Byron Woods

Dead Man Walking DDA Mainstage Kenan Theatre, UNC Closed April 15 Any theatrical staging of Dead Man Walking must confront special challenges. Tim Robbins’ famous 1995 biographical film followed Sister Helen Prejean on her descent into the belly of the beastdeath row in Louisiana’s Angola State Prison in the early 1980sat the start of what […]

Wine in the Wilderness New Traditions Theatre Common Ground Theatre Through March 29 Just how “country” is Barbette Hunter’s character in Wine in the Wilderness? Not country enough under John Harris’ direction, I’m afraid, to sufficiently differentiate her from the alleged big city denizens depicted here. Playwright Alice Childress’ poignant remembrance of the early 1960s […]

It’s probably a mixed blessing that regional theater audiences have never been too preoccupied with plush, upholstered seats or five-figure set and costume budgets. Some of our most promising independent companies would likely have winked out of existence years ago if that were the case. But those who go to theaters tend to be a […]

State of the Union Deep Dish Theater Through March 8 Politics and theater have a lot in common. Both traffic in manipulating the emotions, beliefs and conclusions of the crowd, focusing and directing public energies onto one goal, person or topic. In both, the crisis comes when we simply stop believing. So it’s tempting to […]

Inherit the Wind Burning Coal Theatre Through Feb. 17 One hates to differ with Clarence Darrowor even his surrogate, Frank Drummond, the dogged attorney for the defense in the theatrical warhorse, Inherit the Wind. So perhaps, as he asserts, an idea is a better monument than a cathedral. It’s a noble sentiment, to be sure. […]

Europe Central Little Green Pig Manbites Dog Theater Through Feb. 2 Fair warning: Europe Central is one of those shows that compels critics like me to dash madly through fields of wild adjectives in the attempt to describe it. Overtly, audaciously ambitious in its scope, oversized in its aesthetics and design, John Justice and Michael […]

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek Ground UP Productions Closed Jan. 14 Without doubt, there are haunted places in this world. But playwright Naomi Wallace reminds us that hauntings are ultimately very individual affairs. Though a train bridge just outside of Louisville, Ky., has long been the focus of a particular urban legend, the grotesques […]

2.5 Minute Ride Playmakers Rep Jan. 9-13 Auschwitz has a gift shop now. Actually, that’s no joke. Or if it is a jokeone that approaches nearly cosmic levels of poor tasteit’s still completely true. And if, just now, you’re not exactly sure how to feel about that bit of information, or what to make of […]