Don Calamia
Messy lives, slick season opener in A2
Elsewhere in BTL this week: 'Seven Passages: The Story of Gay Christians' in Grand Rapids. With pretty much every play that's ever produced, the audience is expected to "suspend its disbelief" – that is, to accept as fact that Peter Pan can fly, or [...]
The Ringwald: It's all good, of course
One of the great religious debates since the Reformation has centered on the Catholic and Protestant positions regarding free will and predestination. Playwright Craig Wright modernizes the discussion by placing it squarely in the aftermath of the [...]
Big dreams, great opening in Northville
No one in Tipping Point Theatre's inaugural production of "Don't Dress for Dinner" plays their part very convincingly – except for the six excellent actors who star in this impressive debut of Metro Detroit's newest professional Equity theater [...]
Mah-Dey Theatre celebrates Latina women
I can't remember the last time when two new professional theaters opened at the exact same time here in Metro Detroit, but that's what happened last week with the debuts of both the Tipping Point Theatre in Northville and the Mah-Dey Theatre of [...]
Yes, it really WAS 'One Wilde Night'
Neither torrential rain nor scorching temperatures kept a near-capacity crowd of approximately 325 from packing Detroit's Gem Theatre Aug. 29 for The 2007 Wilde Awards. The event, sponsored by Between The Lines, brought together the LGBT and [...]
The curtain rises on a brand new season
Theater is busting out all over the place this week, as the 2007/08 season officially gets underway not with a trickle of new shows, but with a deluge. The curtain will rise over the next few days on an astounding 12 shows – and two new theater [...]
Big dreams and hard work spawn metro Detroit's newest professional theater
NORTHVILLE – Christina Johnson carefully steps through the dust and debris of what was until recently a light industrial warehouse. A section of the building's outer wall is missing. There's no working air conditioning or plumbing. And with only [...]
Throw up your hands & laugh at Second City
Dearly beloved, we gather at The Second City – not to MOURN the state of Michigan, but to LAUGH at it. And trust me: You will, because the troupe's latest revue, "Night of Living Debt," finds all sorts of humor in our state's – and country's – [...]
It's not just laughs at The Second City
NOVI – When executives at the Chicago offices of The Second City went searching for a new producing artistic director for their Detroit theater, it's doubtful the want ad read, "Looking for a musician and filmmaker, improviser and student of [...]
Art _ Around for the period Aug. 9-18
SUMMER ARTS FESTIVALS: Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights A weekly summer festival of free concerts, children's entertainers and other attractions staged simultaneously every Thursday evening in downtown Chelsea on Main Street. Festival [...]
All the world's a blog - and now me, too
I give up. You win. I'd never really considered becoming a blogger, but wiser minds, I guess, convinced me otherwise. So effective this past week I joined the exciting world of blogging. The big question, of course, is this: Does anybody really [...]
Glitz & glam
ANN ARBOR – Mae West didn't discover curves; she only uncovered them. And now theatergoers will have a chance to display their curves Aug.17 when Performance Network Theatre honors the movie icon's 114th birthday with a special "Drag Night" [...]