Sitting on the porch of Eugene O’Neill’s Monte Cristo Cottage created a special variant of déjà vu that connected two giants of the American theater. Settling into one of the rocking chairs overlooking the Thames River felt just like settling into one of the rocking...
The Conference Hat: To embarrass the conference chair (this year, Chris Rawson), on the final day he’s made to wear a hat laden with memorabilia from previous conferences, presented by the previous conference chair (Jay Handelman, right, who chaired Sarasota). The chief recompense is that...
NEW LONDON and WATERFORD, Conn., Thursday, 7:30 a.m. — I arrived here Monday and the rest of the executive committee Tuesday, with the bulk of the participating ATCA members swarming in yesterday (and more to come today). But this is the first moment I’ve had to sit down...
Michael Phillips, film critic for the Chicago Tribune, most recently shared TV’s “On the Movies” with A.O. Scott as joint successors to Siskel & Ebert. Before that he had a record cross-country tour as theater critic, moving briskly from the Dallas Times-Herald to the San Diego Union-Tribune...
Living in Louisville, I’ve been at nearly every Humana Festival except for the nine years I lived in San Francisco. Festival number 34 was neither the best nor the worst but I wish it had offered at least one breakout piece such as “After Ashley”...
One of the 2010 Humana Festival shows is a collective work (with its roots in the brilliant folks from the now defunct Theatre de la Jeune Lune), Fissures (lost and found), an evocative, poetic piece about memory — teaching us, among other things that each time...
I’m finally doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time — attend the Humana Festival of New Plays. I can’t wait to go home so that I can start planning on coming back year after year. This event energizes not only playwrights, producers et...
Ya gotta love a theater festival that starts with a cocktail party — especially the classy parties at wealthy supporters’ houses that light up the Thursday night start of the Humana Festival’s Special Visitors Weekend (formerly Critics Weekend, but that’s how it is for critics...
“Are you here for the show?” the guy on the elevator asked. Thursday night, around ten o’clock. Cold, rainy. I’d just driven down from Cincinnati and had barely enough time to check into the hotel before heading over to 21c (art gallery, hotel and performance space) for my...
Although I have to get in my car and drive 100 miles, attending the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville always feels like coming home. First and perhaps foremost, it’s the hospitality that guests for the annual “Visitors Weekend” are afforded. When we arrive...