Even if the world premiere play’s title, The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, did not give away the fate of its central character, there is an inevitability to the metaphorical noose relentlessly tightening around her neck. Justice may not be well-served by the escalating accusations against the renowned genetic biology professor, but theatrical impact certainly is. For more … [Read more...]
‘Cancellation of Lauren Fein’ brings culture wars to Dramaworks in world premiere play
Cancel culture, the effort to hold prominent individuals accountable for perceived verbal slights or deeds, has become increasingly prevalent in contemporary life. So perhaps it was inevitable that the phenomenon would make the leap from the headlines to the stage, as it does in The Cancellation of Lauren Fein, premiering at Palm Beach Dramaworks beginning this Friday, Feb. … [Read more...]
‘Berlin Diaries’ a Holocaust drama tour de force for two actors
Move over, Anne Frank. Playwright Andrea Stolowitz’s great-grandfather Max Cohnreich has a Holocaust-era diary too. Written in 1939, as Max is relocating from Germany to New York City, the diary arrives abruptly in the mail to Stolowitz many decades later, by way of the Holocaust archives. Feeling little connection to her ancestors, however, she puts the diary on a shelf, … [Read more...]
‘Berlin Diaries’ gets first premiere at Boca’s Theatre Lab
As she began to write what became The Berlin Diaries, Andrea Stolowitz knew two things. One, the play would be based on the journals of her great-grandfather, Max, who escaped Germany in 1939 and came to New York. And two, it would need to be told in an unconventional format to prevent it from seeming like just another Holocaust play. Developed in part by Florida … [Read more...]
Arts buzz: Theatre Lab, Dina Baker Award, Carbonell scholarships
Theatre Lab play to get summer production in Martha’s Vineyard BOCA RATON — A two-person play that had its premiere at Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab will be taking the stage this summer at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Massachusetts. To Fall in Love, by Jennifer Lane, debuted at Theatre Lab in November 2021, and starred Theatre Lab’s producing artistic … [Read more...]
‘Almost, Maine’ at Dramaworks: Dramatic fare takes pleasant backseat to whimsy
Palm Beach Dramaworks likes to say that it traffics in “theater to think about.” But if you are looking for an entertaining night out without much thinking required, the West Palm Beach stage company has a lightweight slice of whimsy on view now that certainly fills that bill. Called Almost, Maine, it consists of nine brief vignettes on the subject of romance, … [Read more...]
Dramaworks opts for lightness, warmth with ‘Almost, Maine’
Almost, Maine, is a tiny rural town in the northern part of the state, about 150 miles from the coast. But do not look for it on a map, for it exists only in the imagination of playwright John Cariani and, for the next two-and-a-half weeks, onstage at Palm Beach Dramaworks. (Because of production complications from COVID-19, the first show has been moved back three days, to … [Read more...]
Intimate pages: FAU Theatre Lab premieres ‘To Fall in Love’
A study by a Stony Brook University professor theorizes that if two people answer 36 probing and personal questions, then stare into each other’s eyes for four minutes, they will fall in love. Perhaps, but that is all playwright Jennifer Lane (Harlowe) had to hear to write a play dramatizing such an unusual exercise. That two-person play, To Fall in Love, receives its … [Read more...]
FAU Theatre Lab readies second online monologue festival
By Dale King Zen Buddhists are notorious, perhaps apocryphally, for spending time pondering the sound of a single hand clapping. But the nearly 40 South Florida actors and artists gathered up last month by Florida Atlantic University’s Theatre Lab for its first-ever Online Original Monologue Festival concluded their singular performances to the sound of no hands … [Read more...]
Zoetic serves up fine, compelling ‘Curious Incident’
For a work brimming with pure theatricality, few plays can top The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the tale of an autistic teenage boy’s struggle to make sense of the world around him. Following critical and popular successes in London and on Broadway, the play is now available for stylistic reinterpretation by resident companies, which must have been catnip for … [Read more...]