Dara Homer - Page 3

If you've seen American family dramas, you've already seen arguments erupt around the dinner table, secrets whispered in dark corners, and pontification from oblivious patriarchs - but in August: Osage County, playwright Tracy Letts makes a bid for the most grand and outrageous possible rendering of these tropes. How wonderful then for Tulsa audiences that his play is set just a few miles from home, near Pawhuska, OK: while it takes a few scenes to become acquainted with the prickly Weston family, we can't help but be immediately understanding of their plains-induced malaise.

It's rare to discover a new play that's so topical yet unexpected that any complete description of its merits might spoil the experience for future audiences. The Nostalgia Will Eat Itself, by native Tulsan John Fisher, doesn't just provide suspense, but also a healthy dose of self-awareness, humor, understated insight, and humility.

Clothes can be incredibly evocative, especially for women, and the play Love, Loss, and What I Wore explores this idea with great playfulness and depth. The production at World Stage Theatre Company that closed this past weekend was a testament to the female capacity to overcome adversity and the ability of an ensemble cast to inspire a sense of sisterhood on stage.

The mission of Heller Theatre Company is to present original theatre pieces that 'raise awareness and open minds through art' - and this production proves that they are absolutely a company to watch out for in Tulsa's dynamic theatre landscape. The one-act play packs in a great deal of information and character exploration in its short 90 minutes.

Whether you have been waiting for a first time to see Les Miserables, or if you're debating getting tickets for the 10th time, the US Tour production provides a chance to see the show at its very best.

There is a real bar in France called the Lapin Agile. There was a real physicist named Albert Einstein, and a real artist named Pablo Picasso. But their serendipitous meeting over drinks at said bar is entirely imaginary - straight from the mind of comedic visionary Steve Martin, to be exact. His play depicting this encounter, entitled Picasso at the Lapin Agile, is currently playing at the Tulsa PAC. Theatre Tulsa's production brings a gutsy and committed cast to a script that is as eccentric as its titular character.

Tulsa is a great city for entertainment, but sometimes locals are reluctant to take a chance on homegrown performances when big names come to town. Theatre Tulsa is working hard to expand on the name-brand mindset and bring local productions into the spotlight. I had the opportunity to sit down with Theatre Tulsa's executive director, Jarrod Kopp, and chat about how Theatre Tulsa has gotten to where it is today and their plans for the future of theatre in Tulsa.

Last fall, I had the opportunity to chat with Jeremy Stevens, the Education and Development Coordinator at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, about a project called the Orbit Initiative. During a rare break from tech rehearsal, I sat down to chat with Mr. Stevens about the Orbit Initiative's upcoming production of The Tempest and some of what his team has accomplished in the past 6 months.

A great play can serve as a window into a character's mind, and that window helps audiences develop a deeper understanding of what it would be like to inhabit the world as someone else. Theatre Tulsa's production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time provides a unique opportunity to peer into the mind of an exceptional person and emerge with a heightened sense of compassion and affinity for anyone who experiences life a little differently.

The resistance is alive and well at American Theatre Company this spring: their production of the feminist farce Denim Doves was a masterpiece of modern political theatre. While it was absurd and outright silly at times, the play's web of messages and themes resonated all the more powerfully due to the infusion of humor into an otherwise ominous tale.

The national tour of Waitress, which is running in Tulsa through this weekend at the PAC, is powered by a vibrant female energy, but it is also packed with moments of joy and humor for pie-lovers of all genders. Waitress combines a refreshingly contemporary but accessible score with classic musical theatre influences, both in terms of sound and storytelling. Just as a pie doesn't need to be perfect to be well-worth savoring to the last bite, Waitress is a beautifully imperfect treat, full of sweetness and a cast that you absolutely don't want to miss while they're in town.

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to chat with actor and on-stage doctor Steven Good about his experience on tour with Waitress. The heartfelt new musical with a score by Sara Bareilles is opening at the Tulsa PAC in a little over a month. In honor of Pi Day, I'm excited to share this exclusive interview with Mr. Good.

Near the end of My Fair Lady, the transformed heroine Eliza Doolittle shares an insight about her experience: 'The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated.' The Theatre Tulsa production that just finished its 2-week run at the Performing Arts Center takes this idea one step further. In their interpretation of My Fair Lady, the difference between a lady and a flower girl also has to do with how she is empowered to treat others and advocate for herself.

'Art isn't easy.' So sings the great-grandson of Georges Seurat in the second act of Sunday in the Park with George. This Pulitzer prize-winning musical, by Broadway titan Stephen Sondheim, is based on a painting: certainly no easy feat to create, even for Sondheim. The production of Sunday in the Park with George that closed last weekend at the American Theatre Company depicted a profound meditation on art-making, building a legacy, and how to relate to others through, and not in spite of, these processes. Sondheim is correct: art isn't easy. But the talented individuals behind the ATC production could have you fooled. 

True West tells the story of two brothers whose initially opposing and intermittently intersecting behaviors, ambitions, and anxieties are revealed while house-sitting in Southern California. The crux of the play is this ever-present tension between a superficial realism and a self-referential indulgence of abstract ideas. In OSU's production, young actors present a formidable interpretation of the nuanced characters in this American masterwork.

Theatre Tulsa's Beauty and the Beast is proof that a hardy team of local artists can make Disney magic come to life on stage, and do justice to the beloved source material. The production is an outstanding example of local theatre done well, and it brings the familiar 'tale as old as time' to life with a Disneyfied heart.

The mission of the new World Stage Theatre Company in Tulsa is as follows: 'The World Stage Theatre Company gives actors and audiences access to the world by telling multicultural, inspirational, and transformational stories to connect our hearts and minds with people, places, and ideas.' Their production of the play Six Degrees of Separation was a great choice in service of this mission, an auspicious beginning to the company's inaugural season.

In the author's note to her play Circle Mirror Transformation, playwright Annie Baker writes, 'I hope that you will portray these characters with compassion.  They are not fools.'  American Theatre Company's production of Circle Mirror Transformation, which recently finished its run at Studio 308, presented an incredibly compassionate and warm depiction of Baker's eclectic cast of characters.