The cast of August: Osage County, at Actors’ Playhouse. By Hap ErsteinIn order to maximize the chances of being produced in these precarious economic times, most writers now limit themselves in their plays’ cast size and physical requirements.But every now and again comes an Angels in America or a Coast of Utopia, from playwrights who dare to think on a grand … [Read more...]
Theater feature: ‘Secret Order’ director has faith in it, but play needs more work
Nick Duckart and Gordon McConnell in Secret Order. By Hap ErsteinTom Bloom does not give up on a play easily.The New York actor-turned-director began helping to develop Bob Clyman’s Secret Order, a drama of ideas about a cure for cancer that runs into a buzzsaw of research politics, some 15 years ago. He not only directs the production that opened at the Caldwell … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 9-12
Noomi Rapace in The Girl Who Played With Fire.Film: Those who clamored about The Twilight Saga last week can now take in a far better, darker trilogy, now that they have that out of their system. It is the Swedish mystery novels by the late Stieg Larsson, whose introduction on film was the riveting The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, about a Goth computer … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Interview: Playwright Seth Rozin explores faith, humor
Seth Rozin. (Illustration by Pat Crowley)By Hap ErsteinPlaywright Seth Rozin is the founder and producing artistic director of Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre Company. But when it came to premiering his latest script, Two Jews Walk Into a War . . ., he thought that Florida Stage was a better fit.So continuing in Manalapan through Nov. 29 is the seriocomic tale of a Middle … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Two Jews’ a standout at Florida Stage
Gordon McConnell and Avi Hoffman in Two Jews Walk Into a War...By Hap ErsteinWait, stop me if you’ve heard this one: There are these two old Jewish guys in Kabul, Afghanistan, see, and not only are they the last two surviving members of their much-persecuted religion, but they hate each other’s guts almost as much as they despise the Taliban.Their days are surely numbered, so … [Read more...]
Theater feature: Actor McConnell moves into director’s chair
Actor/director Gordon McConnell.By Hap ErsteinCarbonell Award-winning actor Gordon McConnell of Lake Worth likes a juicy role to sink his teeth into, but -- as the cliché goes -- “what he really wants to do is direct.”“I’m trying to branch out a little bit,” he says by cellphone, on his way to Miami for rehearsals of this year’s Summer Shorts. “I love theater, but I’d like to … [Read more...]