Presumably by now the jack-o’-lantern’s gone to compost; the straw poll of the candy bowl has offered up its yearly demographic wisdom on the sweeting habits of migratory youth. The improvised porch decorations? Disposed of, or redispatched to haunt the basement or the attic for the next 11 months. All of which leaves, of course, […]
Byron Woods
Bio: Byron Woods is the INDY's theater and dance critic.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/byronwoods
Posted inNews
Ten angry women–plus three
It was obvious: The staged reading of Women’s Minyan (Minyan Nashim) was the strongest entry in Theatre Or’s stellar November 2004 festival of staged readings, Voices from the Holy Land. Perhaps this is not surprising after all, since the original version of Naomi Ragen’s play, in Hebrew, had by then logged its fourth full year […]
Posted inNews
in rebooting
Once (in metafiction), a twisted little man started making androids–without telling them what they were. And once (in Durham), visual artists, directors, playwrights and actors met and decided to experiment in “image-based theater”–a recombinant mix of multimedia, visual art and performance inspired by the ideas of Richard Foreman. The result? “Frankenstein meets Pinnochio“–and a new […]
Posted inArt
Extraordinary machine?
A beatific smile wreathes director Rus Hames’ face as he gleefully sums the plot of Ctrl-Alt-Delete, his company’s new stage piece, in four words: “It’s Frankenstein meets Pinnochio.“ The new work, the first regional performance by Blue Monday Productions, is something of an artistic Frankenstein itself on several levels. First, there’s its genre-bending amalgamation of […]
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In the (questionable) interests of time
What William Burroughs once said about guns also goes for stories: Each only has the conscience of the person holding it. Though the therapeutic qualities of story have been thoroughly explored–and exploited–by various media conglomerates since the mid-1980s, nowhere near as much attention has been paid to its darker side. If stories can heal, they […]
Posted inNews
in depositions
Instead of the usual group of high-priced mouthpieces, 10 citizens from all walks of life are called before Congress to testify about their experiences with the American health care system. Obviously we’re in the realm of speculative fiction, but in Sarah Jones‘ one-woman show A Right to Care, this group explores the impact of race, […]
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(Father/DJ/Travel Guide) Time
A friend of a close acquaintance claims it as the only reason she never says how old she is: “I can feel them; all the years within me. To defer to any one of them seems dishonest, a dishonor to the rest.” Be that as it may, not only does the theater regularly refuse to […]
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Making slippy sloppy
This is why, on some level, I actually dread weeks like the one that inspired my last column, when brilliance seemed to shine from every stage. Sooner or later, there’s got to be a backlash: Nature enforces few laws more ruthlessly than the law of averages. Gleanings from the week after two season standouts: Two […]
Posted inNews
After the sea-change
The line was from Pere Ubu–the Cleveland post-punk band this time, not Alfred Jarry’s equally bizarre creation one century before–and it surfaced while I pondered the negative serendipity of it all. Two Tennessee Williams productions in the region: both notable (and one a season standout), both scheduled months in advance–and both decanted almost immediately after […]
Posted inNews
Not of this earth?
The inaugural production of Stillwater Theatre, Elan Garonzik’s 1976 play Scenes and Revelations is something of a twice-told tale, since the company’s principals, director Carnessa Ottelin, costumier James Cuthrell and artistic director Steven Roten, bonded over a 1999 production of the show at UNC-G. It’s understandable: Garonzik’s atmospheric text probes the late adolescences and early […]