Catastrophically Funny
Actors Cabaret of Eugene's Disaster! is anything but
I was born in 1995. I was 6 when the Twin Towers fell, and only 10 when Hurricane Katrina hit. This last presidential election was … Continue reading
Performing Arts: Page 39
The Taming of the Shrewd
Do rich gifts wax poor in the elite bubble of Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival?
If, like me, you happen find yourself on some clear summer night seated just about dead center of the orchestra level at Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s … Continue reading
The Chaos of a Wedding Day Gone Wrong
Very Little Theatre’s Perfect Wedding
The title of Very Little Theatre’s latest mainstage show, Perfect Wedding, is a bit of an oxymoron: There’s no such thing. Karen Scheeland’s production of … Continue reading
‘Let Me Entertain You’
Shirley Andress plumbs new depths in a classic role in Gypsy
While not as well known as Jay Gatsby or Huckleberry Finn, Mama Rose is one of the defining characters of American literature. At once a … Continue reading
Woman of Salt
A world premiere opera by a novice Eugene composer examines our capacity to heal
It was at Anice Thigpen’s lowest emotional point that the protagonist in her new opera The Woman of Salt came to her. “I was walking … Continue reading
A Clear Case of Bunburyism
Cottage Theatre plays it straight with Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest
Perhaps it’s just fate, a roll of the dice, but in all the several years I’ve been reviewing the work of community theaters, I’ve seen … Continue reading
Die, Bart Simpson, Die!
University Theatre goes apocalyptic with Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play
Mr. Burns: a Post-Electric Play, written by Anne Washburn and directed by Tricia Rodley, imagines an eerie future where firelight provides the only illumination and … Continue reading
The Spin
Who’s who and what’s what in dance this month
Across the country, and right here in Eugene, summer is a great time for performing artists to get out of the theater — away from … Continue reading
Theater Guy
Brian Haimbach takes his show How to Be a Sissy across the pond
When I last checked in with Brian Haimbach, writer, actor, and head of the theater program at Lane Community College, it was February 2016, and … Continue reading
Masochism Is as Masochism Does
Sex and sexism collide in OCT’s excellent, if challenging, production of David Ives’ Venus in Fur
Even now, several days after seeing it, digesting it and churning it all over in my mind, I find I’m having a mixed response to … Continue reading