August Wilson Asks, “What Price Assimilation?” by Irene Nelson The lights come up on a room with two pictures on the wall: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tiger Woods. We are in the office of earnest real-estate developer Hamond Wilks (Geoffrey Grier), in 1997. Wilks has partnered with preening banker Roosevelt Hicks (Gift Harris)…
Shakespeare Under the Stars Works Magic by Irene Nelson Let’s make it clear from the get-go: this is one of the best, possibly the best, production I have seen in the last six months. “Midsummer” shows us three classes: the upper crust, working craftsmen, and magical beings. All of them bump heads in this…
Shakespeare Contemplates Second Chances by Irene Nelson An angry man puts his wife on trial, convinced she is pregnant by his best friend. The man is a king, adultery means treason. His wife forthrightly proclaims her honesty and virtue. The man writhes in his chair as he listens to her, seething, tortured, he embodies…
Vau de Vire Burlesque Adds Circus to Dinner Theater by Irene Nelson Lightly clad in bright turquoise, including the feathers in her hair, eka.boo.button (aka Eka Malboeuf) carries a whiskey jug from which she has clearly imbibed too much. Rejecting the warnings of friends, she jumps on a rope which rises high into the…