There’s something a bit off about The Realistic Joneses. “Maybe it’s me,” you think at first. You’re sitting so close to the middle-aged couple you’re practically on top of them. She’s talking about the beauty of the night air and the owl she can hear in the distance. He’s staring down at hands twisted together, […]
There’s something a bit off about The Realistic Joneses. “Maybe it’s me,” you think at first. You’re sitting so close to the middle-aged couple you’re practically on top of them. She’s talking about the beauty of the night air and the owl she can hear in the distance. He’s staring down at hands twisted together, […]
Merging the profound with the trivial, Will Eno’s absurdist script for The Realistic Joneses plays out like a tough-topic sketch comedy. When new neighbors arrive, two couples get to know each other through unlikely circumstances that bring them together and push them apart in unexpected ways. The Hollywood Reporter calls the story a “mordant, melancholy […]
Judith Shakespeare wants to be a playwright. So when her debt-ridden father tries to marry her off, Shakespeare’s Sister flees to London with handsome actor Ned Alleyn, hoping to join her brother and realize her ambition. When she arrives in the city, she finds her brother gone, Ned engaged to another woman and her play declined. […]
UVA Drama’s David Dalton approaches Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding with a modern hand, as he connects themes in the early- to mid-20th century script that resonate in a contemporary treatment. The entangled love story (translated poetically by Langston Hughes and adapted by Melia Bensussen) descends into tragedy as bloodlines clash and difficult choices must […]
When Sir Oliver Surface returns to England after a voyage in the West Indies, he must choose an heir to his enormous fortune. Rightly suspect of his two nephews’ moral character, Surface goes undercover in an attempt to choose the worthy heir in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. There’s Charles, an extravagant rake […]
Backstage at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, actor Chris Johnston pulls on a red turtleneck and green velvet knickers, a green velvet smock and red-and-white-striped stockings. He ties up a pair of Converse Chuck Taylors with jingle bells on the shoelaces and dons what he calls “a perky stocking cap decorated with […]
A sparse Christmas tree, a roundheaded kid who questions holiday spirit, a jazz soundtrack and a stirring read of the nativity story combined to make history when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” premiered in 1965. To the dismay of its creators, Charles M. Schulz and Bill Melendez, the animated TV show (ironically commissioned by the Coca-Cola […]
In 1943, Charlotte Salomon died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz. Leading up to her capture and unimaginable death, the artist produced 769 expressionist paintings while in hiding from the Nazis. The works came together as an autobiographical play through images called Life? or Theater?. Local playwright Bridget Mitchell opens a new era for the […]
Blues guitarist Dugan McBane is taken hostage by his former lover, Anya Magnifico—a crossword puzzle-obsessed, punk rock princess—and her henchman, Milo. McBane’s release hinges on one thing: a sincere apology. Written by local playwright Robert Wray and featuring original music from Devon Sproule and Paul Curreri, Bullet for Unaccompanied Heart was recently staged at the […]
In Stefanie Zadravec’s Electric Baby, a mysterious moon floats over six characters who navigate through three stories that connect after a car accident. Cast members dig into the depths of sorrow, proffer folk remedies and search for peace throughout the dark comedy. Through November 5. $20-25, times vary. Live Arts, 123 E. Water St. 977-4177.