106 stories by "Mark Dundas Wood"
Jean-Claude van Itallie, one of the key figures in New York's Off-Off Broadway theater in the 1960's, takes on Trumpian politics in his new play, "The Fat Lady Sings" (directed by David Schw…
You may leave "Strangers" with mixed reactions. The proceedings onstage may make you feel as disoriented and tetchy as the villagers themselves. The characters' words as they vainly try to m…
The play is carefully plotted, and the tragic action that Snider builds runs its course in a logical, plausible fashion. But something about "Death of a Driver" never quite catches fire. The…
The property is now more than a half-century old. But this production makes it seem as though the 1964 iteration were merely an English-language version of a classic from even longer ago. Th…
Thompson does good work as Billie"she looks like her and sounds like her when singing. Too bad, though, that her songs are all ballads. It would have been nice to hear her sing something mor…
Welch and the play's director, Jonathan Weber, seem to be going for a sort of Ionesco-esque ambience here. The story unfolds in a broadly played, cartoonish way. Occasionally, a satirical ja…
The play is a thoughtful and illuminating look at the attractions and perils of a career in adult entertainment. Lauren's story is a cautionary tale, yes, but the underlying attitude of the …
There are many dimensions to Ray Yamanouchi's "The American Tradition," directed by Axel Avin, Jr. for the New Light Theater Project. On one level, it's an adventure story about a daring att…
Broken Box Mime Theater's SKIN is a collection of short plays loosely centered around its one-word title. The pieces run the gamut in terms of subject matter, approach and tone. Or course, m…
Obviously, this is a play for which any sort of a happy ending will be deeply compromised, but what Simpson does so beautifully is show us how these women overcome their suspicions and envy …
Eve Wolf's play is essentially a monodrama, with John Noble portraying the title character. The production is a rich one, both visually and aurally. It features an abundance of live music, p…
The supernatural scenario is a little like something one might find on an eerie episode of Alfred Hitchcock's old TV anthology. Unfortunately, it all comes off as fairly stilted and heavy-ha…
In the plus column, it was easy on the eyes. Scenic designer Lou Anne Gilleland created agreeable though not particularly elaborate sets: a rocky stretch of seashore for the first act and a …
But these speeches are only a part of the soundscape. The production is suffused with music"all of it a cappella vocalizing by the cast. We hear barracks songs, patriotic songs, hymns and dr…
Gradually, as the course of a year passes, we learn about the characters' trouble-filled off-stage lives: Rory is coping with being part of a broken family; Bernard suffered loss early in li…
It's a very presentational show. The six ensemble members comprise a sort of group narrator, working in tandem to relate the memories of the Thomas character for the audience"sometimes sorti…
"The New One," directed by Seth Barrish, is about Birbiglia and his wife's decision to become parents, the struggles they go through to arrive at pregnancy, and his fretfulness about how bec…
The play succeeds in part because it takes such an upbeat view of Steinem and her career. Early in the play, the character proclaims herself to be a "hope-aholic""and her stalwart optimism p…
There are some fine elements in the portrayal. Arrow's Kennedy-clan dialect seems believable"though maybe slightly over-baked at points (especially when, late in the play, he sings bits of W…
As for cast standouts, Greenwood excelled both musically and dramatically. His ringing, expressive vocals and crisp diction made him an audience favorite. And he created an effective charact…
Like his breakthrough 1944 play The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams' A Lovely Sunday for Creve Couer (1979) is set in a humble St. Louis apartment in the 1930s. It's another of the many …
Lillian Hellman's Days to Come (now at the Mint Theater Company) was not a success when it premiered in New York in 1936. In fact, this second play of the Hellman canon (after The Children's…
If you're a celebrity actor, the world can easily learn about your life and career. You probably have your own website"and there may even be a fan-site or two out there devoted to you. If yo…
My Life on a Diet, starring Renée Taylor (now at the Theatre at St. Clement's), is also the name of a book by Taylor, published in 1986. The stage version has been around for a while too. H…
The plot of the 1965 Broadway musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever centers on reincarnation. A kooky young New Yorker, Daisy Gamble, visits a psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Bruckner, for help …
