Put a Little Drama in your Life
KPBS AIRDATE: June 15, 1994 There's no such place as Ballybeg. It's an imaginary town in Donegal, Ireland, but it bears a striking resemblance to the Glenties of playwright Brian Friel's youth, and it's the setting for most of his plays. In "Dancing at Lughnasa," five unmarried sisters share a poor, cramped home in Ballybeg. The quasi-autobiographical piece won Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: June 8, 1994 The SS Minnow, destined to be shipwrecked on Gilligan's Island, was launched in San Diego. Did you know that? Well, okay, the musical version of the SS Minnow. The Theatre in Old Town is floating the West coast premiere of "Gilligan's Island: The Musical," a newly revised edition of an earlier workshop production that Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: June 1, 1994 Harvey is a pooka. You know what a "pooka" is? It's a hobgoblin of Irish minds, a mythical Welsh prankster, usually an animal spirit. And what about playwright Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvey? Well, he definitely qualifies as an animal: he's a chunky, six-foot tall rabbit. And he Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 25, 1994 Playwright David Mamet often takes demonic delight in tracing the fine line between standard business practices and sheer thuggery. It was all about Hollywood hype in "Speed-the-Plow," and the slimy swampland of real estate in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Glengarry Glen Ross." In "Oleanna," his latest, perhaps most controversial work, Mamet tramps over the same turf, but Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: MAY 18, 1994 Political monsters come in all shapes and sizes. They may be given to hype and histrionics, or they may be smooth, smarmy and insidious, in which case, they are even more dangerous. Two of the unctuous variety have oozed their way onto San Diego stages. At the Cassius Carter, we meet Jiang Qing, the Read More →
KPBS AIRDATE: May 11, 1994 > There are more than just "Movie Queens" onstage in the play of the same name at Diversionary Theatre. All the men fairly fly across the narrowed boards of the fine new Diversionary space. But this piece isn't about men. It's about two fading aging stars of the thirties silver screen who once clawed each Read More →
“San Diego is a hotbed of theater. Every year, I see 200-250 productions. This is fertile ground for new work. In addition to the prodigious local talent, theatermakers from around the country come here to premiere their latest creations. San Diego sends more shows to Broadway than nearly any other city in the U.S.”
-Pat Launer