Best of Theater 2000-2009

The long look back: 49 theatrical reasons to miss the Zeros

by Byron Woods

Jan. 06, 2010

4:00 a.m.

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Photo courtesy of Manbites Dog Theater

Derrick Ivey as the president and Carl Martin as Henry Kissinger in the Manbites Dog Theater production of "Nixon's Nixon"

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Photo by The Right Image Photography Inc.

Elissa Olin and Alice Cannon in the Burning Coal Theatre Company production of Athol Fugard's "The Road to Mecca"

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Photo by The Right Image Photography Inc.

Debra Gillingham and David Henderson in the Burning Coal Theatre Company production of "James Joyce's 'The Dead'"

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Photo by Lisa Marie Albert

The Deep Dish Theater Company production of "Glengarry Glen Ross"

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Photo by The Right Image Photography Inc.

Sarah Whalen and Carl Martin in the Burning Coal Theatre Company production of Adrian Hall's "All the King's Men"

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Photo by Jon Gardiner

The Playmakers Repertory Company production of "The Glass Menagerie"

Regional theater leaves the last decade stronger than when it started. Here's a long look back before launching into the futurewhich, for our purposes, begins this weekend. Happy new decade!

A Lesson Before Dying, Justice Theater Project, 2004. JTP proved exceptional theater can occur anywhere there are actors, a directorand vision.
A Mouthfulla Sacco & Vanzetti, Shakespeare & Originals, 2000 Playwright Michael Smith's brilliant slapstick re-envisioning of an American injustice.
A Walk in the Woods, International Social Studies Project, 2000 Paul Frellick placed nuclear arms negotiators on a geopolitical tightrope.
All the King's Men (Parts 1 and 2), Burning Coal Theater, 2003 Adrian Hall's audacious adaptation of Warren's novel on Southern political corruption.
Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches, Duke Theater Studies, 2005 Amazing student cast performancesand Jeff West's jaw-dropping Roy Cohn.
Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika, Theatre in the Park (TIP), 2008 Director Adam Twiss unleashed regional veterans on Kushner's closer.
As the Crow Flies, Paperhand Puppet Intervention, 2006 Sophisticated tales, multistory puppets, compelling original music: pure Paperhand.
Back of the Throat, Manbites Dog Theater, 2005 Conscience-challenging enhanced interrogation techniques, staged in real time.
Bash: Latterday Plays, Raleigh Ensemble Players (REP), 2001 An impressive first regional staging of LaBute.
Bent, REP, 2001 (revived 2009) The audience literally walked one man's path during the Holocaust.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern, 2007 A catty, caustic send-up of the Fassbinder film.
The Bluest Eye, PlayMakers Repertory Company, 2007 A harrowing Toni Morrison stage adaptation: what happens when a village refuses to raise a child.
brooms: a play about saying yes, both hands theatre company, 2004 Its first production evoked Gertrude Stein and Steve Reich: a thoughtful comedy about getting married.
The Cherry Orchard, Little Green Pig, 2006 A production pointedly staged with brilliant African-American actors.
columbinus, REP, 2007 This took us all back to high schoolthe day the murderers came.
Copenhagen, Broadway Series South, 2002 An elegant touring production: three sides of the atomic bomb's unknown secret.
Cornucopia of Me, Katja Hill, 2007 An autobiographical solo showin mime, no lessmocked the day jobs an actor must take.
The Dead, Burning Coal, 2004 A very chilly musical adaptation of James Joyce.
Dream Boy, Streetsigns, 2003 Jim Grimsley's gay coming-of-age story, tenderly adapted, acted and directed.
Fuddy Meers, Manbites Dog, 2000 David Lindsay-Abaire's dark screwball comedy, well done.
The Glass Menagerie, PlayMakers Rep, 2000 Director Kent Paul's unsentimentaland appropriatereading of Tennessee Williams.
Glengarry Glen Ross, Deep Dish, 2009 A tight ensemble digs that Mamet jazz.
Hedda Gabler, Triad Stage, 2004 An achievement in Gothic-tinged design and acting.
Holy Hell, 10 x 10 Festival, 2006 Ten perfect minutes: a harrowing drama about a guilt-based marriage.
Howie the Rookie, Delta Boys, 2008 Lucius Robinson, Stephen LeTrent and Kathryn Milliken explored Dublin's punk underbelly.
The Island, Manbites Dog, 2008 Acting authenticity hallmarked a fully embodied Fugard play.
The Laramie Project, PlayMakers Rep, 2001 A crisply directed, taut and compelling act of community.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Streetsigns, 2001 An ambitious adaptation of Evans and Agee's classic text.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, PlayMakers Rep, 2009 PRC strained to produce an abridged version of Edgar's scriptand it showed.
Life, Love, Cows, Shakespeare & Originals, 2001 This Chekhov adaptation kept us spellbound. For an hour. Outdoors. In cold weather.
The Lion in Winter, TIP, 2005 A vehicle for theatrical lions Ira David Wood and Lynda Clark.
Minstrel Show: The Lynching of William Brown, Theatre Alliance for Social Change, 2002 Two aging black entertainers presented grim evidence with dignity in the first 2002 staging.
Never the Sinner, REP, 2000 Sweat dripped from murderers and audience alike in this taut crime trial.
Nixon's Nixon, Manbites Dog, 2004 A scathing political comedy, and an amazing Nixon by Derrick Ivey.
The Old Settler, Raleigh Little Theatre (RLT), 2000 A robust production of John Henry Redwood's black 1940s romantic drama.
Out of the Dark, Wordshed Productions, 2005 Hannah Blevins' script took us deep into West Virginia coal minesand the miner's lives.
The Pillowman, Manbites Dog, 2007 Martin McDonagh's sharp take on artistic responsibilities, helmed by an exceptional quartet.
The Prisoner's Dilemma, Burning Coal, 2008 Expert actors construct a fragile diplomatic bridge of words in David Edgar's geopolitical thriller.
The Price, Deep Dish, 2003 Four veteran actors calculate the cost of old mistrusts in Arthur Miller's family drama.
Private Eyes, Flying Machine, 2000 Steven Dietz's intricate puzzle box contains two relationships.
Ragtime, NC Theatre, 2004 A boisterous restaging of this turn-of-the-last-century musical.
The Road to Mecca, Burning Coal, 2002 An aging South African artist worries she's losing more than her physical vision in Athol Fugard's drama.
Shakespeare's R&J, Streetsigns, 2003 Four military school students staged Shakespeareunauthorizedin this astounding production.
Snow, Archipelago Theatre, 2000 An ice cavern of a set, intense sounds and lights abetted an original script on how relationships grow chill.
Terra Nova, RLT, 2001 A cool, psychologized retelling of Robert Scott's Antarctic disaster.
Three Sisters (on Ice), Little Green Pig, 2006 An improbably revelatoryand derangedrevision of Chekhov.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Burning Coal, 2001 A hellish, avant-garde, audio-animatronic tour through American racism.
Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, REP, 2000 A sinuous, seductive and truly merciless nightlife puzzle.
Wit, PlayMakers Rep, 2000 Tandy Cronyn, as a dying English professor, aces her truly final exam.