“These three, it’s like a powder keg going off.” — Patrick Jordan
Starring David Whalen, Simon Bradbury and Christine Weber, a and directed by Patrick Jordan, the dark comedy “ULSTER AMERICAN” is at barebones productions’ Braddock Black Box Theater October 9-25, 2026. A collision of Hollywood, theater and The Troubles, “It’s provocative, profane, unapologetically abrasive, and very, very funny.”
“Hamlet: The Bad Quarto”, a script that predates the best-loved published Folio, employs some names, phrasing and layering that resemble an early draft, before the Bard really got going on eloquence and rhythms. Yet, taken for all, “The Bad Quarto” doesn’t seem so very different by comparison. Rare in presentation, it is an exhilarating treat to experience the play now onstage at the Rauh Studio Theatre in Oakland, presented by director Jeremy Seghers with a youthful cast, led by Ayden Freed.
Prime Stage Theatre’s season of premieres continues this weekend with a commissioned work by playwright Tammy Ryan, who has adapted the National Book Award finalist “Speak” for the stage. The YA novel about consent, trauma, and healing has frequently been near the top of the ALA’s banned books list since its 1999 publication. “Some people are afraid to let teenagers, as Laurie would say, be exposed to the realities of the world,” Ryan said, quoting “Speak” novelist Laurie Halse Anderson.
The inviting title, with an all-female cast, is directed by Marya Sea Kaminski By SHARON EBERSON Which came first, the movie or the play? In the case of Steel Magnolias, if you said “play,” give yourself a hand. It’s the… Read More ›
