Saturday, March 9, 2013
David Linday-Abaire’s play captures the drama of the 2009 economic recession.
ANN ARBOR — Performance Network Theatre continues its season with another new play: David Linday-Abaire’s Good People. The cast features Suzi Regan, Alex Leydenfrost, and Qamara “Peaches” Black, supported by an entertaining ensemble. Featuring a variety of character types that are both new and familiar, the story is set in the midst of the economic crisis of 2009, when single middle-aged mother Margie (Regan) is fired from her job at a local dollar store. On the hook for rent money as well as the means to care for her grown but mentally handicapped daughter, she seeks whatever means she can find, even going so far as to track down a former boyfriend (Leydenfrost) who has since become a successful physician. She initially approaches him in …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
"Brill" runs Thursdays through Sundays until Feb. 10 at the Ann Arbor Theater.
ANN ARBOR — Performance Network Theatre brings a fully staged production of a new work by playwright David Wells to its stage. Set in 1959 in the Brill Building in New York City, the center of musical creativity in the 1960s, the show focuses on a cast of two: fading middle aged songwriter Jimmy Wise (Phil Powers) and his protégé, 19-year-old Margie Lesser (Sarah Ann Leahy). Like John Logan’s Red, presented by the theater last season, Brill deals with very different artists who, despite their unique perspectives, form a close and unbreakable bond. And while Brill is not quite so flawlessly written, it still manages to touch a similar emotional nerve. Anyone who has ever experienced a mentor/protégé relationship will likely relate to the …
42.281419
-83.747741
120 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI
Performance Network
/articles/performance-network-showcases-david-wells-comedy-brill
/locations/8704267
Friday, November 30, 2012
The classic Stephen Sondheim musical will run at the Performance Network through Dec. 30.
The name Stephen Sondheim is a big draw in theater circles, recognized for the creation of a number of hits, including Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George. Performance Network presents one of Sondheim's best known shows, A Little Night Music, based on an Ingmar Bergman film from the 1950s. The action itself is set near the turn of the 20th century in Sweden, and focuses on the romantic entanglements of several couples spending the weekend together at a country estate. The Broadway production first premiered in 1973, starring Glynis Johns (best known as Mrs. Banks in Disney's Mary Poppins) and introducing the popular ballad "Send in the Clowns." A revivial featuring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones …
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
The 1980s gritty drama will entertain audiences at the Performance Network Theatre in Ann Arbor.
Performance Network presents Lanford Wilson's 1980s play Burn This, an intriguing drama that features some of the best performances of the season. Focused around an ensemble of four actors, Burn This first premiered on Broadway in the decade it was set, featuring noted actors John Malkovich and Joan Allen. It tells the story of Anna (played by Quetta Carpenter), a former ballet dancer and aspiring choreographer, who is faced with the sudden and tragic death of her friend and collaborator, Robbie. Rounding out this motley crew are her homosexual best friend, Larry (Kevin Young), her screenplay-writing lover (Jon Bennett) and Robbie's estranged, strung-out older brother, Pale (Darrell Glasgow). Together they deal with issues of loss and …
Monday, July 2, 2012
The 2012 Wilde Awards recognize noteworthy achievements in theater in Southeast Michigan.
The Encore Musical Theatre Company in Dexter has been nominated for three Wilde Awards in recognition of its 2011-2012 season. The awards are presented by EncoreMichigan.com — an online publication that's focused on Michigan's professional theater industry, and recognize noteworthy achievements on stages across the state. The Encore is nominated for Best Musical for The Light in the Piazza, and Best Musical Direction for The Last Five Years and Godspell. "We are so excited to be nominated," Thalia Schramm, the Encore's associate artistic director said. "The Wilde Awards are such an exciting representation of all the fantastic theatre being produced in Michigan. Congratulations to all the nominees this year." Steve DeBruyne of Brighton, who…
42.33745
-83.88929
The Encore Musical Theatre Company
3126 Broad St, Dexter, MI
/articles/dexter-s-encore-musical-theatre-nominated-for-3-wilde-awards
1838726
/locations/7355651
Friday, June 29, 2012
The comedy follows the exploits of a 19th century doctor who finds a cure for women's hysteria in New York.
Long considered to be morally rigid and sexually repressed, modern audiences may be surprised to discover that, in some cases, the Victorians were actually more randy than history would have us believe. Such is the matter presented in the Performance Network Theatre's latest offering, Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room, Or the Vibrator Play. The plot revolves around the idea of treating female "hysteria," a once common medical diagnosis, through unconventional means. The original production was Tony and Puliter Prize nominated in 2010, and the script has since received multiple stagings throughout the country. Set in an upscale town somewhere in late 19th century New York, the story unfolds in the home -- and medical office -- of Dr. Givings (…
42.281419
-83.747741
120 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI
Performance Network Theatre
/articles/weekend-preview-performance-network-s-in-the-next-room-a-different-kind-of-drama
/locations/7341480
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Ann Arbor theater delivers a strong interpretation of expressionist painter Mark Rothko's life.
ANN ARBOR — Performance Network has scored the rights to another recent Tony Award-winning play: John Logan's Red, a compelling drama which deals with a two-year period in the life of mid-20th century abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. The two person production features Mark Rademacher as the artist and Kevin Young as his young assistant, Ken. Although the playwright bases his script on some aspects of Rothko's biography (he was, in real life, given a huge commission to paint a mural for the Four Seasons Hotel in New York), the focus remains on the relationship between the two characters. It is to Ken that Rothko imparts his thoughts on the creation of art, who in turn has his own views, influenced by the work being done in his …
42.281419
-83.747741
120 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI
Perform
/articles/performance-network-s-red-is-a-compelling-thought-provoking-drama
/locations/6913362
David Wolber
5:10 pm on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thanks for the review, Angie! Here are some more reviews for your readers: "Blessed with this talented ensemble, director Ray Schultz works the play's various tones, which make it tragic, funny and volatile, often at the same time. ...Performance Network's production reveals it to be a Wilson work that is aging well. - Detroit Free Press "Lanford Wilson's wonderful words, delivered by Darrell … more ›