When it comes to tense and taut one-act dramas that play out in real time, one often thinks of playwright David Mamet. With an extensive resume of work I'm not familiar with, Johnna Adams' work in GIDION'S KNOT is just as intense and intriguing as any of the David Mamet plays I've experienced. Furthermore, GIDION'S KNOT is a timely drama filled to overflowing with relevant social commentary that makes the 75 minutes production all the more gripping.
Ira Levin is best known for his suspenseful and creepy novels The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby, both of which have been adapted into successful films. His 1978 play DEATHTRAP holds the record for the longest running comedy-thriller in Broadway history, playing almost 1800 performances across a four-year run. Despite positive reviews and a healthy run, his 1973 play VERONICA'S ROOM just didn't capture audiences the way his other works did. Thrills, chills, and horror are hard to make affective in a staged play; however, Stages Repertory Theatre's production of VERONICA'S ROOM delivers these aspects in abundance.
Presenting their second out of three productions for this year's 'Get Talking' series, Stages Repertory Theatre is producing Julia Cho's THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE. The deliciously existential and fairy tale-esque drama won the 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn award, a prize given to plays written by women in the English language. The somewhat simplistic and formulaic plot introduces audiences to a linguist, George, who is the curator of a language library that preserves the last remaining strands of dead and dying languages. Despite his love for languages, he is inept in communication, which estranges him from his wife, Mary. George and his assistant, Emma, fly in a couple from a devastated Eastern European country to record their native language, the romantic and beautiful Elloway. However, the couple is bickering, so they have cast off Elloway and are using the 'hateful' language of English to fight.
Sally Edmundson directs The Language Archive by award-winning playwright Julia Cho, having its regional premiere at Stages Repertory Theatre in February and March.
Associate Artistic Director Josh Morrison will direct the regional premiere of David Davalos' Wittenberg, a play set in 1517 in the university town that was home to the legendary Dr. Faustus, Martin Luther, and Shakespeare's fictional tragic-hero Hamlet. Supposing the characters are there at the same moment in time, Davalos creates a playground on which Faustus and Luther volley for influence on young (undecided major) undergrad Hamlet.
Associate Artistic Director Josh Morrison will direct the regional premiere of David Davalos' Wittenberg, a play set in 1517 in the university town that was home to the legendary Dr. Faustus, Martin Luther, and Shakespeare's fictional tragic-hero Hamlet. Supposing the characters are there at the same moment in time, Davalos creates a playground on which Faustus and Luther volley for influence on young (undecided major) undergrad Hamlet.
Living in the South, there is an undeniable general cultural familiarity with the iconic film adaptation of STEEL MAGNOLIAS. With the utterance of those two words, images of Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts spring to mind along with many of the movie's most quoted and loved lines. While others may be afraid to compete with the cultural memory, Stages Repertory Theatre, without trepidation and imitation, is housing a stellar, must see production of the beloved modern classic.
The Stages Rep presents the Southern classic STEEL MAGNOLIAS, opening this week, and the regional premiere of LIFE COULD BE A DREAM continues through September 2.
Stages Repertory theatre will present two shows this summer, 2012, including Life Could Be a Dream, written and created by Roger Bean, and Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling. See full details below.
Stages Repertory theatre will present two shows this summer, 2012, including Life Could Be a Dream, written and created by Roger Bean, and Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling. See full details below.
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