Don Calamia
One good, clean fight' opens at the Rep
After opening last season with a slick, top-notch drama by John Patrick Shanley, lightning has struck twice at the Detroit Repertory Theatre with yet another, "Defiance." The second in a proposed trilogy of "D" titled plays, Shanley tackles similar [...]
Sunny days at the Fisher with 'Avenue Q'
On a New York street populated with cute, fuzzy puppets and their living, breathing human neighbors, important life lessons are learned through catchy tunes and video animation. However, as a few red-faced parents discovered the hard way on opening [...]
Local gay couple inspires new comedy
If this sounds like the plot from a unique, new comedy, it is: A gay couple, together for decades, finds their relationship in turmoil when a heretofore unknown daughter and granddaughter enter their lives. Yet as Shakespeare once wrote, "All the [...]
They're making up funny stuff in Ferndale
With a steady stream of bad news coming from every possible direction these days, one thing Metro Detroiters could use right now is a good laugh – or possibly two. And that's exactly what will be served five nights a week at Go Comedy! Improv [...]
A force more powerful than geeks & nerds
It's no secret that local playwright Joseph Zettelmaier is one of the industry's rising young stars. An adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University and prolific author, two of Zettelmaier's efforts have already been nominated for the prestigious [...]
Brave choice, fine production by Matrix
Given today's political correctness, it's rare for a theater company to produce the stage version of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." So it was a pleasant surprise to discover a few months back that Detroit's Matrix [...]
Murder, laughs and Poe-etic justice at MBT
The dark and stormy clouds that haunted the administration of Meadow Brook Theatre this past season have moved onstage where they belong – in "Murder by Poe," the suspense-and-laugh-filled season-opener that's a satisfying treat this Halloween [...]
The curtain rises on a reenergized Meadow Brook Theatre
ROCHESTER – When Cheryl Marshall initiated the successful effort to save the financially-troubled Meadow Brook Theatre in 2003, the beleaguered troupe's group sales manager hardly expected to find herself sitting in the managing director's chair [...]
All things put in order at Breathe Art
One of the most difficult scripts director Demetri Vacratsis and actor Kevin T. Young will ever tackle is likely "Nocturne" by playwright and novelist Adam Rapp. Essentially one long monologue, the script has no stage directions, no indication of [...]
Going nuts over sports at The Second City
Sports – and in particular, Detroit's sports teams – get some good-natured ribbing this month, thanks to the fine improvisers at The Second City. And even the most diehard fan will laugh often and hard at "Second City's Got Balls: An Evening of [...]
A new 'chapter' begins JET's 20th season
It seems like it was only a few short years ago that The Jewish Ensemble Theatre Company debuted. But no: The West Bloomfield-based professional theater opened its 20th season Sept. 6, and for that alone founding artistic director Evelyn Orbach is [...]
Local mayors join area actors on stage in historic fundraiser at The Ringwald
FERNDALE – History will be made September 11 when actors from Southeast Michigan's first-ever production of Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" reunite with an all-star cast of local thespians and politicians at Ferndale's Ringwald Theatre to raise [...]