It seems inevitable that we find ourselves talking about traditions this time of year. Our…
Theatre
“What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come … ”
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Review: Chris McCreary’s ‘Hot Nostalgia’: Burning Questions for Past, Present, and Future
For one night only, writer and performer Chris McCreary presented his solo show Hot Nostalgia, a metatheatrical and eclectic mix of monodrama, stand-up, and sketch comedy. Collectively produced by First Take Co. and Free Women Waltzing Club and hosted at local multiuse artist venue SpaceCraft, Hot Nostalgia is a warm and engaging show that is both deeply reflective and hilariously irreverent, representing the best of Knoxville’s local arts scene and the community efforts and spaces that make it happen.
Review: Theatre Knoxville Downtown’s ‘The Elephant Man’
Theatre Knoxville Downtown presents Bernard Pomerance’s 1977 The Elephant Man. Directed by Sarah Campbell and set during Victorian-era London and Belgium, The Elephant Man recounts the life of Joseph Merrick, a man known for his physical deformities the cause of which modern medicine still does not fully understand.
Review: ‘How To Defend Yourself’ in the Lab Theatre at CBT
The Clarence Brown Theatre presents a troubling and thoughtful recent play, Liliana Padilla’s 2018 How to Defend Yourself, to UTK’s campus, directed by Jayne Morgan. How to Defend Yourself is about just that — a group of college students who join a self-defense class in the wake of the sexual assault of one of their friends. Collaborating with both community and campus resources, CBT’s How to Defend Yourself has an important message for everyone, but one that seems particularly relevant to UTK’s campus community: both students and educators.
Review: Knoxville Opera Finds Treasure with ‘The Pirates of Penzance’
Although the American musical theatre has had a colorful existence of innovation and evolution, it owes that existence to the genre of operetta that graced stages of England and Europe in the last half of the 19th Century. Admittedly, though, time and changing theatrical sensibilities have relegated the bulk of operetta to the dusty shelves of yesteryear, their music and topical stories existing only as curiosities for historians. There are exceptions to that fact—most notably the English operettas of librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan and their topsy-turvy world of comic satire that mocks twisted logic and laughable human conceits. Along with some significant attention from Broadway producers, U.S. opera companies have been drawn to the works as a way of expanding their repertory into lighter fare to contrast with their traditional operatic offerings, retaining the emphasis on impressive voices and eye-catching staging. That is certainly the case with Knoxville Opera and their delightful and incredibly entertaining production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Tennessee Theatre.
Review: Marble City Opera’s Haunting ‘dwb (Driving While Black)’
Marble City Opera’s latest production is ‘dwb (driving while black)’, a one-act opera that dives headlong into the inherently intensifying anxiety faced by Black families as children approach driving age and face the intersection of modern mobility and the horrors of profiling and racist policing. With music by Susan Kander and a libretto by Roberta Gumbel, the 45 minute work features three performer/musicians: Mother (soprano Allison Sanders), Cellist (Cremaine Booker), and Percussion (David Verin). ‘dwb’ is directed by Ivan Griffin, who previously directed MCO’s The Christmas Spider.
Review: ‘Cry It Out’ — Clarence Brown Theatre – The Lab Theatre
BY ALAN SHERROD Molly Smith Metzler’s play, Cry It Out, may be set in…
Review: The WordPlayers – Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ – A Chilling Tale of Female Empowerment
The WordPlayers’ production of Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ honors this tale of radical female empowerment and navigating the unintended consequences of our most personal choices.
Review: ‘Our Town’ at River & Rail Theatre Co. – Americana at Its Finest
Director Joshua Peterson and his ensemble of talented actors and musicians bring Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, to Knoxville in their tender production of Thornton Wilder’s classic 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Our Town.’
Review: A Provocative and Poignant ‘Knoxville’ at Clarence Brown Theatre
The latest adaptation of Agee’s ‘A Death in the Family’ is the musical ‘Knoxville’ written by the late Frank Galati with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. ‘Knoxville’ opened this past weekend at the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Theatre sporting superbly polished staging and a uniformly strong cast. The production continues through September 22.
