SOUTH BEND THEATER REVIEWS

"The Realistic Joneses" is one of New York Times' top 25 plays since 1993 and when you see it at "The Acting Ensemble" you will be able to see why. Seyhan Killic has gathered a group of actors together that seem to effortless fill their roles....

If you are looking for a cool night out with friends or a fun date night with plenty of music, look no further than Art 4's Seaside Cabaret. This isn't your normal cabaret, by any means. It's not a sad tale of someone's coming out story, a tale of fighting alcoholism, or a story about how influentia...

One would think a writer would be mad to take two people, lock them on a porch, and force them to talk through multiple games of gin rummy to entertain an audience. That is exactly what The Beckwith Theatre Company does with its production of "The Gin Game"....

South Bend Civic Theatre and Director Mark Abram-Copenhaver have produced a quite insightful and interesting show in 'Skylight'. Written by David Hare, there is very little in the script that takes you into the magical world of 1995 and Mark and his cast keep the show timeless through costuming, big...

Opening night at the South Bend Civic Theatre's In The Heights a highly anticipated production for the local community theatre. The run has been completely sold out and the audience is lively while we wait for the show to begin. Scenic designer Kyle Chamberlin has done an incredible job with the des...

University of Notre Dame Film, Television and Theatre present a stellar production of Karen Zacarias Native Gardens a dark comedy. The play takes place entirely in the backyards of a latinx couple that has just moved in and an elderly couple who have lived there for years. The scenic designer (Marcu...

On Friday, December 8th I had the pleasure of seeing Clay High School's production of Rent. I was a bit nervous to see a high school put on this Pulitzer and Tony winning musical that focuses on the aids epidemic of the 1980's and the many ways it affect everyone involved. Clay has done a great job ...

For a performance run that spans multiple weekends, the first weekend is often accepted as a wrinkly weekend...acknowledging some things still need to be ironed out. Recognizing that this is the first production to open at 403 N. Main Street since Aaron Nichols stepped in as Executive Director (diff...

On April 14th, the Michiana PlayMakers had the world premiere of Vindication, a play based on Frances Sherwood's novel of the same name. This original adaptation is written by Crystal Ryan, the artistic director of the Michiana PlayMakers, and follows the turbulent life of Mary Wollstonecraft, an in...

Under the direction of James Geisel, The Acting Ensemble opened their newest show, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, this past Friday. The play is the first part of Tony Kushner's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with the second part coming later in the season as a staged reading. The...

This past weekend, the South Bend Civic Theatre closed their newest show, A Streetcar Named Desire. The play, written by Tennessee Williams and which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948, is widely considered one of Williams' best plays and one of the finest works of drama from the 20th century....

This past weekend, the Bethel College Department of Theatre opened their production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II's, Oklahoma! Under the direction of Deb Swerman, Oklahoma! can go down in Bethel history as another outstanding and extremely successful large-scale musical production....

Running for just one performance this past weekend at Notre Dame, GUTS: The Story of BooBoo & Me, written and performed solely by Marybeth Saunders, takes an intimate and extremely personal look at the devastating effects of eating disorders....

This past weekend, She Kills Monsters had a short run at Clay High School. Delving into the role-playing world of Dungeons & Dragons, the show follows a young woman's quest to better understand her deceased younger sister, taking place both in real-time and the imaginary world of New Landia....

This past weekend, the world premiere of Like Watchmen took place at Bethel College. Written by Bethel student Kayla Rundquist and directed by other fellow student Alex Price, Like Watchmen tells the story of three women who wait out a storm in a church for the return of their respective sailors fro...

This past weekend, Actors from the London Stage for Shakespeare at Notre Dame put on a unique rendition of William Shakespeare's classic, Romeo and Juliet. Taking place on a mostly barren stage except for a mixture of props, clothing items, and some chairs, five actors, dressed in plain clothing, pl...

The South Bend Civic Theatre has just kicked off their 2017 season with the musical hit, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, directed by Jim Geisel. The story follows Joseph, a young man sold into slavery by his jealous brothers....

Legally Blonde, which is based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the renowned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture, opened this past Friday at the South Bend Civic Theatre to much buzz and anticipation. As I sat in the audience on Saturday night waiting for the musical to begin, all around me I was hea...

The Shakespeare Festival at Notre Dame will soon be wrapping up, but you still have the chance to watch The Tempest which plays through August 28th. Let me say that if you have ever had any doubts about whether or not you would enjoy Shakespeare's work, or have not enjoyed it in the past (as I have...

There couldn't be a greater choice for Acting Ensemble to close out their 2015-2016 season than with the politically charged comedy November by David Mamet. With an election in our own world just around the corner, watching November allows for a relaxing, hilarious break from the seriousness of our ...

If you're looking for a hilarious comedy that makes you feel borderline guilty for laughing, look no further than The Cripple of Inishmaan, which opened this weekend at the South Bend Civic Theatre....

Anyone who has ever cared deeply for someone and subsequently feared for the worst, when it comes to their well-being, will have all of those intense emotions called forth when seeing Sharr White's The Other Place at the South Bend Civic Theatre. The Other Place, which opened May 13th, will utterly ...

If you've ever dozed off in history class during the topic of the Declaration of Independence, prepare to be taught the same lesson in a much more interesting way. This past weekend at The South Bend Civic Theatre, 1776 opened. There were no limitations on how they dramatized the creation of the mos...

When I first heard that a Catholic college, Saint Mary's College to be exact, was putting on the musical Chicago, I was skeptical. Knowing that Chicago is quite the risque musical with all types of salacious subject matter, I wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull it off. Well, let me be blun...

This past weekend, Bethel College put on a fantastic rendition of the classic musical, Mary Poppins. The music and lyrics are written by the Sherman Brothers while the script is written by Julian Fellowes. The show is based on children's books by P. L. Travers and the consequent famous Disney film. ...