By Christina Wood When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state budget earlier this year, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations across Florida breathed a sigh of relief. Making sure the arts receive their fair share of the pie is always an uphill battle. The moneys provided in the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 weren’t particularly generous, but it was a big improvement … [Read more...]
Actors ready to ride Williams’ iconic ‘Streetcar’ for Dramaworks
Of the many plays by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire is considered his most popular work and, arguably, his best. “I think it’s one of the most brilliantly constructed plays I’ve ever been able to work on,” says Kathy McCafferty, who will be playing Southern belle Blanche DuBois at Palm Beach Dramaworks, … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2019-20: ‘Hamilton’ might be hottest ticket, but area theaters have plenty of worthy shows planned
There are plenty of interesting productions looming in the area this season, but the hottest ticket is unquestionably Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, at the Kravis Center in late January and then the Arsht Center the following month. Do what you have to to get tickets. You didn’t need that right arm anyway. A year ago, the Stage Door Theatre was readying a move to a larger, … [Read more...]
Lead actors keep madness of ‘Blue Leaves’ in canny check at Dramaworks
By Dale King The House of Blue Leaves, the darkly seriocomic John Guare play, is appropriately apt as the finale for Palm Beach Dramaworks’ 19th season. The show that packed the West Palm Beach venue on opening weekend homes in on characters who desperately want their hopes and dreams to work. But a realistic assessment says they probably won’t happen. The Obie … [Read more...]
Dramaworks sees profundity in dark comedy of ‘Blue Leaves’
Palm Beach Dramaworks is closing out its 18th season uncharacteristically with a comedy – John Guare’s 1971 dark farce, The House of Blue Leaves. But director J. Barry Lewis insists it is not a departure for the company. “I believe that drama is comedy and comedy is drama. I think that they are one and the same,” he says prior to a recent rehearsal. “Comedy is an … [Read more...]
Theater: The 2019 Summer Season
Summer used to be a time when local theaters went on vacation and area performers, directors and designers recharged their batteries. Nowadays, many South Florida theaters run year-round or at least have one hot weather show and/or showcases for its student training programs. So consider avoiding the summer superhero movies in favor of live theater, like the following … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks, April 21-22
Film: Veteran British filmmaker Mike Leigh is known for his low-key, low-budget contemporary tales of the politically downtrodden, but his latest, Peterloo, breaks from that mold with an epic history of a Manchester massacre in the summer of 1819. That is when armed forces on horseback charged into a crowd of 60,000 demonstrators out for electoral reform, killing 15 of them and … [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...]
Weekend arts picks: Feb. 15-17, 2019
Film: Major League Baseball culminates each season with the World Series, but to find the true global champion, you have to view the World Baseball Classic, a tournament among 16 national teams, held every four years. Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel chronicles the 2017 Classic where Israel was a surprise contender because of loophole by that country which says that anyone … [Read more...]