Botany and belief systems, both real and dubious, are at the heart of Deborah Zoe Laufer’s Rooted, her latest exploration of life’s contradictions, served up with a strong measure of whimsy. Delivering her ultimately thoughtful outlook is a trio of eccentric souls whose search for meaning has them up a tree, quite literally. Consider Emery Harris, an unschooled … [Read more...]
Green messiah: At Theatre Lab, Laufer’s ‘Rooted’ to explore mob mentality
Deborah Zoe Laufer gets a lot of ideas for her plays by listening to National Public Radio. That is certainly the case with Rooted, receiving its Florida premiere at FAU Theatre Lab, beginning this Saturday, Feb. 3. “I was listening to Radio Lab and there was a scientist, Monica Gagliano, on, talking about plant consciousness,” the idea that plants have innate … [Read more...]
‘Berlin Diaries’ gets first premiere at Boca’s Theatre Lab
As she began to write what became The Berlin Diaries, Andrea Stolowitz knew two things. One, the play would be based on the journals of her great-grandfather, Max, who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to New York. And two, it would need to be told in an unconventional format to prevent it from seeming like just another Holocaust play. Developed in part by Florida … [Read more...]
2023-24 Season in Theater: A post-COVID lineup full of promise
With COVID safely in the rear mirror and audiences back attending theater, the 2023-2024 South Florida season looks quite promising, with full schedules, numerous world premieres and several companies celebrating significant anniversaries. Here’s how the theater scene is shaping up, moving geographically from north to south. With its playhouse expanded, the Maltz … [Read more...]
‘Jasmine Starr-Kidd’ needs some tinkering, but lead actress is a keeper
Regret can be a powerful emotion, but usually one that has little positive value. That is among the lessons learned by Jasmine Starr-Kidd, a 12-year-old computer whiz who deeply regrets her parents’ divorce and believes she can employ her scientific savvy to bring them together again. So it goes in The Many Wondrous Realities of Jasmine Starr-Kidd, a whimsical and somewhat … [Read more...]
Arts buzz: Theatre Lab, Dina Baker Award, Carbonell scholarships
Theatre Lab play to get summer production in Martha’s Vineyard BOCA RATON — A two-person play that had its premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab will be taking the stage this summer at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Massachusetts. To Fall in Love, by Jennifer Lane, debuted at Theatre Lab in November 2021, and starred Theatre Lab’s producing artistic … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab’s ‘Refuge’ investigates human side of immigration
This nation was built by immigrants, but you would never know it from the political brouhaha that has arisen from the current border crisis over the issue of immigration. Refuge, the saga of a young Honduran girl’s harrowing journey crossing our southern border into the inhospitable, barren land of Texas, completes Florida Atlantic University Theatre Lab’s season of … [Read more...]
Tragicomic ‘Last Night in Inwood’ gets skillful debut at FAU Theatre Lab
Comedy, as they say, is tragedy that happens to someone else. And the calamities that are happening just beyond an apartment in Inwood, N.Y., and all around the globe — the effects of climate change, economic distress, the rise of white supremacy militias, rioting and looting — are nothing if not calamitous. Yet in Last Night in Inwood, now receiving its world premiere at … [Read more...]
‘Last Night in Inwood’: World premiere play suggests an all-too-real nightmare
The year was 2016 and graduate student Alix Sobler needed to write a play for her master’s thesis. “I write comedy, but the world was in a real state at that moment,” she recalls. “The election between Clinton and Trump was at its height. Things felt really off-balance and I wanted to reflect that onstage in a way that was going to be accessible to audiences.” The … [Read more...]
Literature provides connection in touching ‘Dorothy’s Dictionary’
Words and books are the cherished domain of Dorothy Ross, a former librarian now confined to a convalescent home with an unspecified but serious medical condition and failing eyesight. She is at the center of Dorothy’s Dictionary, a touching, charming, funny and sad new play by E.W. Lewis, now receiving its world premiere in a gently effective production at Florida Atlantic … [Read more...]