Tina Fabrique in Ella, which was scheduled to open June 16.By Hap ErsteinYou’ll always remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard about JFK’s assassination. The attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Or Florida Stage declaring bankruptcy, closing its doors and ceasing operations forever.OK, that third one is not as momentous as the other two, but … [Read more...]
Theater news: Florida Stage files bankruptcy, shuts its doors
Eric Mendenhall and Elizabeth Birkenmeier in The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider,the final production at Florida Stage.By Hap ErsteinNext week, Florida Stage was supposed to launch its 25th anniversary season, beginning with the return of the musical biography Ella and continuing with a slate of world and regional premieres.But the operative words are “was supposed to,” … [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 roundup: Riveting ‘Angry Men,’ half-accomplished ‘Cane’
The cast of Twelve Angry Men. By Hap ErsteinThe “golden age of television” of the 1950s produced many classic dramas that went on to further acclaim in other media.Think of Requiem for a Heavyweight, or Marty, or The Miracle Worker. Certainly earning a spot on that list is Reginald Rose’s dramatized civics lesson, Twelve Angry Men, which the Maltz Jupiter … [Read more...]
Theater feature: Florida Stage tackles the art of raising ‘Cane’
Gregg Weiner (above) and David Nail in Cane.By Hap ErsteinTwo years ago, Palm Beach County was under dire drought conditions, with a water supply estimated to last only 21 days. It was a desperate situation, but how do you create a play about it without it seeming like a, pardon the expression, dry discourse?That is the challenge that Florida Stage has … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Interview: Lou Tyrrell sees great new future for Florida Stage
Lou Tyrrell. (Illustration by Pat Crowley)On Nov. 30, Florida Stage and the Kravis Center announced a partnership agreement in which the Manalapan theater company that specializes in developing new plays would move its operation to the Rinker Playhouse, a flexible “black box” performance space within the West Palm Beach complex, beginning in July 2010.In mid-December, Palm … [Read more...]
Theater review: ‘Storytelling’ incisive look at contemporary youth
Bethany Anne Lind, Laura Carbonell and Marshall Pailetin The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, at Florida Stage.By Hap ErsteinCarter W. Lewis’ imaginatively written tale of two smart, smart-mouthed teens, Peck and Dora, might well have been titled This Is Our Youth, if Kenneth Lonergan had not beaten him to it several years earlier. For in this three-character microcosm, we … [Read more...]
Theater commentary: Florida Stage move raises artistic questions
The auditorium at Florida Stage in Manalapan.By Hap Erstein I remember arriving in West Palm Beach in early 1994 to become the theater writer for The Palm Beach Post and being given a personal tour of the Kravis Center. I was told all the pertinent facts about Dreyfoos Hall, how it had the same stage dimensions as the Metropolitan Opera House (for some indiscernible reason) … [Read more...]