By SHARON EBERSON Even as hell breaks loose in the Mamet masterwork American Buffalo, it is funny as hell, and full of heart. How perfect, then, that Patrick Jordan’s barebones productions ends its 20th year with this actor’s actor piece,… Read More ›
By SHARON EBERSON At a lanky 6 feet, 4 inches, Brenden Peifer is hard to miss, whether offstage or on. And this year, it has seemed he is always on. So far in 2023, Peifer could be seen in productions… Read More ›
This drama about Black horse jockeys in the late 1800s is the latest installment in Southers’ 19th Century Collection of plays. By MAC HOOVER There is a line in the play The Bluegrass Mile written by Mark Clayton Southers that is haunting this writer…. Read More ›
The play is one of the final installments of Mark Clayton Southers’ 19th-century play cycle. By JAMES PAUL* (This story has been updated by the writer.) Mark Clayton Southers, the founder and Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, embarked on… Read More ›
By Sharon Eberson The highest praise for a comedy that strives to honor the French master Moliere is that it pummels hypocrisy and is as thought-provoking as it is laugh-inducing. Simon Bradbury’s The Illustrious Invalid accomplishes all of the above…. Read More ›
By Sharon Eberson Some of the best edge-of-your-seat moments within the Misery unfolding in Braddock are wordless. Without the inner monologue of page or screen, through often excruciating actions and silent suffering, the dread that fills barebones production’s intimate blackbox… Read More ›
By Sharon Eberson Patrick Jordan is giddy with anticipation these days, having spent much of the past two-plus years keeping up our spirits while working tirelessly toward this moment when barebones productions is back in action. So why on earth… Read More ›
Reviewed by Bob Hoover Playwright David Mamet recently wrote that “theater on Broadway has largely been replaced by pageantry.” Audiences “come to Broadway exactly as they come to Disneyland. They do not come to risk their hard-earned cash on a… Read More ›
By Sharon Eberson Post updated with newly released production photos by Michael Henninger Martin Giles popped up on my Zoom screen to reveal an epic mustache a few weeks ago. Back then, the hair on his upper lip seemed headed… Read More ›
barebones productions returns for in-person performances with Misery, by William Goldman May 13 – June 5, 2022. This show premieres almost precisely two years to the date they were supposed to open their 2020 season. (During the hiatus the blackbox… Read More ›