ICS’ ‘The Niceties’ neatly captures the zeitgeist

ICS’ ‘The Niceties’ neatly captures the zeitgeist

Photo by Matthew Tippins Zoe (Rachel Michelle Bryant) is clearly unhappy with her professor (Lisa Kay King) in Island City Stage’s production of The Niceties.   By AARON KRAUSE “What are you doing to promote equality?” a black college student demands of her white professor in Eleanor Burgess’s taut, intense,...

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Playwright peels away ‘The Niceties’ from her piece

Playwright peels away ‘The Niceties’ from her piece

  “We spend so much of our time berating the far right for being racist,” Island City Stage (ICS) Associate Artistic Director Michael Leeds says. However, “we don’t often look to ourselves to see how we might be perpetuating the system. We’re always the ‘nice’ guys. But what happens when...

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Complex, relatable Precious Little succeeds in a big way at Thinking Cap Theatre

Complex, relatable Precious Little succeeds in a big way at Thinking Cap Theatre

  Photo by Nicole Stodard Brodie (Sabrina Lynn Gore, back) is intrigued — and comforted — by an ape, played by Carol Sussman in Precious Little.   By AARON KRAUSE FT. LAUDERDALE — Awww, isn’t it cute how the little monkey with sad, puppy-dog eyes is sucking on a pacifier?...

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‘Dancing Lessons’ is a touching, thoughtful play

‘Dancing Lessons’ is a touching, thoughtful play

Photo by Justin Namon Senga Quinn (Lindsey Corey) reaches out to Ever Montgomery (Caleb Scott) in Zoetic Stage’s fine production of Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons   MIAMI — People attend live theater because they “feel other people’s emotions, see the world like they do,” opines a character in Dancing...

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Characters, issues in If I Forget will stay with you

Characters, issues in If I Forget will stay with you

Photo by George Schiavone Holly Fischer (Patti Gardner) speaks her piece as family members look on in GableStage’s production of If I Forget. CORAL GABLES, Fla. — In Tony Award-winning playwright Steven Levenson’s deeply unsettling drama If I Forget, dread hovers over a family like funnel clouds over Hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico last...

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Oleanna proves powerful, provocative in Boca Raton

Oleanna proves powerful, provocative in Boca Raton

Photo courtesy of www.eveningstarproductions.org. Carol (Sara Elizabeth Grant) presents which she feels is damning evidence against her professor, John (Todd Bruno), in Evening Star Production’s staging of David Mamet’s Oleanna.    BOCA RATON — Depending on your point of view, and how it’s directed and acted, David Mamet’s scorcher of a play,...

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