Eric Mendenhall and Elizabeth Birkenmeier inThe Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider.By Hap ErsteinWhether or not the pen is truly mightier than the sword, playwright Carter W. Lewis is out to prove in his enigmatically titled The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider that slam poetry can trump a mercenary private army.If that sounds like an unlikely match-up, then you are grasping the … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 13-15
Richard Fleischman.Music: The instruments most musicians work with today are survivors or variations of the sonic armaments they had in other eras. Gone, for the most part, are the ophicleide, the serpent, the sarrusophone. Most of the viol family, with the exception of the double bass (and its modern derivative the bass guitar), also is gone, heard … [Read more...]
Theater feature: As ever, Florida Stage fest finds plays with real promise
Actors Frances Sternhagen and Richard Henzel, playwright Israel Horovitz and dramaturg Alison Maloof in a post-show discussion about Beverley. By Hap ErsteinNow five years old, Florida Stage’s annual 1st Stage New Works Festival got the most important thing right immediately.Where too many reading series elsewhere are dead ends for the scripts being unveiled, the … [Read more...]
Theater commentary: Miami mayor tale stands out at 1st Stage New Works Festival
By Hap Erstein Fewer and fewer theaters these days devote themselves to producing new plays, as Florida Stage does, because they take nurturing and development, which is hard work.But the Manalapan company has come up with a entertaining way to include its audience in the process with its 1st Stage New Works Festival. Now in its third year, the festival gave six new … [Read more...]