thespisbustard

The Windy City Breezes Through Philly

"Windy City,” Walnut Street Theatre Season Opener 

Makes ”The Front Page” A Headliner!

 

Philadelphia Theater In July

New Works in The Olde City

Original Works and Companies Featured In Two Philly Summer Festivals

Holy Humana, Batman! Just when they finished rolling up the last Independence Day bunting and fireworks - what should explode? Two theater festivals in the City of Brotherly Love this July. As all the suburban locals pack up their beach chairs and make for the shore, the various denizens of the Philadelphia Theatre Community begin to gear up for three theatrical weekends that display what’s been really new or news worthy this last year.

Preview of The Fringe

The Philly  Fringe Is Coming Back !   !     !            !


Please read on for a preview and comments on the 

The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe: September 1- 6

A Number of Churchill's

A Number on Philly’s Wilma Theatre’s

 On Caryl Churchill’s A Number!

at the Wima Theater

Humana 2006: Part Deux

Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival ’06- Part II

 The Extravaganza Becomes Extraordinary!

 

You’d think that watching four plays in one day would be too much. But like the classic Lay’s potato chips ad campaign, I couldn’t “eat” just one. This year’s 30^th Anniversary of the Humana Festival at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville was exceptional. In fact, since I last wrote, two of its shows have been optioned for production: The Scene by Theresa Rebecca by The Second Stage Theatre and Hotel Cassiopeia by Charles Mee by The Court Theatre of Chicago. As I said, extravagantly extraordinary. On to Humana 2006, Part II.

"Natural Selection"

"Act Like a Lady"

"Neon Mirage"

 

 

Humana Festival 2006

Actors Theater of Louisville Humana New Play Festival  Fest ’06 –A 30^th Anniversary Extravaganza

 

 For the second year in a row, I attended Humana Festival (The Actor’s Theater of Louisville Festival of New Plays). The 2005 Fest reminded me of never-ending earnest, honest and but tedious acting class scenes presented as final exams – interesting, but…. This year, I saw eight plays in two and 1/2 days and I am still smiling!

This year, the offerings exploded - seven new plays and three one acts that challenged, intrigued, frightened and inspired me over the course of 96 hours of thrilling theater. Some local Philadelphia producing faces spotted in the audience included Sara Garonzik of PTC, Terry Nolan of the Arden Theatre, Bill Felty from the Wilma, along with reps from the Walnut, Interact, and other Philadelphia area theaters.

         

The show selection was brilliant this year - suiting a variety of tastes ranging from abstract imagery for the intellectual crowd to angry hip-hop-oriented theater of protest, to new explorations of the WWII generation, to a tour de force for the environmentally activist - the magic of theater ruled.  

      

 

 The level of playwriting, design and acting in the 30^th Anniversary of the Humana Festival eclipses that if the 29^th festival. From what I saw in the first four plays (three more to review in next posting), the theater arts are alive and well in 2006. Hopefully all those familiar faces of regional and local producers in the audience took note.  

 To give you some idea of what might pop up on local and national stages, below is a short description of plays this viewer particularly liked:

 

 

Pig Iron Alert

Another Pig Iron Posting-

Just because I’m a Pig-Iron Company Addict-

A Post Script – “Hell Meets Henry Halfway “ , the Obie award winning Pig Iron scorched earth comedy based on Possessed  by Gombrowicz will play the Mandrell Theatre at Drexel University in Philadelphia- the week of April 11th-16^th-  Give your other a Passover or Easter present early-

If its Pig Iron- it’s got to be good-  

Janet Sojack: Triangle Theater

Janet Sojack and  The Triangle Theater, and the Random Acts of Theater Foundation:

Philadelphia's  Own Ellen Stewart and La Mama? ?

[email protected]

"Mission" & "Novocento"

Pig Iron’s “Mission” and Lantern’s “Novocento:

Two Approaches to Life to Warm A Cold February