THE TYPOGRAPHER’S DREAM Through Dec. 17 Manbites Dog Theater, Durham www.manbitesdogtheater.org Fair warning: there’s a job fair from hell going on at Manbites Dog Theater. One speaker is a geographer who’s got some real boundary issues. Another’s a court reporter who has trouble reporting his views on almost anything. The third? A typographer whose diverse […]
Byron Woods
Bio: Byron Woods is the INDY's theater and dance critic.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/byronwoods
Posted inArt
Written on the Heart Reveals the Dangers and Conflicts Behind the King James Bible
WRITTEN ON THE HEART Through Dec. 18 Burning Coal Theatre Company, Raleigh www.burningcoal.org We’ve been here before with David Edgar, the British playwright that Burning Coal Theatre Company has repeatedly championed since its inaugural season eighteen years ago. In many of Edgar’s works, characters in the direst straits turn to language to defuse explosive situations […]
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An Initiative to Counter Discrimination Against Female Theater Directors Provokes a Discrimination Complaint in Raleigh
The day after its announcement last week, an initiative to address discrimination against women in regional theater provoked a discrimination complaint with the city of Raleigh and a request to defund a theater company that receives city funds. As a result, one company has already distanced itself from the initiative, which had the best of […]
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International Theater’s Response to the Pulse Nightclub Massacre Comes to Chapel Hill
AFTER ORLANDO Monday, Nov. 28, 7:30 p.m., free UNC’s Kenan Theatre, Chapel Hill www.playmakersrep.org Tragedy can make us feel isolated and alone, but it can also unite us, reinforcing existing relationships and forging new bonds. That’s the case in regional theater right now, as PlayMakers Repertory Company, Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, Black Ops Theatre […]
Posted inCulture
Will to Live Cautiously Returning? Here’s a Few Things to Do This Week.
STAGE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15–SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20 SPAMALOT “Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!” We’ve become so much more politically sophisticated since the time of King Arthur. Still, anyone feeling nostalgic […]
Posted inCulture
Theater Review: Dividing and Conquering by Lying and Stirring Base Emotions in Richard III
Richard III ★★★★ Through Nov. 20 Bare Theatre @ Sonorous Road Theatre, Raleigh Seth Blum’s disarmingly matter-of-fact—and absolutely lethal—take on Richard, the implacable Duke of Gloucester, was one of the most vivid performances in a late-summer production of Henry VI: The War of the Roses. His patient explanations of Richard’s psychopathic plans to achieve the […]
Posted inCulture
Theater Review: Two Turtle Doves Skims the Underside of Sports and Small-Town Sleaze
Two Turtle Doves ★★★ ½Through Nov. 12 Common Ground Theatre, Durham There’s a hint of the unsavory from the outset of local playwright Mark Cornell’s Two Turtle Doves, now in its premiere production at Common Ground Theatre. The off-avocado wallpaper and aged amenities on designer Jeff Alguire’s set suggest a time-share resort half gone to […]
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The Embattled First Generation of Black Students at UNC Speaks Through an Oral History and Theater Project
John Sellars will never forget the night of April 4, 1968. He was in his dormitory room at Hinton James Residence Hall when he heard people running up and down the corridor and celebrating on the balconies. When he went out to see what was going on, someone told him that Martin Luther King Jr. […]
Posted inCulture
Theater News: Common Ground Theatre to Go Dark in December
Common Ground Theatre, the influential, intimate Durham venue that has nurtured regional independent theater and improv comedy throughout its twelve-year run, is set to cease operations next month. Last night, executive director Shelby Hahn told the INDY that he will step down at the end of December. Hahn took the post in July 2015 after […]
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Will Eno’s The Open House Dials Up the Dysfunction But Stints on Motivation
THE OPEN HOUSE Through Nov. 12 Manbites Dog Theater, Durham We’re clearly in a captive situation at the beginning of Will Eno’s The Open House at Manbites Dog Theater. In a dingy, cream-colored room that has seen little life since its period furniture was installed in the late 1950s, three gazes are riveted on an […]