Keith Waits - Page 4

That the 1969 riots at the center of Ike Holter's play are identified as 'Stonewall' is a neat metaphorical turn of phrase, even if it is happenstance. It is the turning point for Gays emerging from the shadows and staking a claim for a rightful place in society. And the walls came tumbling down.

I remember studying the Scottish play during my junior year in high school. The themes of unchecked ambition and the question of power in gender roles are significant, weighty topics for anyone, let alone teenagers. I'm happy to report that the cast of Macbeth, as part of the Young American Shakespeare Festival at Commonwealth Theatre Center, is more than up to the task.

Way back in those days of yesteryear, the early 1990's, Jeffrey Katzenberg was celebrating his success. He had almost single-handedly guided the Walt Disney animation studio back to glory after decades of reduced returns, and he had the bright idea to try to do the same to the live-action movie musical.

Some Kinda There are iconic musicals that always seem to pop on some local company's schedule on a regular basis, but what of the lesser known shows that don't enjoy quite the same level of success?

From the title and social media promotions, I had expected Sheila Callaghan's play to maybe be a light-hearted feminist comedy. I was not at all prepared for the dark, mercurial waters I found myself in. It asks a lot of the audience but rewards you with fresh, cogent theatre that might change the way you think. It seems both totally radical and curiously appropriate that the play was inspired by a popular series of memes. I was not aware of them, but the Internet assures me this is true.

Americans talk about racial and cultural identity as if walking on eggshells. As with so many hot button issues in the 21stcentury, we have become polarized on these topics because it is easier to lean completely into a position rather than explore the gray territory of nuance and contradiction. In her play Smart People, Lydia R. Diamond is intent on having a conversation that, if it doesn't entirely resist cliche and stereotype, at least uses them as devices to trigger a messier, more complex dialogue.

Everybody Black is a play. On a stage. But it actually comes off like a series of television programs that one might come across channel surfing in a fit of insomnia; a fever dream of sorts in which the sleepless viewer has mysteriously slipped into a different world than they remember.

The best collaboration happens organically, perhaps an arguable point, but this production of Just Like Us, co-produced by Looking for Lilith and Teatro Tercera Llamada seems such a natural pairing, less an innovation than the appropriate result of relationships built over time. Teatro Artistic Director Haydee Canovas has a history of working with Lilith, and the theme of how young women's lives are affected by larger societal forces fits right into the Lilith mission.

There is nothing more infuriating than attempting several times to solve the same problem over and over again. Trying different methods and seeking advice from assorted perspectives might help lighten the burden but yields satisfying conclusions and closure. What about when it's in our culture? Where smiles are demanded of girls, hugs are forced upon children, a sexual assault prompts finger pointing at everything including what was worn by the victim, yet the assailant walks away with a slap on the wrist. How do you fix this culture? How do you solve this systemic problem? How to Defend yourself, the most recent installment at the 43rd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays asks these questions while acknowledging hard realities.

As soon as I saw Lucas Hnath's name on the docket for this current season's Humana Festival, I knew immediately which show I most wanted to see. The fact that there was a supernatural aspect to it was an added bonus. I'm happy to report that I don't feel that my anticipation was wasted.

The idea of two companies in one community doing the same show within a few months of each other poses many questions. Sometimes the rights to a popular musical become available and there is something of a feeding frenzy - a dedicated theatergoer could have availed themselves of no less than four productions of Mamma Mia! in this area in the last year. Perhaps they were all stellar productions. I certainly didn't hear any complaints about poor attendance, which indicates either an insatiable appetite for an ABBA jukebox musical or the payoff of careful cultivation of core audience support by each company. In any case, nobody appeared to suffer any ill effects from the repetition.

HELLO! The Book of Mormon is in Louisville for the third time since the production started touring. The 2011 Broadway Tony Award-winning smash stands up well, and Thursday night's audience was ready to roar with delight at all the outrageous humor that skewers many religions, Western stereotypes of Africa - and the reverse - and many cultural touchstones.

A young man is raised with the expectation that he will follow in his father's footsteps, working in the trade and carrying on an important tradition, but instead, he wants to follow his own path and become an artist. It is a classic coming-of-age narrative of a generational and cultural shift that is common enough in Western literature. By finding the same conflict in an Iraqi family, Sinan Antoon's The Corpse Washer shows just how universal fundamental storytelling forms can be.

I keep finding that theatre, even revivals of classic plays, is more often than not, about the moment. Whatever side of the aisle you find yourself, we all seem to agree that America is as divided as it has ever been, and each side has taken to viewing the other with collective disbelief. 'How can they THINK that?' has become a daily reaction.

On February 25, in a ceremony held at Spalding University's Columbia Theatre Ballroom, Arts-Louisville Managing Editor Keith Waits presided over an awards presentation for excellence in theatre in Louisville and the surrounding area. Categories for student, professional, and locally produced productions were chosen by participants voting through Broadway World.com's online awards portal.

There are many thoughts about life after death, most tied to one organized religion or another, but there is one less denominational fantasy afterlife...let's call it the Hollywood version, in which flights of literary fancy that violate most of the rules of Heaven are always possible.

Class conflict, the value of beauty, and the ties that bind us are just a few of the themes running through Theatre [502]'s moving new production Sergio's Museum. Set in the last days of Mexico's aristocracy, the play, the latest collaboration from playwright Steve Moulds and director Diana Grisanti, follows the plight of Sergio, a recently orphaned eleven-year-old boy

No, it's not the movie. Nor is it the basis of the movie. But if the movie prompts you to check out this play, then everybody wins.

It is difficult to fully appreciate the volume and quality of songs written by Irving Berlin in your head at one moment. Most of us over a certain age know several, but we might not always connect each one to Berlin. We always know he was responsible for 'White Christmas', of course, and 'God Bless America', but you might only know that 'I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm' was written by one of those names...Cole Porter perhaps, or Jerome Kern.

In his program notes for this production, director Charlie Sexton states, 'Sometimes we need a night of theatre where pretense, deep subtext and the desire to change the world is stripped away...' While I can understand how John Cariani's play fits the bill, I think there is still a few moments that speak to the darker complications of human relationships, even if it is charm that carries the day.