More so than most plays that have been adapted into movies, On Golden Pond has been under the shadow of its popular 1981 film. Not only did it win Oscars for stars Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, but the father-daughter conflict at the work’s core mirrored that of Fonda and his own daughter, Jane. Perhaps that is why Palm Beach Dramaworks attempted to distance itself … [Read more...]
Multi-racial ‘On Golden Pond’ aims to be about story, not skin color
At Palm Beach Dramaworks, the cast of Ernest Thompson’s popular 1979 play, On Golden Pond, is multi-racial by design, but director Paul Scancato (Collected Stories) does not want you to focus on that aspect of the production. “For me, it’s ultimately about telling the story of the Thayers,” he says. “The audience might initially think, ‘Oh, it’s going to be … [Read more...]
Teacher-student dance strongly acted in Dramaworks’s ‘Collected Stories’
The symbiotic relationship between mentor and protégé — teacher and student —comes under the microscope in Donald Margulies’ cerebral two-character play, Collected Stories, now receiving a smart, impassioned production at Palm Beach Dramaworks. First performed in 1996, this tale of artistic and personal ethics has particular resonance these days with charges of plagiarism in … [Read more...]