Well-matched for Quantum Theatre’s latest performance space, William Shakespeare’s King Lear reigns in the postindustrial majesty of the Carrie Furnaces National Historical Landmark. Playing through June 2, the Bard’s most searing family drama enlivens the former steel-making kingdom of Andrew… Read More ›
Shakespeare
Fantastical Imaginings Fuel “Tempest” at Pittsburgh Public Theater
The Tempest at Pittsburgh Public Theatre is a brave new production for our times. “Past is prologue.” So Shakespeare’s 1611 text benefits from all that has come before, reflecting the playwright’s craft as well as his familial concerns near the… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ Week of Will Preview
We’re almost a month away from William Shakespeare’s birth and death day, April 23rd, and that means we’re coming up upon Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ fourth annual Week of Will. Yvonne Hudson, a board member of PSIP and the… Read More ›
Macbeth
An appreciation for the true essence of ensemble theatre, the electricity of enthusiasm and kinetic nerves that can pulsate through members of a troupe, is something that is not often considered or discussed in modern dramaturgy. While there are certainly… Read More ›
Twelfth Night
Adoring and adorable, Twelfth Night serves up all the courses of Shakespeare’s infinite variety at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. It’s a sunny production in this midwinter of discontent as staged by Artistic Director Ted Pappas who conveys his love of this… Read More ›
The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare. What a hack, right? He forms a few couplets; uses iambic pentameter as a parlor trick; creates a convoluted plot a la Larry David that utilizes misunderstandings, unjustified grudges and idiots to compel a grand denouement. In the end… Read More ›
Losing Our Heads Over Shakespeare, Part 2: Pittsburgh Shakespeareans Admit Lifelong Attraction
When we left Part 1 of this mini-series on why Pittsburgh artists lose their heads over Shakespeare’s works, I took the liberty of supposing that his wife Anne might have held the clue to the reportedly missing skull from the… Read More ›
Losing Our Heads Over Shakespeare, Part 1: Mrs. Shakespeare’s Four-Century Journey
Around the world this month, as the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s passing, thespians are especially recalling how they “met” Shakespeare. So, I’m now asking other Pittsburgh Shakespeareans how they met William Shakespeare for a birthday week post here in… Read More ›
Book of Will: Celebrate the First Folio
When giving tours as a docent at Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, I gleefully relished showing off a digital copy of a 400-year-old book. The words in the book are important for what people have done… Read More ›