Enterprising Theater
“Why Star Trek?” asks Christina Allaback, an adjunct theater professor at the University of Oregon. “Why not Star Trek?” Continue reading
Performing Arts: Page 72
A Green Hero’s Journey
Actors Cabaret delights with Shrek! The Musical
If you’d been living in a swamp since you were seven, you might not be too concerned with personal hygiene either. Still, while he’s not the handsomest of guys, with his green skin, bulbous nose and trumpeting ears, Shrek has plenty of odoriferous humor and heart, and he’ll need both to save Duloc’s fairy tale creatures, rescue the princess and cope with his new sentimental feelings of … love? Continue reading
Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out
The risks and rewards of watching theater
Movies are grand, but theater is alive — something to remember as the 2013-2014 season settles into its groove. When we recline in our cozy seats before the big screen, we are supplicating before a product, a bit of prefabricated horseplay that, despite our various responses, is as inflexible and immutable as a ride on a roller coaster. Continue reading
The Ever-Evolving Nutcracker
Orchestra NEXT joins Eugene Ballet Company for a holiday tradition
Like fragrant pines, candy canes and twinkle lights, The Nutcracker is a perennial symbol of the holiday season. Toni Pimble, artistic director for the Eugene Ballet Company, agrees. Most people tell her that without the ballet company’s annual performance, Christmas just wouldn’t be complete. Continue reading
Comedy Goes to the Dogs
Popular Vegas pet performers come to the Hult Center
As any owner of a house cat knows, it’s difficult to get cats to do anything — much less perform for an audience. But award-winning performer Gregory Popovich of The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater thinks he knows the secret: “You cannot push a cat to do something,” says Popovich, whose act has been voted Las Vegas’ Best New Family Show. “As a trainer I have to see what [the cats] like to do and then create tricks” based on the natural habits of the animal. Continue reading
Zen Romance
OCT contemplates love with Who Am I This Time?
At the North Crawford Mask & Wig Club, Central Connecticut’s finest community theater, Tom Newton is waxing philosophical on love, pure and complicated. “The way I see it,” he notes, “love and theater have a lot in common. They’re both seductive. They both make promises they can’t always keep. And they’re both chock-full of attractive people who are maybe just a little too addicted to drama.” Continue reading
A Quantum Romp for the Ages
University Theatre taps into Tom Stoppard’s witty delights with Arcadia
Czech-born playwright Tom Stoppard was knighted as a British subject in 1997, a gesture of literary pomp that, while entirely deserved, nonetheless must have struck Sir Tom as a delicious twist of irony. Continue reading
See Jane Make You Laugh
Northwest Women’s Comedy Fest hits the Wildish with new talent
There’s nothing more attractive than a funny woman (or rather, a funny person). Forget what the world of advertising tries to tell us; true beauty doesn’t rest with spherical breasts south of a perfectly placed Monroe mole (or washboard abs south of a cleft chin). It lies with a person who can master perfect timing or who can observe the subtle hilarity in everyday life and discuss it on stage with only a microphone. Continue reading
Dramatic Changes
Brian Haimbach gives LCC’s theater program a facelift
Brian Haimbach waited, watched and learned. His first year as the lead theater faculty at Lane Community College slipped by as Haimbach got to know the college and the community. Now, he’s ready to bust out some change. Haimbach’s vision encompasses transfer degrees, acting competitions, community connections and the revamping of a vibrant old theater department. Continue reading