Stage Write

Last week if someone had asked me what Snow White, the Tony awards and Chekhov had in common I would have assumed it was the beginning of a bad joke. Instead, the answer is obviously the Phoenix Theatre’s season opener, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike. The title is a mouthful, but the play itself is a delight. The show won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play and audiences will have no trouble figuring out why. Witty dialogue, neurotic characters and a bit of absurdity thrown in for good measure make the show odd, but endearing. Playwright Christopher Durang introduces us to a group of middle-aged siblings, two of whom still live in their childhood home after spending years caring for their now deceased parents. The third sibling, Masha, became a self-absorbed movie star. The play takes place over one weekend when Masha decides to visit her sedate siblings, Vanya and Sonia (their professor parents named them all after Chekhov characters). The whirlwind weekend includes a co...

Sometimes you see a show that just makes your mind hum for days. Clybourne Park, on stage now at the Phoenix Theatre, is one of those rare shows. The Pulitzer-Prize-winning play is a continuation of Lorraine Hansberry's classic “A Raisin in the Sun.” Her play tells the story of an African-American family that has the opportunity to move into all-white neighborhood in a nicer part of town. It was ground-breaking and controversial when it was first published and performed in 1959. Clybourne Park continues that story; its first act introduces us to Bev and Russ, the white family in the process of selling their home to the family featured in Raisin in the Sun. Bev is a ‘50s housewife overflowing with false cheerfulness. Her husband finds himself withdrawing from society after they tragically lose their son. Their neighbors are in a tizzy when they discover a “colored” family will be moving in and everyone’s true feelings on the subject come out. The second act picks up 5...

The Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, August: Osage County is on stage now at the Phoenix Theatre. Within the first few moments of the opening rambling monologue, you know you’re in for something amazing. The epic family drama tells the story of the Weston clan, an Oklahoma family with two aging parents and three adult daughters. The group is full of charismatic individuals and peculiar introverts, all of whom are broken for one reason or another. When the family’s patriarch goes missing they all return home to help sort it out. The audience is tossed right into the midst of these relationships with no preamble, but none is needed. Each antagonizing remark hints at the scores that have come before it. The family dynamics are so true to real life; parents to children, siblings and spouses all struggling to get along. The show reminds us how easy it is to slip back into the childhood roles in our families, no matter how old we are. As the family spirals out of control, t...