Joel Hammer

Lots of today's science news concerns controlled drug studies done by pharmaceutical companies, as well as government agencies, to insure the safety and identify side-effects of the compounds.

Conor McPherson, author of THE NIGHT ALIVE, now on stage at Dobama Theatre, is considered one of the important new breed of playwrights who delve into the lives of people. In this case, Irish people, usually Irish men. He has an eye for loneliness and despair. His plays often are 'meditations on regret, guilt and confusion.'

What do Tracy Letts (SUPERIOR DONUTS), Yasmina Reza (GOD OF CARNAGE), Amy Herzog (4000 MILES), and David Adjmi (MARIE ANTOINETTE) have in common. Their names all appear on the best new contemporary playwrights' lists. Many also are names which, if you have been to Dobama during the past couple of years, you have seen their plays produced.

Tracy Letts, the author of SUPERIOR DONUTS, now on stage at Dobama, is an accomplished playwright, actor, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his play AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. He won a Tony Award for his portrayal of George in the recent Broadway revival of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?. He wrote screen adaptations for his plays: BUG and KILLER JOE, as well as AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY and has been nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his portrayal of Andrew Lockhart in Showtime's HOMELAND.

When Dobama, Ensemble, Beck's studio theatre and convergence-continuum, venues, where each has a mission of producing innovative and forward-thinking plays search for scripts, they usually turn to recent Broadway and off-Broadway offerings. Every once in a while, they workshop new scripts in order to allow the authors to discover the strengths and weaknesses of their writing by exposing the material to selected audiences. This process allows the author to make changes before the work is presented to general audiences.

Greater Cleveland is blessed with a vital theatre scene. It is the purpose of the TIMES THEATRE TRIBUTES to recognize theatrical experiences that, in the view of this reviewer, were excellent and deserve recognition.

Dan LeFranc's THE BIG MEAL is a ninety-minute comedy-drama about life, death, meeting, dating, marriage, child-rearing, the importance of casual comments and interactions, and the quickness of existence.

Cleveland Play House, with license from the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) and Broadway Impact, will produce a one-night-only staged reading of '8,' a play chronicling the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter and AFER Founding Board Member Dustin Lance Black.

It is the purpose of THE CLEVELAND CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS to recognize outstanding Cleveland area productions, performers, directors and others who were involved in those offerings during the 2012 year. Awards are considered for those theatres which the members review and the categories agreed upon by the members of the organization. (For a listing of these theatres go to: clevelandtheaterawards.com)

There is an air of an impending explosion about to happen in Amy Herzog's 4000 MILES, now on stage at Dobama Theatre. Interesting, though the artillery never goes off, the 90-minute play captivates and absolutely holds attention.

GOD OF CARNAGE is a well written comedy that evokes constant laughter. It gets a top-notch production at Dobama. If you want an evening of totally delightful entertainment, to experience rationality being replaced by riot, this is a must go-see!