Amy Freed Adapts Shakespeare for Modern Times by Robert M. Gardner At the opening of African American Shakespeare Company’s “Taming of the Shrew,” I expected a retelling of Shakespeare’s famous battle of the sexes comedy. But I got a blast from the past, based in San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love. Shakespeare’s words still…
Tanya Barfield’s Professor Faces His Demons, Brings Us to Tears by Lynne Stevens After a bout of terrible insomnia, math professor Lewis (the stellar Michael J. Asberry) is visited by the ghosts of his African American ancestors. They want to explain his life and they won’t take no for an answer. In tee shirt…
Amelio Garcia Tells Passionate Queer Coming Out Tale by K. Marguerite Caronna There’s no escaping those Greeks. “Red Red Red” is based on Greek scholar Anne Carson’s queer coming of age story called Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse, which includes fragments of poetry by Greek poet Stesichorus. Amelio Garcia’s play tracks Red’s…
Torange Yeghiazarian Pairs Passion with U.S./Iran Conflict by Lynne Stevens What makes “The Tutor” different from any other love triangle? Well, there are more than three players in this affair. An Iranian couple and their friendly “tutor” play out their entanglement against sharp political conflict. The fourth player is Iran, itself, during the 2022…