Society 805 - Page 2

APR

25

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Review:To Woo Is to Win

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Theatre

Review

Santa Paula Theatre Center’s Outside Mullingar and The Elite Theatre Company’s Engaging Shaw

Though profoundly different in virtually every other aspect, the current offering of two 805 theatres, the Santa Paula Theatre Center’s Outside Mullingar and the Elite Theatre’s Engaging Shaw, feature the exact same theme: the long-term wooings of a woman for a remarkably resistant man.

Jessi May Stevenson (left) as Rosemary, Cecil Sutton as Tony and Rosalee Calvillo as Aoife in the romantic Irish comedy OUTSIDE MULLINGAR by John Patrick Shanley, Photo Credit: Brian Stethem

2253 Hits

MAR

14

0

Review: Agnes of God at the Elite

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Theatre

A well-worth seeing production of Agnes of God is currently playing at the Elite theatre in Oxnard. It is the first play in a season of challenging and important plays by the Elite this year. Season tickets are highly recommended.

As the play opens, we are given to believe that Agnes is a young woman who has evidently murdered her newborn child while living in a Catholic convent. She seems remarkably and a bit uncannily unhinged and it is up to a court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr Martha Livingstone, with her own Catholic demons to fight, to try and unravel the situation or even decide whether Agnes is sane enough to stand trial. Set as a murder mystery, the play completely upends that genre as it unfolds as a three-way psychological wrestling match between Dr. Livingstone, Agnes, and Agnes’s Mother Superior, who is herself not all she at first appears to be.

Photo credit:Joe Orrego

3115 Hits

FEB

18

1

Review:The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at ETC

By Daniel Kepl

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Review-

Russian American Jews composing an opera about racism in the Deep South circa 1935 featuring a virtually all-black cast? George and Ira Gershwin were considered out of their minds if not outright un-American at the time for such boundary-bending audacity. Their masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, from a libretto by Dubose Heyward based on his novel Porgy was shunned after its initial debut and all but forgotten for decades. In recent years, though, especially since the civil rights movement of the 60’s, the opera has been revived and re-spirited on several occasions using diverse media and genres; recognized at last, as a major American folk opera of unparalleled genius and universal humanitarian message and appeal.

Photo Credit: David Bazemore

2568 Hits

Tags:

masterpiece Porgy boundary-bending audacity Ira Gershwin Deep South Russian American Jews

2568 Hits

FEB

07

0

Review: Driving Home: Rubicon Concludes Nibroc Trilogy

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Review-

With the wonderful cast and director of the previous installments reprising their roles, the third and last installment of the Nibroc Trilogy, Gulf View Drive, the conclusion to one of the most popular and critically acclaimed projects in Rubicon Theatre history, opened to an energetic and enthusiastic house last night. The play runs through 12 February 2017, and if you missed any of the two previous parts of the trilogy, no worries, this play stands on its own and offers up some first-rate comedy in the process.

(left) Erik Odom, Faline England, Sharon Sharth and Lily Nicksay star in Gulf View Drive, the final play of the acclaimed Nibroc Trilogy by Arlene Hutton .Performances January 25 – February 12 at Rubicon Theatre Company. Photo credit: Jeanne Tanner

2955 Hits

DEC

06

1

Review:Jason Furlani’s Family Trees at the Elite

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Review-

The Elite Theatre of Oxnard presents the world premier of Jason Furlani’s Family Trees, a rambling, good-natured comedy set in Schenectady, New York. With a set that feels just like my late aunt’s house in Schenectady; solid, heartfelt acting, and a very funny script, the play is a great choice for the holidays, full of a warmth and good-will that will have everyone leaving the theatre with a smile.

Photo Credit: Joe Orrego

3603 Hits

DEC

05

0

Review: Chapter Two at ETC

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Caroline Kinsolving and Todd Weeks in Chapter Two 2

Review-

Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of Neil Simon’s Chapter Two offers ample evidence why Neil Simon’s plays are some of the most successful and frequently performed theatre in the world. Chapter Two is in many ways one of the best and certainly one of the most uniquely personal plays in the Neil Simon universe.

Understanding beyond all expectation. Caroline Kinsolving and Todd Weeks in Neil Simon's Chapter Two at the Ensemble Theatre Company.

Photo Credit: David Bazemore.

3398 Hits

OCT

17

0

Review: Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

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Review

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons

Big credit goes to the Elite Theatre for bringing in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, one of the great classics of post-War American theatre. The play is multi-layered, dynamic, timeless, and superbly written. A must-see for all theatre fans.

Allen Gardner and Jim Seerden. Elite Theater Co Oxnard, CA

3276 Hits

SEP

24

0

Review: Night Alive at SPTC

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

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Review-

The Santa Paula Theatre Center is currently showing an outstanding production of The Night Alive, a wonderfully written, recent [2013] play by Conor McPherson, undoubtedly one of the best playwrights of our time. This is an excellent production of a great play, by one of our greatest playwrights. Don’t miss it.

(l) Cecil Sutton and (r)Ron Feltner in Conor McPherson’s The Night Aliveat the Santa Paula Theater Center, downtown Santa Paula, through 2 October, 2016.

2970 Hits

JUL

23

0

Review: This Isn’t Kansas, Is it?

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Hear No Evil Anna Strickland Derek Petropolis Shelby Maloney James James

Review-

Flying H Theatre company brings us Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s The Totalitarians, a dark and a bit daffy comedy about a political campaign gone awry, just in time for the current political season.

The sad thing is that it may be the last play produced by the Flying H Theatre, which announced that it would be closing its doors after The Totalitarians runs. This is a serious loss for theatre in the 805 as there is no other theatre here like it.

3725 Hits

JUL

15

0

Review - Open Meeting Closed at the Elite

By Erik ReeL - Arts and Culture Contributing Editor at Large

Nancy Solomons Kelley Rohrborn Angela DeCicco Jolyn Johnson Sindy McKay in OPEN MEETING CLOSED

Last weekend to see this

Review-

The Elite Theatre Company’s Tom Eubanks has wisely brought fellow playwright, Michael Perlmutter’s new play Open Meeting Closed to their South Stage for what is turning out to be a banner year for the Elite’s South Stage. Perlmutter also directs.

Perlmutter has been quite active acting in the local theatre scene this year as well with appearances at the Santa Paula Theater, Flying H, and Ojai, but this play makes clear that Perlmutter is, after all, a fine writer and playwright.

3715 Hits