Performing Arts: Page 69

The Madness of Memory Lane

VLT director Gerald Walters discusses the challenges of The Other Place

Theater

The human memory is a most wily creature, a Picasso-like construction of images and emotions. And if we manipulate our own memories, to what extent is anything we remember real? Part psychological study, part fast-paced thriller, The Other Place is a play that explores the fascinating study of memory. According to The New York Times, the play is “cunningly constructed entertainment that discloses its nifty twists at intervals that keep us intrigued.”  Continue reading →

Love Is All Around

LCC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream makes magic

Theater
Michelle Nordella and Robert Newcomer

That Puck! What an imp, what a funnin’ fool. Should any wee hint of the grave or the dour threaten to shank the shambolic ether of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, rest assured that frolicsome Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow, servant to Oberon (King of the Faeries), will hop to and eradicate all frowns with a sly spree of herkimer-jerkimer and utter tomfoolery. Nay, Puck ─ as the sprightly stand-in for Shakespeare’s bumptious side ─ will have none of our earnestness. Life, after all, is but a dream. Continue reading →

Getting Doug with High

Comedy
Doug Benson

If you don’t know who Doug Benson is by now, you very well may not be smoking enough weed. The standup comedian (Gateway Doug), actor (The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled) and podcast veteran (Doug Loves Movies, Getting Doug with High) has made Eugene a regular stop four years running for his 4/21 show at WOW Hall. EW caught up with the green funnyman to talk shop, pot, podcasts and more.   Continue reading →

Moshe Pit

Comedian Moshe Kasher sounds off about life on tour

Comedy
Moshe Kasher

You know him from the internet, his standup comedy and his character “Pig Bottom” on Tubbin’ with Tash on YouTube. He doesn’t shy away from mainstream screens either; Moshe Kasher has also been featured on Chelsea Lately, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and Conan. He is also a writer for the sitcom The New Normal and author of memoir Kasher in the Rye (which is reviewed by William Kennedy in EW’s April 17 issue). Continue reading →

Behind Zoot Suit Riot

Dance
Danielle Tolmie, Mark Tucker, Steve Perry, Reed Souther and Victoria Harvey. Photo by Jon Christopher Meyers

Sarah Ebert may be a newcomer to choreographing for the Eugene Ballet Company, but she hasn’t shied away from the pace. “In modern dance, we take months to let things marinate — we explore, we play. But in ballet, the time limit is interesting. It’s fast, and it works, because the EBC dancers are willing to experiment,” Ebert says.  Continue reading →

A Faithful Fiddler

Cottage Theater stays true to Fiddler on the Roof and sells out shows

Theater

Since its debut in 1964, Fiddler on the Roof has held a certain special status among Broadway shows. It is the Beastie Boys of musicals — beloved, offbeat, wise and wiseacre-ish, slapstick hip. More times than I can count, the mere mention of Fiddler has caused a friend to break out in baritone: “If I were a rich man, yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum…” Continue reading →

Grandpa Aziz

Comedian Aziz Ansari makes his Eugene debut at the Hult

Comedy

You know him as the government employee with the most swagger (Tom Haverford, Parks and Recreation), the rambunctious, Oligocene-era rabbit pirate Squint (Ice Age: Continental Drift), the guy at James Franco’s party who gets kicked into hell’s sinkhole by Kevin Hart (This is the End) and the tagline-spewing hack comedian Raaaaaaaandy (Funny People). And, of course, just as standup comedian Aziz Ansari.  Continue reading →

Maybeas Corpus?

Rigor mortis sets in at VLT

Theater
Don Aday and Heidi Anderson in VLT’s Habeas Corpus

British theater is heady, chewy stuff — especially British farce, which typically excels in wit and wordplay. Consider, for instance, a playwright like Sir Tom Stoppard, who included in his masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead a scene in which the two leads play a rapid-fire “Game of Questions” that is essentially verbal Ping-Pong on speed. In general, American drama post-Tennessee Williams lacks such linguistic finery. Continue reading →

Sneak Peek: Aziz Ansari

The Modern Romantic of Comedy brings his shtick to the Hult Thursday

Comedy

Aziz Ansari is a comedian with the zeitgeist nipping at his heels. Having found fame and a devoted following first with MTV’s comedy sketch show Human Giant,  and then playing the loveable trend-chaser Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation, followed by rapid-fire releases of his comedy specials, Ansari is now tackling contemporary courtship, literally — like in a book. Romance and relationships in a tech-drunk world are at the heart of his upcoming book, Modern Romance, and tour of the same name, which comes to Eugene this Thursday, March 27. Continue reading →