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PianoFight's skits in ShortLived better than SNL

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: May 21, 2008

PianoFight productions encourages audience members to brown-bag their own booze; the crew even throws a couple of Budweisers and miniature whiskey bottles into the crowd right before the lights go...

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This Whore is good filthy fun

By Christopher Jensen

Published: May 21, 2008

John Ford's 17th-century tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore takes an exuberant interest in taboo and revenge. It isn't a prim play. The plot concerns a coquettish maiden who gets knocked up by her...

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Camellias a Farce Only Theater Snobs Could Love

By Christopher Jensen

Published: May 14, 2008

The name of Sarah Bernhardt might not mean much to most theatergoers — at least, not beyond a vague awareness that she was once considered the world's greatest actress. The name Eleonora...

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The Cooking Show Gives Us Something to Savor

Published: May 14, 2008

Multicultural food blends with progressive politics in this warm and amusing performance about what we put into — and what comes out of — our mouths. Mero Cochinero Karimi (Robert...

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Václav Havel plays offer a good night of theater

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: May 7, 2008

Each of these three semiautobiographical shorts by Czech dissident Václav Havel contains the same protagonist, Ferdinand Vanek, an activist playwright who is less a character per se and...

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Out Cry even worse than its source material

By Christopher Jensen

Published: May 7, 2008

Even the best Tennessee Williams plays present a problem for actors: So much of his dialogue is so overripe that unwitting performers can be sucked into a camp vortex that transforms mannered...

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Monkey Room

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: April 23, 2008

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation commissioned this play as part of an initiative to explore the worlds of science and technology through theater. The result feels a bit like a hybrid of medical...

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Thrill Me

By Molly Rhodes

Published: April 23, 2008

In 1924, two bright and privileged young men, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, killed a boy because they believed they could get away with it. As Loeb, actor William Giammona is riveting in songs...

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A.C.T. comedy directed by Carey Perloff a big stinker

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: April 16, 2008

Hailed as Russia's most beloved comedy and newly translated by "Britain's greatest living satirist" Alistair Beaton, the American Conservatory Theater has loaded the cast of The Government...

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7 Sins

By Will Harper

Published: April 16, 2008

Halfway through James Judd's entertaining 75-minute solo show at Theatre Rhinoceros' studio, it dawns on you: Who the hell is this guy and why am I laughing so hard? While autobiographical...

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Fences

By Molly Rhodes

Published: April 9, 2008

August Wilson's Pulitzer-winning play gets a moving production from the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Alex Morris deftly captures the pride and the fury of Troy Maxson, a former Negro League...

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Strange Travel Suggestions

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: April 9, 2008

Jeff Greenwald has a mantra when embarking on one of his many treks to far-flung global destinations: "May all of your travels make a fool of you." In the return of this sublime 90-minute night of...

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Coronado

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: April 2, 2008

Dennis Lehane is the current go-to guy for gritty drama soaked in family tragedy. He wrote books that were adapted for the screen for Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone and Clint Eastwood's Mystic...

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Mrs. Warren's Profession

By Molly Rhodes

Published: April 2, 2008

Approaching the plays of George Bernard Shaw as if they were typical 19th-century drawing-room dramas is like tying a lead weight to your foot before jumping in the pool. Sure, your swimming or...

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Mimetic

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: March 19, 2008

According to the dictionary, "mimetic" means "imitative." Given that this original play is set primarily at the San Francisco Zoo, the title could be referring to the actors mimicking animals. Or...

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Romeo & Juliet and Other Duets

By Molly Rhodes

Published: March 19, 2008

Longtime theatrical partners Deborah Gwinn and Jim Cave put their own quirky, captivating spin on Ionesco's The Chairs and Shakespeare's famous star-crossed lovers. With little more than a rack...

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Serve by Expiration Goes Where The Office Fears to Shred

By Molly Rhodes

Published: March 12, 2008

This sketch comedy show is about what those people in ties, khakis, and button-downs really get up to at work. Many of the sketches embrace topics that hit television shows like The Office only...

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Carrie Fisher Roasts Herself with a Toast at Berkeley Rep

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: March 12, 2008

Carrie Fisher's solo show feels less like a play and more like cocktails over at her house. Within five minutes, Fisher has kicked off her shoes, poured herself a massive glass of Diet Coke, lit a...

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A Secret for Next Sunday

Intriguing elements still don't add up to a compelling storyline.

By Nathaniel Eaton

Published: March 5, 2008

Set in Chicago in 1991, with flashbacks to 1950s Alabama, Charles Johnson's play is about two African-American couples who share a dark past that prevents them from returning to the South. The...

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Wakefield; or Hello, Sophia

Playwright Brian Thorstenson's script picks up where Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story left off

By Molly Rhodes

Published: March 5, 2008

Central Works Theater Ensemble and playwright Brian Thorstenson bring out the best in each other in this elegant 70-minute production about how to reignite a marriage thought lost forever. The...