With the COVID virus so pervasive in Palm Beach County, surviving the shutdown dictated by the pandemic is foremost on the minds of area theaters. But the next priority, artistic directors say, is putting an added emphasis on diversity – in their programming and casting. Most theaters think they have done a pretty good job at diversity, but agree there is still room … [Read more...]
Area’s theaters exploring the question: What now?
Optimism tempered by uncertainty is the mood of area theater companies, which project several possible scenarios for re-opening their playhouses and getting back to producing shows, based on what the government will allow. While champing at the bit to be up and running, to have subscribers and single-ticket buyers return, their plans to restart vary over time, with options that … [Read more...]
Streaming theater abounds for us shut-ins
Chances are, if you are reading this, you are an avid fan of the arts and are going through withdrawal pains, since all area theaters, concert halls, performing arts centers and movie houses have been closed by the dreaded COVID-19. And although internet-streamed performances are a poor substitute for the live stuff, a lot of writers, actors, singers and assorted … [Read more...]
Cerebral ‘Skylight’ rewarding at Dramaworks
With British playwright David Hare, we are rarely far removed from political debate. But with his justifiably acclaimed 1995 play Skylight, the political merges deftly with the personal, a head trip grafted onto an emotional tug-of-war, as two former lovers attempt to rekindle what they once had together from the ashes of an affair gone cold. Tom and Kyra are a study in … [Read more...]
Dimon’s star turn gives Dramaworks its best-ever new play
Quick, name a pioneering comic actress from the early days of television. Chances are you mentioned Lucille Ball, but before we loved Lucy there was Gertrude Berg, who not only starred in The Goldbergs — the first exposure to Jewish family life for many Americans — but she wrote, directed and produced the entire series, as she had previously done on radio for two decades. … [Read more...]
World premiere play revives ‘Goldbergs’ pioneer and the blacklist
Gertrude Berg, the pioneering writer-director-producer-star of radio and television’s The Goldbergs, a domestic comedy of a Jewish family in the Bronx, is all but forgotten today. In part that is why area stage actress Elizabeth Dimon wanted to commission a play about Berg and her show’s untimely demise in the dark days of the anti-Communist blacklist. In addition, the … [Read more...]
First-rate performances carry Dramaworks’ stirring ‘Streetcar’
One could argue whether A Streetcar Named Desire is Tennessee Williams’ finest play. After all, there are so many of them to choose among. But there is no denying that fragile Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski are two of his greatest characters. The evidence is very much on view now at Palm Beach Dramaworks, where the lyrical … [Read more...]
Area arts organizations breathe easier as state ups cultural funding
By Christina Wood When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state budget earlier this year, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations across Florida breathed a sigh of relief. Making sure the arts receive their fair share of the pie is always an uphill battle. The moneys provided in the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 weren’t particularly generous, but it was a big improvement … [Read more...]
Actors ready to ride Williams’ iconic ‘Streetcar’ for Dramaworks
Of the many plays by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire is considered his most popular work and, arguably, his best. “I think it’s one of the most brilliantly constructed plays I’ve ever been able to work on,” says Kathy McCafferty, who will be playing Southern belle Blanche DuBois at Palm Beach Dramaworks, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: ‘Hamilton’ might be hottest ticket, but area theaters have plenty of worthy shows planned
There are plenty of interesting productions looming in the area this season, but the hottest ticket is unquestionably Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, at the Kravis Center in late January and then the Arsht Center the following month. Do what you have to to get tickets. You didn’t need that right arm anyway. A year ago, the Stage Door Theatre was readying a move to a larger, … [Read more...]