By Eva Phillips You know what they say: it’s all fun and games until someone summons your dead spouse from the beyond. When novelist Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth (his second wife, notably) host a dinner party with their… Read More ›
Apple Hill Playhouse
Sentiment and Wit in “Outside Mullingar”
By Eva Phillips The tides of change are cruel in the sleepy town of Mullingar. Anthony and Rosemary neighbors nestled in the bucolic Irish farmlands, have worked tirelessly to keep their farms and parents going as long as they can… Read More ›
All the Fun, Straight, No Chaser in “Savannah Sipping Society”
By Eva Phillips Randa is an unstoppable career woman whose prosperous career as an architect has just been, well, stopped after an unfortunate (but justifiable) at-work eruption. Dot is a vibrant woman in her 60s who, despite her chutzpah, feels… Read More ›
Hijinks Galore at Apple Hill Playhouse’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”
By Eva Phillips A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is one of those shows that vividly proves that the Greco-Romans of the B.C. era really knew how to live with drama nerd flair. This seems like… Read More ›
Heated Tempers and Scorching Parody in Apple Hill Playhouse’s “Moonlight and Magnolias”
By Eva Phillips Gone with the Wind was the perfect storm of an unfathomably successful novel, insatiable industry hype, and the biggest names (and egos) in Hollywood in one tempestuous pressure-cooker. Though Gone With the Wind doesn’t quite carry the… Read More ›
Channeling the Splendor of the Fabulous 50s with “The Taffetas”
By Eva Phillips A surreal comparative train of thought I often entertain is pondering the striking differences between my father’s world and my own. When I turned 21 in 2012, I was paying college tuition fees online, and downloading genre-transcending,… Read More ›
Kitchen Witches
Caroline Smith’s play, Kitchen Witches, is not particularly original; in fact, it relies on the rather tired trope of women whose relationship is defined by their competition over a man. It isn’t particularly clever; all of the “twists” in the… Read More ›
Mama Won’t Fly
Apple Hill Playhouse’s latest production, Mama Won’t Fly, opened to a full house of loyal followers on Thursday. (The show had its world premiere at Stage Right in 2011.) Written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten, the show is… Read More ›
Grease
Unless you just dropped on to Earth from another planet, it would be difficult to believe you are not familiar with Grease from the many theatrical productions or the 1978 film. But just in case, here is the skinny on… Read More ›
Steel Magnolias
M’Lynn. Truvy. Anelle. Clairee. Shelby. OUISER. For a certain generation and very distinct demographic, these are names that evoke a particularly unique upswelling of emotions and responses. Ruefulness. Kindred warmth. Uncontrollable cackling. These names are the women from the sensationally… Read More ›