Give Me Your Answer, Do! Photos - Off-Broadway

I recently had a fascinating conversation with Abby Z, director and choreographer of RADIOACTIVE PRACTICE, about her work with the New Utility and this unique show opening Friday as part of the Fusebox Festival here in Austin.

What did our critic think of THE VIEWING ROOM at Attleboro Community Theatre?

Broadway legend Joel Grey was honored this week by The Brooklyn Diner with a re-naming of their famous Matzo Ball soup!

Crystal Kay (Leading Player) and Shirota Yu (Pippin) give us their opinions about how theater is changing in Japan, and what it was like working on such a legendary show from Broadway.

As far as wacky titles go Who's Your Baghdaddy? Or, How I Started The Iraq War is a doozy. First-time listeners might be a little wary of this wacky, weird concept, but they'd be missing out. The musical, whose original cast recording is out now, follows a group of intelligence officers who stumble into a series of discoveries that lead the world into the Iraq War. If that doesn't sound like compelling material for a musical - just stay with me for a moment.

I am most concerned with what the audience sees, as they are the viewers/hearers of our story, so what they gather from our performance must be paramount. I come in with a strong image of what I want the show to look like. I then block the show right away to get it on its feet. I call this building the skeleton. The rest of the rehearsal process is about fleshing out that skeleton. I do not have the actors wander the stage looking for what feels right for them. It may end up being more “true to life” by letting two people do what comes naturally, but that does not make for a good presentational performance. I block to keep things visually interesting and I work to use the entire stage.

When I wrote Blacklisters, I was focusing on fascism and totalitarianism through the perspective of the individual in relation to absurdism. It's strange now considering the relevance a lot people who've been involved with the script have given it. On one hand it bugs me that the current events are being very tightly tied to the story when it was not my intention, but I can't deny that interest in it has picked up as a result. As I see it, what I wrote in this show was designed to be slightly unreal and terrifying but not beholden to a specific time period. I also can't deny that inspiration comes from weird places and like most people I was obsessively watching last years politics unfold, largely in horror, so it probably affected me.

British playwright Shelagh Delaney was a precocious young woman with a keen eye for detail and a gift for naturalistic dialogue. She reached the height of her literary fame at 19 with the premiere of her play A TASTE OF HONEY which she wrote in just two weeks. Much to her dismay, Delaney was often called 'an angry young woman' since she grew up in working class Salford, a gritty industrial neighbor of Manchester. And much of that environment is reflected in her Tony Award winning play which tells the story of Jo, a teenage girl abandoned in a working class town by her slatternly mother and her lover, a gentle black sailor who leaves her pregnant when he returns to sea. But it is another outcast, a homosexual man, who cares for her and provides the only true solace Jo has ever known, though he, too, is destined to leave.

DELUSION is the premiere first-person horror experience where audiences are an essential part of the storyline. In order for the Sullivan children to make good on their quest, they must interact with their environment by unearthing clues, engaging with the strange and surreal characters of the villa - all the while doing our best to survive and not stumble on precariously dark staircases while dealing with many surprise characters who pop out of the most unexpected places. But the experience is more than just vampires popping out. YOU are part of the action and can wield incredible personal power to hold off danger, especially when the entire audience of 12 works together. You really will feel you are part of the unfolding story.

Think you know @joelgrey? See him, hear him, be surprised by him at The Ridgefield Playhouse @RPlayhouse

WILLIAM RAZAVI is the artistic director of the Overtime Theatre, the only theatre in San Antonio (and possibly in the whole of Texas) dedicated purely to original works, mostly by local writers. In this question-and-answer interview he discusses the future of the Overtime and its artistic direction.

Mikel Sarah Lambert will take on the role of Margaret in the West Coast premiere of Evan Smith's The Savannah Disputation.

Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the complete cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Evan Smith's comedy, THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION.

Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto is pleased to announce the cast of The Old Globe?s production of Opus, by Michael Hollinger, directed by Kyle Donnelly, to run in the Globe?s Arena Stage at the San Diego Museum of Art?s James S. Copley Auditorium March 21 ? April 26, 2009 (press opening: Thursday, March 26 at 8:00pm). Tickets are available by calling (619) 23-GLOBE, online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, or by visiting the Globe Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.