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...
When Tang Met Laika (photo by Terry Shapiro) Of the two fully staged productions of new plays as part of the Colorado New Play Summit (see below), Rogelio Martinez’ When Tang Met Laika presented a challenge to the designers that particularly intrigued me. I happened to have an...
Below is our first attempt at a group blog from an ATCA gathering, with the most recent posted on top. These were all we had time for in three very busy days. Some ATCA members at the Denver conference: (left to right, in rear) Jim Steinberg, Chris...
A few thoughts about the Denver conference, all of them surprises. First, this Floridian found the weather was not half as harsh as I was expecting, although I hear that’s a spin of the roulette wheel. Second, this was as well-run and smooth an event...