TDF Stages Archive
An online theatre magazine
Read about NYC’s best theatre and dance productions and watch video interviews with innovative artists
-
How Do You Bring a Circus to the People?
Circus Amok’s latest show marks 25 years of public fun (with a message) — When my then-three-year-old first saw Jennifer Miller, she blurted out, “You’re a girl with a beard!” It’s an exclamation the Circus Amok founder has gotten used to hearing over the decades, whether she’s onstage or off. A performer, playwright, Pratt professor, […]
-
The Queen of Hearts Dances, The Mad Hatter Taps
Susan Reiter covers dance for TDF Stages.
-
Want to Know How The Story Ends? Pay Up.
For a practical lesson in economics, try being hungry on Governors Island. The ferry ride to this lovely enclave is only $2—or completely free if you sail out early—and considering all the activities, views, and traffic-free silence the place offers, that’s a spectacular deal. But if you don’t bring your lunch, noontime might find you […]
-
This Conversation Is an Earthquake
By MARK BLANKENSHIP Kenneth Lonergan’s play This Is Our Youth, now on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, begins with shenanigans. In 1982 a troubled kid named Warren gets kicked out of his house, so he steals $15,000 from his dad and scurries over to Dennis, his drug-dealing, narcissistic friend who lives by himself on the […]
-
“Bootycandy” Has So Many Flavors
In some ways, Bootycandy is a wild fantasy. Robert O’Hara’s latest play, now at Playwrights Horizons, just keeps breaking storytelling conventions, so that every time we think we understand it, it dodges and weaves. For instance, we might start with a sitcom-style scene about a little boy and his mother, but in a just a […]
-
Which Performance Would You Go Back in Time to See?
Welcome to Geek Out/Freak Out, where theatre fans get super enthusiastic about things. This week, Stages editor Mark Blankenship geeks out (via Gchat) with Allison Taylor, TDF’s very own Manager of Individual Giving and Events. Today’s Topic: Which performance would you go back in time to see? — Mark Blankenship : Hello Allison! Before we […]
-
“If/Then” Star LaChanze As Theatre Gateway Drug
Welcome to Fanmail, our tributes to theatre artists we admire — As a small white boy from Honolulu, I always had difficulty explaining my obsession with The Color Purple. I suppose it started with Alice Walker’s graceful writing in the book, and intensified when I watched Whoopi Goldberg’s and Oprah Winfrey’s powerful performances in the movie. But […]
-
She’s Standing Next to Herself
by Raven Snook — Welcome to Building Character, our ongoing look at performers and how they create their roles Crafting a character is always a collaborative process, with the performer, playwright, director, and designers all informing how a person moves from the page to the stage. But in Naomi Wallace’s intimate drama And I and […]
-
When Do You Stop Seeing the Barbed Wire?
It’s always there, stretched across the stage. For the entire 70 minutes of The Good and the True, a play based on the recollections of Holocaust survivors Hana Pravda and Milos Dobry, barbed wire hangs between us and the actors. Even after the characters survive Auschwitz and death marches, the wire is there. Even when […]