Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep) is one of the major assets in Oklahoma City.  Of course, Oklahoma is well known in the sporting arena with the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State Cowboys and now the Thunders, but the contributions in performing arts are also being noticed.  Of course, Oklahoma City has long been known for producing exceptional talent in ballet as well as music and theatre.  Thanks largely to CityRep, major stars are recognizing Oklahoma City as an important place.  Important because here talent is appreciated and performers are given the credit they are due.… Continue reading →

Oklahoma City University has long been noted for academic excellence in virtually every discipline.  In performing arts, it is evident from the quality of production in theatre, music, musical theatre and dance.  John Bedford, Dean of OCU’s Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management and Jo Rowan, Chairman of the Ann Lacy School of Dance and founder of the American Spirit Dance Company are quite a team.  Since 1981, the American Spirit Dance Company has showcased a revue that reveals the exceptional talents of the students attending OCU.  The program is exciting and beautiful,… Continue reading →

The Jewel Box Theatre is nearing sixty years of quality community theatre.  “Bus Stop” by William Inge is just a little older.  Inge, a significant and award winning playwright created the drama with memories of his own roots on the plains.  The howling winds blowing across the prairies in Kansas and Oklahoma can suddenly produce dangerous storms.  An early March snowstorm has closed the roads in a small town just 25 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri.  The bus pulls into Grace’s Diner but cannot continue on as the roads have been closed.  The… Continue reading →

Paul Taylor, Liza Clark and Bob Hess holding their Simpson Masks by Robert Pittenridge

 “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play” by Anne Washburn is a critically acclaimed favorite for the millennial generation.   Washburn envisions life for survivors following an apocalypse that has decimated the population and destroyed their infrastructure, including the nuclear power plants.  The resulting radioactivity further decimates the population several times over. Survivors group together defending themselves from marauders and wondering how to build a new world as they grieve for all they have lost.  Family, friends, lovers, neighbors, refrigeration, television and texting are all… Continue reading →

It is easy to love, to hear the music in the heart and soul that comes from loving another.  Understanding that this sustaining love is a gift from God makes the music even more beautiful.  And that is how the women feel in the opera “Dark Sisters” presented at Oklahoma City University in the Kirkpatrick Theatre. “Dark Sisters” is a modern opera premiering in 2011 and based on the events that took place in a cult that has been separated from the Church of Latter Day Saints for over a century.  Initially, plural marriage was an important… Continue reading →

Paul Elliott is the successful playwright who created a mythical character, Mary, and then wrote “Exit Laughing” for all of her survivors.  That includes any member of the audience viewing “Exit Laughing” or anyone loving someone who left us laughing through our tears.  Mary was the fourth in a weekly bridge game alongside her contemporaries, a group of genteel southern ladies who are reminiscent of the ladies in ‘Designing Women’ and ‘Golden Girls’ from sitcoms of the ‘80’s and followed by the hit movie, ‘Steel Magnolias’ in 1989.

In “Exit Laughing” Connie, Leona and Millie meet at Connie’s… Continue reading →

Theresa Rebeck is a prestigious playwright with extensive experience in television and movies.  She understands the literary process and its contributors.  Although writers tend to be egocentric like many artists, they also must be empathetic in order to create the personalities readers or an audience can enjoy.  Rebeck’s “Seminar” is a play about writers and she reveals the conflicts and angst among them with wit as well as admirable character creation.  “Seminar” a BIGNOSE Production, presented at Shakespeare on the Paseo, also requires a director and actors who understand the… Continue reading →

The Pollard Theatre in Guthrie is presenting August Wilson’s award winning “Fences” under the skillful leadership of director Akin Babatunde.  Babatunde, a Brooklyn native, comes to us from Dallas, after bringing to Texas a significant talent that touches virtually every Dallas theatre.  And now, Mr. Babatunde has brought his director’s touch to Oklahoma to direct “Fences” for Guthrie’s Pollard Theatre Company.

The story revolves around Troy Maxson, a black man born just before the turn of the previous century.  In the 1950’s the obstacles for a black family to overcome were considerable, and in the arena of… Continue reading →

John Venable

Anyone who has ever loved another of the opposite sex, whether spouse, parent, sibling or friend is often flummoxed trying to figure things out.  Countless novels, short stories, plays, songs and operas are written and performed with the battle of the sexes at the center of the plot.  But anyone who really does want to figure it out should see “Defending the Caveman” and, suddenly, it will all become clear.  That understanding comes with more laughs than a barrel of monkeys or a cave filled with their descendants.

“Defending the Caveman” is the longest running… Continue reading →

“Assassins” Cast led by Mateja Govice as John Wilkes Booth (center)

“Assassins” is one of Stephen Sondheim’s masterpieces, and an excellent example of the power in dark comedy, as well as musical dynamism. Music and lyrics are by Sondheim who based the story on an idea by playwright Charles Gilbert, Jr. and the book is by John Weidman. The story revolves around a gathering of historical presidential assassins, successful and unsuccessful, meeting in a public place which may be evocative of the most depressing aspect of societal institutional interaction-the Department of Motor Vehicles.  Because the show reflects the… Continue reading →