Don Calamia
An afternoon of pride with 'Jeffrey'
FERNDALE – To celebrate Pride, Who Wants Cake? Theatre will present the comedy "Jeffrey" at a special discount ticket price of $10 for the 3 p.m. performance on June 1. Called the first successful American romantic comedy in response to the AIDS [...]
For better or for worse at The Abreact
One characteristic of our small professional theaters that I find most appealing is their willingness to take risks. With lower overhead and often a different customer mix than their bigger-budget siblings, our storefront theaters are the perfect [...]
Sex, love, risks, laughs at The Ringwald
As gay men buried more and more of their friends and lovers who succumbed to AIDS in the late 1980s and early '90s, playwright Paul Rudnick wrote what has since been called "the first successful American romantic comedy in response to the epidemic." [...]
Groovy, silly late night fun at the Ant
What do you get when you mix a handful of the best female improvisers in town with one relative newcomer? The answer can be found late night every Friday and Saturday through May 24 at Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre when the original comedy "Code [...]
TIDBITS: '9 Parts,' calendar and Wilde
ITEM: Timing is everything – and sometimes it sucks. Originally scheduled for this space was a review of "9 Parts of Desire" that's playing at the Marlene Boll Theatre in downtown Detroit through May 24. But when critic Robert Bethune showed up at [...]
Fugard celebrates life in the theater
Relationships in the theater are often fleeting. Actors are cast in a show, they become fast friends and then they go their separate ways – in many cases, never to cross paths again. In "Exits and Entrances," now at Ann Arbor's Performance Network [...]
Oy! Universal fun and laughter at JET
The old adage "If you can't laugh at yourself, then who CAN you laugh at?" certainly proved true at the opening night performance of "Oy!" at The Jewish Ensemble Theatre. Referred to as "a comic tribute to all things Jewish and all things human," [...]
Everything changes at Tipping Point
If professional wrestling is "the only innovative form of modern dance we have left," as one of the characters says in the comedy "Manuscript" that's now playing at Northville's Tipping Point Theatre, then the deep, complex plot choreographed by [...]
Powerful, but inspirational story challenges young performers of Mosaic Youth Theatre
DETROIT – Although education is an accepted fact of life for most young people in the 21st century, recently-freed slaves in post-emancipation America were often still denied that basic right. But one brave group of students at a Southern [...]
New theater fills niche in Grand Rapids
It's a conversation heard countless times in theaters everywhere: Two eager, young actors are talking backstage when one says to the other, "Wouldn't it be fun to start our own theater?" Most don't, of course. But on April 17, co-founders Jay [...]
Theres no horsing around at The Abreact
Last winter, Abreact co-founder Thomas Hoagland returned from New York and re-imagined the musical ÒSweeney ToddÓ into one of the most talked-about shows of the season. Now, a year later, heÕs back with yet another rarely-produced classic, [...]
Twice-monthly improv gets to the 'Point'
"Improv is improv, isn't it?" a friend remarked when he learned I was about to review yet another improvisational comedy last week. "That's like saying all wines are alike, or all hamburgers," I replied. "It all depends on the ingredients and how [...]