Woods, it utterly lacks the kind of cohesive story you get in […]
A View From the Bridge Riverside Theatre — through Feb. 12 Every once in a great while I see a piece of theatre that reminds me why I wanted to be in theatre to begin with. The opening night performance of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at Riverside Theatre was just such a […]
Rabbit Hole Giving Tree Theater — through Nov. 13 I hadn’t planned to write this review. I worried any critique I could level at this production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole would come across as base jealousy, since I auditioned and wasn’t cast. Then, last week, I was invited to attend preview night, and I […]
The Book of Mormon Hancher Auditorium — through Sunday, Oct. 16 When I first heard that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had written a full-on Broadway musical, I was intrigued — and also a bit scared. I mean, I’ve seen Baseketball, so I know for a fact that not everything they touch is gold. Perhaps […]
Brick walls, industrial piping and stamped metal bar backing greet you when you enter Red Vespa in Solon. The vibe of the place is chic, cozy rather than cramped, with an open kitchen that lends a comforting transparency to the inner workings of the pizzeria. The telltale aromas of tomato and mozzarella mingling with basil […]
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