By SHARON EBERSON Exquisitely presented and performed by an illustrious cast, Kinetic Theatre’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd invites everyone, even those who arrive knowing the “who” in whodunit, to relish in a pitch-perfect reimagining of the classic Agatha Christie… Read More ›
A CLASSIC AGATHA CHRISTIE WHODUNIT IN CARNEGIE
Sam Tsoutsouvas portrays Hercule Poirot in Kinetic Theatre’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.”
Kinetic Theatre’s production of David Mamet’s Henry Johnson marks the play’s Pittsburgh debut. It is also only the third production of the work, following its premiere in Los Angeles in 2023 and a staging in Chicago in 2025. Henry Johnson has Mamet’s classic flair, with its downward-spiraling plot, coercion, ulterior motives, and the rhythmic, staccato, naturalistic Mamet-speak. It’s a play that makes you wonder: What is the truth? Who should I believe? Am I, as an audience member, just as susceptible as Henry Johnson? The play is less of a moral lesson and more of a question of morality. It leaves us grappling with the ambiguity of where the truth and manipulation begin and end.
The story of how the third production of David Mamet’s “Henry Johnson” landed at Carnegie Stage, and along with it, David Butler’s return to a hometown stage, follows the on- and off-ramps along the figurative map: All roads lead back to Pittsburgh. Andrew Paul’s Kinetic Theatre is bringing the play to the stage July 9-26, 2026, with Butler, Cotter Smith, David Whalen and John Steffenauer.
Some things are such crowd-pleasers, they bear repeating. Even within the packed realm of Christmas-time theater, that holds true for Kinetic Theatre’s finely tuned, atmospheric production of “A Sherlock Carol.” Introduced last year at the Stephen Foster Memorial, the show this season travels from Oakland to Carnegie Stage, and, if anything, gains in connectivity between cast and audience in the intimate space.
What happens when two sets of New York parents seek a civilized response to an act of playground violence: one of their 11-year-old sons whacking the other with a stick, knocking out two teeth?
In the case of barebones’ production of “God of Carnage,” it’s a blast, as outwardly responsible adults take wildly inappropriate dives into their darkest sides, played by Daina Michelle Griffth, Patrick Jordan, Gayle Pazerski and David Whalen.
It was 15 years ago that Patrick Jordan first read the Tony Award-winning play “God of Carnage,” and put it aside. When he picked it up again, years later, something had changed. The Yasmin Reza four-hander will close barebones productions’ season, with artistic director Jordan as part of the cast. “There are hundreds of plays between now and 15 years ago,” Jordan said of when he first read the script. “This play popped into my head, and I went back and reread it, and I was like, ‘Wow, maybe I am 15 years older, but this play hits a very different way right now,’ and it almost comes off as more relevant now than 20 years ago, when it was written.”
Martin McDonagh wrote a doozy of a role when he created “Hangmen’s” Mooney, the walking, talking plot device who enters a pub in Northern England, emanating a persona that may just as well be a neon sign that says “stranger danger.” He talks up a storm, does Mooney, and with every word becomes more of a sinister presence in the life of Harry Wade, one of the last hangmen in the UK, and proud of it. In the United States regional premiere of Hangmen by Kinetic Theatre, Mooney is played by the youthful Charlie Kennedy, a recent Point Park graduate. He embodies the cocky-creepy character – although Mooney notes that he prefers “menacing” to creepy.
If there is such a thing as the “best hangman,” then it stands to reason that there is a second best.
Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy, “Hangmen,” is based loosely on the well-chronicled life of Albert Pierrepoint, the English hangman who executed hundreds of people, including 200 wartime criminals.
Kinetic Theatre, with producing artistic director Andrew Paul at the helm, will stage the play’s Pittsburgh premiere, opening August 7, 2025, at Carnegie Stage.
By SHARON EBERSON Two old friends walk into a coffee shop, having not seen each other for eight years. They hug, they reminisce, they sip their coffees, they argue, they each deliver shock and awe over life-changing events. And so… Read More ›
