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Three years ago I was laughing my gluteus maximus clean off, spellbound as kids wrestled with orthography. The Actors Cabaret of Eugene space was packed with everyone from hip 20-somethings to the pastor at my mom’s church to this critic, and we all raved. Continue reading
Randy Lord and Chris Leebrick rolled into town in 1992, their old Buick Park Avenue packed with the worn clothing and stratospheric expectations of young artists. They were fresh out of college and bubbling with an ambitious plan: to create a first-class theater that features only the best actors, produces timeless plays and keeps ticket prices well within the range of us mortals. Continue reading
It’s hot, humid and breezeless inside the Red Cane Theatre, a new Eugene venue sinking fresh roots at West 11th and Chambers. Right next door is Lava Lounge, the bamboo-and-thatch watering hole sprung like a tropical oasis within Ring of Fire Thai restaurant. It’s late afternoon, in an uncommonly flowery month of May, and from the adjacent lounge one of those tall, fruity drinks with a baby umbrella is calling. Continue reading
Any of you ladies out there ever stumble upon an idea for a huge work project while you’re busy folding the never-ending pile of laundry and dinner is boiling over? Next time this happens, take a moment to appreciate being a woman in the 21st century by reflecting on the challenges that confronted Gerty Cori. A pioneer in biochemistry and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Cori had to think and fight for recognition and respect. Continue reading
The play’s refrain echoes over the audience, as though repeating the words enough times will make it true: “Make it so life ain’t printed on dollar bills.” Continue reading
The dirty streets of London crawl with vermin and their lousy human counterparts. Victorian England is a great place to get rich, a terrible place to be poor and the perfect place for Charles Dickens’ imagination to run wild with an orphan in search of hope. Oliver! The Musical is more than memorable songs like “Food, Glorious Food” and “Consider Yourself.” It is a dark, Dickensian story. A successful production takes skill, bravery and a heap of children. Continue reading
Just how bad is Exploding Love, the play? It is so miserably and flatulently bad, in fact, that it’s nearly inconceivable Exploding Love, the actual current LCC student production directed by Michael Watkins, could not also be bad. We’re talking inevitably, ineluctably bad, as in lipstick-on-pig bad. Not just ungood, but bad. Awful. Continue reading