The Tempest is relatively popular today, perhaps because the story, in which a banished duke uses his magic powers to control and manipulate a sprite, an orphaned child, and to orchestrate a marriage for his own daughter, is ripe material for post-modernist, post-colonial, post-feminist, post-whatever interpretation. If deconstruction exhausts you, this production, which is at the Rollins Studio Theatre at the Long Center for the Performing Arts through September 26, is probably a good bet. Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella has assembled a cast of accomplished vets and energetic newcomers for a classical-feeling interpretation: the audience never doubts that Prospero's magic is real, and even though he is a bit of a controlling dad with delusions of grandeur, he does seem to want happiness for his daughter, and the story ends on the redemptive, uplifting note that is characteristic of the romance plays. more ›

There's a moment in Three Days of Rain that seemed to embody everything frustrating about the play. It comes near the end, when Ned, played as a charming, stuttering nerd by Sean Martin, is making a confession to Sarah Gay's Lina, the object of his fancy, as she's outside of the room. She enters as he waits for a response to tell him that he's rambling, and he responds, "I don't waste words", a powerful line that refers to his stutter. Then he goes on to add, unnecessarily, "I can't afford to." Because of the stutter, see. more ›

Before West Side Story, before Beverly Hills 90210, before Sex and the City, before so much of the drama—high and low brow—we have turned to for entertainment over the past several hundred years…before all that, there was Shakespeare. Master of Play Beth Burns takes her best shot at Shakespeare with a production of the comedy Twelfth Night at the Scottish Rite Theater. The production is perfectly cast. These actors are all so clearly smitten with the bard’s work that you can feel the love as they deliver, and deliver they do. more ›

SPOILER ALERT: Art is not about a painting. Oh sure, there’s a painting at the center Yesmina Reza’s 1998 Tony Award-winning play, and a curious painting at that: it’s a completely white canvas with barely-visible diagonal brushstrokes. But Art is not about a painting. more ›