hagiography (n.) 1. the biography of saints. 2. a worshipful or idealizing biography. Religious pageantry abounds in April. Understandably, most of it goes critically unreviewed. After all, the intended audiences of such shows are the already faithful, who generally only ask that the music and amateur tableaux reflect a shared belief, and not a shared […]
Byron Woods
Bio: Byron Woods is the INDY's theater and dance critic.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/byronwoods
Posted inNews
The truth, unearthed
I’m beginning to suspect a conspiracy. How else to explain, the week after three theatrical monuments to the lie, the emergence of two similarly challenging works in which the truth is finally unearthed–or actually three, if you’re willing to tweak the term a bit. It’s a familiar maxim, taught in childhood: The truth will always […]
Posted inNews
In millworker stories
When did director Ellen Brand know her stage production of Millworker had gotten the community’s attention? “When we put down 150 chairs and had close to 400 people come,” she recalls of her show’s one-night stand last November at the historic Chatham Mills building in Pittsboro. Then came the phone calls–not just from folks who […]
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Blood weddings, bloody vows
One hates to simply give away plot points in print. For that reason, I do hope no one reading these words expected Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Weddings (Bodas de Sangre), at Duke this week, to end on a particularly positive note. It doesn’t, of course. And since the work Lorca called his “tragic poem in […]
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In unclean spaces
Welcome home: Set designer Sonja Drum’s unclean padded cell is the first clue that director Kenny Gannon’s upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure just might be veering towards the darker side of dark comedy. A moral zealot left in charge of a government decides the people are too free and starts a campaign to […]
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In revelations
You could say choreographer Alvin Ailey peaked early. His 1960 work Revelations, a suite of ensemble and solo works set to African American spirituals and hymns, became the work the rest of his career was judged by. It remains a masterpiece of modern dance–and a daunting, energetic gauntlet for dancers to perform. We’ll see the […]
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In hip-hop, tap and flamenco
(…and modern, Scottish folk, improv and a few other flavors for that matter): Choreo Dance Sampler, the modern dance collective’s regional Winter invitational has always been about the big tent–cramming in as many different dance forms as possible on the same stage in the same concert. From the looks of things, this year’s episode may […]
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In instant theater
The title for Transactors Improv Company’s new show at Manbites Dog Theatre is a 22-letter acronym: TEEFMSSSPTIC:IYSTOYNSTB*. But forget the alphabet soup: Here’s what you really need to know. In recent years, Transactors have gradually morphed from an award-winning comedy troupe into a group unafraid to explore improvisational drama as well as humor. Call it […]
Posted inArt
Too right feet
Toteboard ready? Check. Running shoes on? Check. American Dance Festival One Can’t Eat Applause, Compagnie Maguy Marin Marin’s Scripps Award acceptance speech Maguy Marin’s first act of artistic conscience indicted U.S. complicity in the politics of disappearance and the economic and political exploitation of Central and Latin America. Then her bold Scripps speech advocated dance […]
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All that drama
2003 was the year of the turnaround for regional theater. And I’ve got the odometer to prove it. At least 265 productions gave the area, on average, five new openings each week. Our Fall was the busiest one we’d ever seen: People were going out, seeing shows again. And a lot was worth seeing. For […]