Keith Waits - Page 6

Hamilton is a show whose impact extended well beyond the Great White Way and into the larger culture almost immediately; you have to have literally lived under a rock to have escaped awareness of this revisionist take on early United States history. In 2016, Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, won 11, including Best Musical, and was also the recipient of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Sure, the classics and the standard favorites are fun but watching a new work gain footing for the first time is a thrill. Looking for Lilith's current production is a new work by local writer, Eli Keel, simply called Note. Intimate, honest, and real, the play explores mental health issues with integrity as we peer behind-the-scenes of a one-woman show.

There is something special about this time of year. The school schedule is winding down, the sun shines a bit longer in the day, fireflies come out of their hibernation and the Kentucky Shakespeare Company begins their season. This year will mark the venerable company's 59th Anniversary and they are still going strong. So what magic is weaved that keeps this program going year after year? The answer is quite simple really and can be summed up in a few words: imagination, reinvention, education, and dedication. All of these were on full display in the season opener of As You Like It.

The Derby Dinner Playhouse certainly knows what their audience wants, and as a result, we get another in the long line of Southern-fried comedies from what seems to be their go-to playwriting team, the trio known collectively as Jones Hope Wooten. That's not a dig on the Playhouse; Jones Hope Wooten's plays are not particularly smart, but they are usually quite funny and you can tell the actors are enjoying being in them as much as we enjoy watching them.

Unless you have lived under a rock or somehow managed to stay asleep since 2016, there is a lot of anger in the air, and rightfully so. Eve Theater's The P***y Grabber Plays takes the point of view of eight survivors of sexual harassment, their struggle, and bravery in the shadow of one of the most notorious Presidential elections in American history. This incredibly relevant production is a celebration of these brave survivors and the incredible stories they share.

For an artist, personal and professional development should go hand in hand. Revealing one's innermost self may be not be required, except for maybe some people it inevitably is, and there is a long critical tradition of deconstructing works of art for biographical underpinnings, so if you are an artist, you should expect it.

Why start a theatre company? Louisville already hosts a healthy roster of theatre companies, most of them run by people finding precious hours to make the commitment outside of a full-time job. Against the odds, two veteran actor/directors are starting new initiatives in the community: Jason Cooper (Pandora Productions, CenterStage) is calling his venture The Chicken Coop Theatre Company, while Craig Nolan Highley (Wayward Actors Company, The Alley Theater, CenterStage) and Jeremy Guiterrez (Wayward Actors Company, The Alley Theater) have chosen the moniker, Theatre Reprise. (full disclosure: both Jason Cooper and Craig Nolan Highley are content contributors to Arts-Louisville.com)

Yonkers and Harmonia Gardens swept into town on Tuesday evening to a packed Whitney Hall. This exuberant and big-hearted production of Hello Dolly! leans into its mid-20th origins, with nods to the period staging of the 1880s, while also exploding into the present with contemporary color palettes.

Is Henry V the most accessible of William Shakespeare's History plays? There is a good argument for Richard III, but whatever the political underpinnings of any individual production, King Henry is heroic but complex; the man we want to be.

It was not too long ago that Commonwealth Theatre Center completed the Shakespeare canon of plays. Assuredly, because of the scope and volume of The Bard's works, it doesn't surprise me that it has been a little while since director Charlie Sexton had last brought this fairy tale to life.

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.