Put a Little Drama in your Life
Airdate: 06/01/07 “The School of the World” is no child’s play. It’s an intriguing story, a conjectural history partly based in fact. The action takes place in 1503, in Florence, which was a social/cultural/political power-center during the Renaissance. The two most brilliant artists of the day, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci, were commissioned to paint giant murals in the Great Hall of the newly built Palazzo Read More →
Airdate: 05/25/07 Today, literature lovers, we’re going Bunburying . But first, we have to talk about who Bunbury is… or isn’t. He’s a fictitious character in a work of fiction -- “ The Importance of Being Earnest,” beloved masterwork of the brilliant Victorian Oscar Wilde. In the play, Algernon, a wealthy London Read More →
Airdate: 05/18/07 Here’s a little theatrical brain-teaser: What do Hamlet, Trotsky, Philip Glass and Philadelphia have in common? And the answer is…. They all pop up in “All in the Timing,” a supremely witty, literate series of playlets by David Ives. They don’t appear together in the same vignette, but each makes for a hilariously clever reference. Here’s how it goes. Three chimps are typing away, trying to create ‘Hamlet’; Read More →
KPBS Airdate: 05/11/07 If you think it’s gutsy to go ‘The Full Monty,’ it takes even more cojones to start up a brand new musical theater company. And this week, we get exposed to both at once. The new company is called the San Diego Musical Theatre, and it’s helmed by executive directors Gary and Erin Lewis -- Read More →
KPBS Airdate: 05/04/07 There are “Two Trains Running” at the Old Globe, and you should get on board. The production is historically significant for two reasons. First of all, it’s set in the late 1960s, which was a time of great upheaval in the country. With a war going on, and the Civil Rights movement stumbling, the country was in the throes of a racial Read More →
KPBS Airdate: April 27, 2007 Two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, with rather innocuous, even light-hearted titles. But though there are a few laughs, make no mistake – these are deep explorations of dark themes. “How I Learned to Drive” is about incestuous pedophilia and “Wit” journeys to the end of the line with a woman dying of ovarian cancer. But the subtext says so Read More →