Woody Shticks Excels in “Who Cares?”
Woody Shticks is many things- a comedian, a stripper, a comedian-stripper, and above all, an endlessly charismatic solo performer. His […]
18th and Union
The Unconventional “Afternoon Delight” Creates a Welcoming Space
Afternoon Delight, the final show in the Tender Loving Queers minifestival through, began with a potluck. I’ve never been to a show that
The Color of Our Hearts Makes for a Muddled We Are Here! Outing
The Color of Our Hearts is ambitious, but not as cohesive as the best of the We Are Here! Festival at
We are Here: Do You: A Journey Home.
The Shotglass Heard Round the World
Was a line in Sara Geiger’s Church of Christ N’Pals solo performance part of Intiman’s Festival of Emerging Artists. It referred to Marsha P. Jones who started the Stonewall riot of 1968 in New York City, which ignited the Gay Liberation Front by throwing a shotglass at the N.Y. City vice squad. The image was great and it was a great parody of a famous patriotic line in a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson about the Battle of Lexington. 
Fat Chance! and Regresando Showcase Powerful Solo Performers at the We Are Here! Festival
Alexandra Kronz and Cassandra Leon, two fantastic young performers, have crafted an excellent pair of seriocomic solo shows in Fat
We Are Here-Never Did It
Two Funny Dudes Make us Laugh ( and almost cry)
I felt very privileged to be in the audience for Never Did It, the first shows of We Are Here, Intiman’s Festival of original works by Emerging Artists at 18th and Union. Never Did It was comprised of The Hummingbird by Chris Quilici and Just Do It Already by Ponch. aka Alfonso Campos Jr,
Honesty and Integrity Painted Over in ‘Framed’
On one surface, Framed investigates questions about art: What is art? What is talent? What do you see in a painting? Who makes a work valuable? On another surface this show is about spoiled, foiled, and soiled relationships.
Soon enough, we learn what each desires. Joanie wants her art to be respected and sold in legitimate galleries though she is more poseur than artist; May has natural talent and takes art lessons from Joanie to learn how to draw a particular face; Jake wants to work for Nick; and Nick wants to keep his wife happy, stay married, and a make money booking illegal bets.
In sound human relationships we desire ethics, truthfulness, and honesty. These characters don’t have these virtues so there’s double-crossing, lying, and deceit. What fun!
Hostages-Gallows Humor
A play of mine called Hostages, written almost thirty years ago … I’m curious to see how it stands up after all these years…….Yussef El Guindi
Hostages, by Yussef El Guindi, which opened this weekend at 18th and Union is only tangentially about the political situation in the Middle East, the essence of Hostages is the relationship between two individuals, who do not like each other, stuck in an isolated situation for an unbearably long period of time.
It could have been written yesterday to remind us that even though the initial perpetrators of the current Middle East crisis, the two Bush presidents, have been out of office for a long time, presidents Clinton, Obama and the 45th have all been unable to create peace and stop the bombing of innocent civilians.
But, it also could have been written 100 years ago during the Russian civil war, about an aristocrat and a liberal democrat being imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, or 72 years ago when disgraced ex-concentration camp commandant Nazis were imprisoned with generals involved in the Stauffenberg plot to assassinate Hitler, because the play spoke about universal human emotions. I predict that this play will be just as relevant in 500 years as Shakespeare is today.
The Moonshine Revival Tent: Revives Story Telling
Modern Storytelling
Two delightful Storytelling shows are running this weekend at 18th and Union, Why the Moon Hides his Face and All Her Earthly Days (and other American Fairy Tales) both by Bret Fetzer’s The Moonshine Revival Tent crew, which is a unique fusion of storytelling and a cappella choral singing. Written by the eloquent Bret Fetzer, his fairy tales take place in a world half-Appalachian, half-Dust-Bowl, where magic springs from coal mines and cigarettes, where there is always a morality, wit, superb writing, delightful singing and an excellent performance from Bret and singer Sari Breznau, Mike Gilson, Christine Longé and Jillian Vashro
Hamlet’s Haunted House of Sueños Captivates at 18th and Union
Before a word is spoken on stage, House of Sueños, directed by Wiley Basho Gorn from a script written and