Film: Playwright August Wilson began his chronicle of the African-American experience throughout the 20th century, one decade at a time, with 1984’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a fictional look at the so-called “Mother of the Blues” in a tension-filled recording session at a Chicago race label in 1927. Now director George C. Wolfe has brought the tale to the screen, with a pair … [Read more...]
Close to perfect ‘Fences’ stuns at Dramaworks
William Hayes has long wanted to produce August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences, but felt he had to wait until Palm Beach Dramaworks was capable and ready to take on such a challenge. Boy, is the company ready now. Onstage through April 21 is a virtually perfect rendering of Wilson’s 1950s play in his 10-play cycle that charts the evolving black experience … [Read more...]
Dramaworks does its first August Wilson, taking swing at ‘Fences’
In its 18 years of producing great American plays, Palm Beach Dramaworks had never done one by August Wilson, but that is not veteran local actress Karen Stephens’ fault. She had long been lobbying for his 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, Fences, the tale of former Negro League baseball player Troy Maxson and his uneasy relationships with wife Rose and son … [Read more...]
Playwright Kessler tackles family conflict in world-premiere ‘House on Fire’
Although Lyle Kessler has been writing plays for the past 35 years, he is still best known for his early unconventional family play, Orphans, which has been produced around the world and was made into a 1987 feature film that starred Albert Finney. But Kessler has a new play that he feels can eclipse Orphans, another offbeat family drama called House on Fire, developed … [Read more...]
Actors lift slight but promising ‘Edgar & Emily’
Palm Beach Dramaworks, the area’s most literary stage company, usually traffics in classic American plays. This season, however, it has developed and premiered a couple of new works, both centered on unexpected match-ups – and mash-ups – between iconic writers. In December, Dramaworks unveiled Terry Teachout’s Billy and Me, an exploration of professional jealousy … [Read more...]
In this play, Poe and Dickinson meet on the field of art
There is no evidence that reclusive Emily Dickinson and master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe ever met. But that did not stop Joseph McDonough from introducing them to each other in his two-character play, aptly titled Edgar & Emily, receiving its world premiere at Palm Beach Dramaworks beginning Saturday, March 31. “I mean, I did my research and I think everything I talk … [Read more...]
‘Billy and Me’ at Dramaworks: The plays weren’t the only thing
Located at the thematic intersection of sexual attraction and professional jealousy is Billy and Me, a new play by Terry Teachout (Satchmo at the Waldorf) about the uneasy friendship of playwrights Tennessee Williams and William Inge. As the title implies, Williams is the narrator of the tale, “a memory play about a memory play,” whose first act is set in 1944 Chicago, as … [Read more...]
Two playwrights take center stage in world premiere ‘Billy and Me’ at Dramaworks
Two years ago, Palm Beach Dramaworks’ producing artistic director Bill Hayes was doing his usual detailed research in preparation for staging William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Picnic. And he came upon the intriguing fact that Inge saw a tryout performance of The Glass Menagerie by a young, brash writer with the unlikely name of Tennessee Williams. Seeing that play … [Read more...]
Actor Donohoe digging deep to bring ‘Tru’ alive
Palm Beach Dramaworks audiences have seen New York-based actor Rob Donohoe many times before, in such diverse plays as Exit the King, The History Boys and The Pitmen Painters. But they have never seen anything quite like his transformation as manic-depressive gay Southern writer Truman Capote in the one-man show, Tru. Donohoe’s acceptance of the role was the condition that … [Read more...]
With ‘Iguana,’ Dramaworks tackles Williams at his most personal
Palm Beach Dramaworks prides itself on producing plays by great American playwrights such as Edward Albee, Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill. Yet in its 17 seasons is has never tackled a script by the lyrical Southern dramatist Tennessee Williams. Until now. Its season has kicked off with The Night of the Iguana, the 1960 tale of a defrocked, unhinged minister and a reserved, … [Read more...]