Hilarity and Horror
Indulge yourself at VLT’s Little Shop of Horrors
I could not have been more excited to check out Little Shop of Horrors at the VLT this past weekend. As a kid I used … Continue reading
Theater: Page 19
Losing My Religion
Puppets wreak hell on a fundamentalist ministry in OCT’s Hand to God
I have to say that when it comes to art, I categorically reject the idea of “trigger warnings,” which is simply another term for censorship. … Continue reading
Back Down the Rabbit Hole
Ballet Fantastique and crew refashion Alice in Wonderland
In Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel, Alice falls from the quaint English countryside into a whirling subconsciousness thick with verse and whimsy, but in the new … Continue reading
God Help the Outcasts
A Disney twist on Victor Hugo’s gothic tragedy in ACE’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame
This past weekend I had the pleasure of bringing my 8-year-old thespian to Actors Cabaret of Eugene to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame. For … Continue reading
Four Decades of Putting Kids on Stage
Rose Children’s Theatre celebrates 40th season with its first original play To Oz
Before Rose Children’s Theatre began in 1978, parents were putting on plays for their children. Now, nearly 40 years later, the roles have reversed: Rose … Continue reading
The Struggle is Real
Messy folks comingle in Opal Center’s production of Good People
There are two kinds of people in the world: good people, and self-centered scum who don’t bother to return their grocery carts. The Opal Center’s … Continue reading
Flesh and Blood
Dark secrets haunt an American family in OCT’s production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child
Between my two favorite American playwrights, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard, I find Shepard to be, inexplicably, the more familiar but less accessible of the … Continue reading
Powerful in Pink
The indefatigable Elle triumphs in Cottage Theatre’s lovable production of Legally Blonde
On yet another gray and wet Oregon night, the last thing my depression wanted was to be confronted by bubbly optimism. But somehow I managed … Continue reading
NW10 ‘Squared’
Festival of new plays at OCT celebrates its 10-year anniversary
Northwest Ten galloped onto the stage of Oregon Contemporary Theatre last weekend, featuring new works from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia playwrights. Dale Light’s These, … Continue reading
Over a Barrel
A marriage falls to shit in VLT’s production of David Lindsay-Abaire dark comedy Wonder of the World
Not that anybody’s clamoring for my approval, but let me begin by congratulating Very Little Theatre for daring to step afoul of the staid, risk-averse … Continue reading