John Fisher’s Gay Detective Fights for Justice by Robert M. Gardner MacPherson gazes down at the two small children in the dirt. Finding bodies usually does not bother him, but sadly these little ones couldn’t even tie their shoes. From the fertile mind of John Fisher of Theatre Rhinoceros comes “The Big Island,” a…
Director Bogdonoff Grabs Our Hearts, Strikes a Chord by Lynne Stevens We are in radio STUDIO A at WBFR in Manhattan on Christmas Eve, 1946, watching a radio version of It’s a Wonderful Life. Contra Costa Civic Theatre has revived last year’s exceptional show with the addition of Fred Pitts as earnest George Bailey,…
Larissa Fasthorse Exposes Native American Genocide by Patricia L. Morin “The Thanksgiving Play” is a mind-stretching, satirical “Let’s learn that” tour through the false history of the indigenous people in America. Larissa Fasthorse portrays white Americans as phonies, unable to find a true self, or understand Native American culture. Director Jeanie K. Smith promotes a…
Yasmina Reza Unmasks Ego & Vanity by Barry David Horwitz and Patricia L. Morin Yasmina Reza’s “Art” (1994), translated by Christopher Hampton, took the theater world by storm—it’s a brazen attack on the value of abstract and overvalued paintings. As a French woman playwright, Reza has taken on the art world and male pretensions,…