Carnegie Mellon Dramaturgy

“10 out of 12” at Quantum Theatre

The director Anne Bogart, who was a mentor of mine in grad school, used to describe creating theater as a process in which you discover all sorts of wonderful, inspired, beautiful moments in the rehearsal room “and then you have to kill them” (this, accompanied by a violent gesture of one hand stabbing the other) “so that you can bring them back to life.” ...

“10 out of 12” at Quantum Theatre The director Anne Bogart, who was a mentor of mine in grad school, used to describe creating theater as a process in which you discover all sorts of wonderful, inspired, beautiful moments in the re…

“Primary Trust” at Pittsburgh Public Theater

Eboni Booth’s intimate portrait of an awkward loner at a crossroads in his life in her play Primary Trust offers a really juicy opportunity for an actor of Monteze Freeland’s sensibilities and talents. And he takes full advantage of it, offering a portrait of Kenneth, the play’s protagonist, that is in equal parts – and at the right moments – guarded and vulnerable....

“Primary Trust” at Pittsburgh Public Theater Eboni Booth’s intimate portrait of an awkward loner at a crossroads in his life in her play Primary Trust offers a really juicy opportunity for an actor of Monteze Freeland’s sensibilitie…

“Eureka Day” at City Theatre

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when good intentions, bad information, and (not entirely good-faith) progressive ideals collide, Jonathan Spector’s play Eureka Day is here to paint the picture. It’s not pretty, but it’s often quite hilarious. The action of the play takes place during the 2018-19 school year in the brightly colored, well-stocked library of Eureka Day School (spot-on scenic design of this space by Sasha Jin Schwartz): a lefty, social-justice-oriented private elementary school in Berkeley, California....

“Eureka Day” at City Theatre If you’ve ever wondered what happens when good intentions, bad information, and (not entirely good-faith) progressive ideals collide, Jonathan Spector’s play Eureka Day is here to paint t…

“Infinite Life” at barebones productions

Count on playwright Annie Baker to quietly poke and prod at some of the most tender areas of your psyche. Her hypernaturalistic style puts mundane conversation and everyday being under a microscope, subjects them to rigorous examination and dissection, and then renders them in such exquisite detail that they become strange and mysterious in their familiarity. In Infinite Life the subject under investigation is pain and illness, along with the faith and desire that buoy people living with and in chronic dis-ease....

“Infinite Life” at barebones productions Count on playwright Annie Baker to quietly poke and prod at some of the most tender areas of your psyche. Her hypernaturalistic style puts mundane conversation and everyday being under a microscope…

“An Enemy of the People” at Pittsburgh Public Theater

Who woulda thunk that the freshest and most relevant theater production of our times would be a play written nearly 150 years ago? Well, me, actually…mainly because Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People is one of my all-time favorite plays (yes, guilty as charged, I’m a nerd). Once dubbed “the granddaddy of all ecodramas” by theater historian Una Chaudhuri, the play revolves around the discovery by Dr....

“An Enemy of the People” at Pittsburgh Public Theater Who woulda thunk that the freshest and most relevant theater production of our times would be a play written nearly 150 years ago? Well, me, actually…mainly because Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of …

“Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem” at City Theatre

The descriptive title of Jonathan Norton’s new play – Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem – tells you pretty much what you need to know about its premise: the action, which takes place in 1943, revolves around the historical fact – mentioned in Malcolm X’s autobiography – that as young adults the two men became close friends while working together as dishwashers at the famous Harlem eatery and jazz venue....

“Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem” at City Theatre The descriptive title of Jonathan Norton’s new play – Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem – tells you pretty much what you need to know about its premise: the…

Looking forward to…

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted, Dear Readers, but I thought as we all charge back into normal life after the holidays, it would be good time for me to send out a heads up about some of the upcoming shows I’m looking forward to in the coming month or so. End of this week, on Friday, City Theatre opens ...

Looking forward to… It’s been a minute since I’ve posted, Dear Readers, but I thought as we all charge back into normal life after the holidays, it would be good time for me to send out a heads up about some of the up…

“Midnight Radio Lampoons Christmas Vacatyinz” at Bricolage Production Company

It’s December, an’ lemme tell yinz what, that means Bricolage Production Company’s holiday Midnight Radio is crawlin’ ahtta the woodwork again, n’at — this year doin’ up a whole jagoff-y spoof of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, turned into a big ol’ comedy present duct-taped together speshly fer Picksburgh. They’re callin’ it Christmas Vacatyinz, ‘cause of course they are.**...

“Midnight Radio Lampoons Christmas Vacatyinz” at Bricolage Production Company It’s December, an’ lemme tell yinz what, that means Bricolage Production Company’s holiday Midnight Radio is crawlin’ ahtta the woodwork again, n’at — this year doin’ up a whole jagoff-y spoof of N…

“The Jungle Book” at Resonance Works

Resonance Works’ offering for the holiday season is an family-friendly message of hope and tolerance, by way of Kamala Sankaram & Kelley Rourke’s operatic adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Rourke’s libretto takes its plot from the first story in Kipling’s original: the chapter “Mowgli’s Brothers,” in which the young human Mowgli (Lianne Fileta), running from the ferocious tiger Shere Khan (Karlos Piñero-Mercado), finds refuge with a pack of wolves, led by wolf matriarch Raksha (Timothi Williams; the wolf pack is an ensemble of sixteen young singers from the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus)....

“The Jungle Book” at Resonance Works Resonance Works’ offering for the holiday season is an family-friendly message of hope and tolerance, by way of Kamala Sankaram & Kelley Rourke’s operatic adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Ju…

Forgive me for beginning this post on a somewhat personal note: I began this blog in April 2011 – almost fifteen years ago! – and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s production of Yasmina Reza’s play God of Carnage was just the third show I wrote about on this site. As I set myself to writing today’s post – about barebones’ excellent production of the same play…...

“God of Carnage” at barebones productions Forgive me for beginning this post on a somewhat personal note: I began this blog in April 2011 – almost fifteen years ago! – and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre’s production of Yasmina Reza’s play G…

The story of the collapse of Enron reminds of the adage "plus ça change, plus ç’est la même chose": it’s a story of arrogant f***s who are convinced that the rules don’t apply to them, and who are supported in that belief by the self-serving interests of an entire ecosystem of people and institutions who benefit from turning a blind eye to their crimes and transgressions....

“Enron” at Quantum Theatre The story of the collapse of Enron reminds of the adage “plus ça change, plus ç’est la même chose”: it’s a story of arrogant f***s who are convinced that the rules don’t apply to them, …