If you ask Durham author Dawn Shamp why she set her debut novel, On Account of Conspicuous Women, in her hometown of Roxboro, she’ll say it’s complicated. It goes back to her mother’s death in a car accident, when Shamp was 20. “My coping mechanism to put as much distance between me and Roxboro as […]
Megan Stein
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The Clean House
The Clean House Deep Dish Theater Through May 24 Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House opens with a maid telling a lengthy joke in Portuguese that isn’t translated for the audience. Thus begins a deftly written, impish play that delights in its own playfulness. Deep Dish’s production, while boasting successes of its own, doesn’t, unfortunately, fully […]
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City of Oaks, and weed
The Saturday before the North Carolina primary, in the wake of local Obama rallies with attendance in the thousands, around 200 dedicated supporters of cannabis dot the lawn of the State Capitol building in Raleigh. The Obamas and Clintons aren’t attending the Raleigh Marijuana Rally, but North Carolina’s Civil War-era politician Zebulon Baird Vance is […]
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The Clean House; @ liberty
The Clean House Deep Dish Theater Through May 24 Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House opens with a maid telling a lengthy joke in Portuguese that isn’t translated for the audience. Thus begins a deftly written, impish play that delights in its own playfulness. Deep Dish’s production, while boasting successes of its own, doesn’t, unfortunately, fully […]
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Witness to an Execution
Witness to an Execution PlayMakers Rep Closed April 27 In a post-performance discussion of his solo show, Witness to an Execution, Triangle actor and playwright Mike Wiley told the audience, “Execution is inhumane to the executioner.” Throughout his impressive production, under the direction of Kathryn Hunter-Williams, Wiley exposed this inhumanity by leading his audience through […]
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Burning Coal’s Crowns
Crowns Burning Coal Theater Through April 27 Written by Regina Taylor, this gospel musical was adapted from a book by Tar Heel authors Michael Cunningham and Craig Mayberry that uses photographs and interviews to document the hats Southern black women wear to church. As hats hang from the ceiling of the Murphey School Auditorium, the […]
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Burning Coal’s Crowns
Crowns Burning Coal Theater Through April 27 Some people might find tiresome the prospect of listening to older ladies reminiscing for 90 minutes. But Burning Coal’s Crowns, essentially a series of monologues tacky-glued together by a loose plot, is anything but difficult to watch. Written by Regina Taylor, this gospel musical was adapted from a […]
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Joshua Lozoff: Beyond Belief
Joshua Lozoff: Beyond Belief Manbites Dog Theater Through April 12 When can we believe what we see? This is the question that Durham magician Joshua Lozoff poses throughout his one-man show Beyond Belief, a revival of last year’s sold-out run at Manbites Dog Theater. This year is proving no differentshows are sold out and an […]
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Dying City; State of the Union
Dying City Manbites Dog Theater Through March 8 Feline in the stealth of its unfolding, Christopher Shinn’s Dying City is powerfully written and topically poignant as it limns three characters affected by the Iraq warCraig, an Army reserve officer; his twin brother Peter, a gay actor; and Kelly, a psychotherapist who is married to Craig. […]
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Tale of brothers worth seeing in Topdog/ Underdog
TopDog/UnderdogPlaymakers RepThrough March 2 www.playmakersrep.org Playmakers’ Topdog/ Underdog is definitely not to be missed. First produced in New York with Don Cheadle (and later, Mos Def) and Jeffrey Wright in the cast, Topdog was written by the audacious Suzan-Lori Parks, who, with this play, became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in […]