5 Questions with Robert Zukerman, Barrington Stage Company
February brings many things to help us get through the winter season: Black History Month, Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day and theater summer season announcements.The best…
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5 Questions with George Filieau at Ghent Playhouse
George Filieau is a mainstay on area stages, performing in dozens of shows throughout the Capital Region at Curtain Call Theatre, Albany Civic Theater and Sand Lake Center…
5 Questions with singer, retired Mohonasen music teacher Gail Sparlin
The Capital Region has an enormous breadth when it comes to types of performance offered – from the dramatic arts to music and stand-up – and this weekend will see the birth…
Review: Classic Theater Guild delights with Steve Martin comedy ‘Picasso’
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is Steve Martin’s 1993 comedy that imagines a meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in the Montmartre cabaret in the title a year…
5 Questions with Saratoga Springs schools’ Candace Calvin
Every week across the country there are challenges to school programs and frequently it’s the arts that are targeted.I was curious about what is going on in the rehearsal…
5 Questions with theater actor Josh Romeo
Josh Romeo is back in town after graduating from Wagner College last spring, playing the best man in Universalist Preservation Hall's production of "Tony n’ Tina's Wedding,"…
5 Questions with Brenna Geffers
As we emerge from the list-making season, if you asked me to come up with a list of indelible theater experiences in alternative spaces, “Pericles” staged on a huge model…
5 Questions with Val Kavanaugh
Sand Lake Center for the Arts is kicking off the new year with its One Act Play Festival this Friday through Sunday, an event that’s sure to be a good time filled with high…
A tale of 310 plays in 2023
We attended 310 plays in 2023!310! How is that even possible? It’s an awesome number, to be sure, but it falls just shy of our record mark of 317 in 2019. And by we, I…
Year-end list shines spotlight on those backstage, offstage
There are many lists out there at the end of the year of best performances and best shows, but I think it’s high time we recognize those that we could not do without.
…
5 Questions with Alan Paul
The year end “5 Questions” interview finds us chatting by email with Alan Paul, who just finished his first season – which was wildly successful – as artistic director of…
5 questions with … Santa Claus
This has got to be the interview of the season. I was able to grab a quick 5 Questions with the Big Man himself, Santa Claus, who is appearing in Santa’s Magical Express at…
5 questions with Ariel Bock, director
Shakespeare & Company continues its tradition of costumed staged readings of new plays set in the Jane Austen universe with “Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberly”…
5 Questions with Kathleen Carey, star of Harbinger Theatre’s ‘Mrs. Packard’
Kathleen Carey will play Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard in the Harbinger Theatre production of “Mrs. Packard” by Emily Mann at the Albany Barn, opening tonight and running…
Gunderson’s Meddlesome Women Making Merry Like Christmas
Lauren Gunderson was named the most-produced playwright in the country by American Theatre magazine in 2017 and 2019. I don’t doubt it. By accident, I walked into two…
5 Questions with Pat Brady
“BOCA” by Jessica Provenz is making its Capital Region premiere this week, having tickled audiences a couple of years ago under Barrington Stage’s tent in the parking lot…
Black Theatre Troupe founder Jean-Remy Monnay looks back on accomplishments, forward to new…
For more than 20 years Jean-Remy Monnay has been acting on Capital Region stages, serving many companies who wish to have more diversity in their productions.More than 10…
Loving Details of ‘The Sound Inside’ Speak Loudly @ Cohoes Music Hall
“The Sound Inside,” now playing at Cohoes Music Hall through 11/23 is a taut, twisting tale of two souls reaching out to each other which leaves you to decide whether their…
Exploring the Weird, Wild & Wonderful Theater Up North
This fall has been invigorating and adventurous, especially in the theater scene, offering plenty of welcome discoveries. I've explored a couple of theater companies up North…
5 Questions with Barbara Davis
Barbara Davis has built a strong resume working at many of the Capital Region’s strongest community theaters on adventurous fare: numerous one-acts with Confetti Stage’s…
“Sympathetic Magic” is a Rewarding Gem at BST
Make the questing trip to Catskill to find some theater that will challenge and complete you by attending “Sympathetic Magic” by Lanford Wilson at Bridge Street Theatre. You…
5 Questions with Diane Eber
I was having coffee with Jim Gilbert, our fearless leader of Nippertown, at Motor Oil Coffee on Madison and picking his brain on NipperFest because I have a dream of creating…
“The Sound Inside” Coming to CMH 11/17-11/26
The Creative License Theater Collective is currently in rehearsals for their upcoming production of Adam Rapp’s hit Broadway play “The Sound Inside”, coming November 17th to…
5 Questions with Michael Nichols-Pate
Bunbury Players is somewhat uncharacteristically presenting a contemporary play this weekend at Albany Barn. I first became aware of this group, which was founded during…
Celebrating 40th Anniversary of “Ironweed”
The first-ever, marathon public reading of the full novel of “Ironweed” by Albany’s native son, William Kennedy, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and put the author’s…
“Skeleton Crew” Works Very Well
Spooky season proliferates throughout the Capital Region, where ghost tours, haunts and Time Warps can be found throughout the area but there is surely no scarier tale being…
5 Questions with Robert Falls
Robert Falls is a giant of American theater, having run the Goodman Theatre in Chicago for 35 years, directing Brian Dennehy in “Death of a Salesman” and “Long Day’s Journey…
5 Questions with Victoria Nieves
Confetti Stages Inc is staging its nineteenth edition of Confetti Fest this weekend and next in the historic Albany Masonic Lodge on Corning Place in downtown Albany. Over…
“The Glass Menagerie” Shines Brightly at BST
“The Glass Menagerie” is one of the greatest American plays and, to my mind, even grows in stature with time. It is the semi-autobiographical account of the young Tennessee…
5 Questions with Matt Rodin
Phone rings, door chimes—in comes company. "Company,” the seminal 1970 George Furth/Stephen Sondheim musical that was revived in London and on Broadway by the British…
“English” is Head of the Class
PITTSFIELD, MA - A friend of mine was demonstrating the four different tones in the Chinese language where pronunciation is necessary for producing specific words. I’ve never…
“Antigone” at The Glove Theatre Brings Life to a Classic
GLOVERSVILLE - The Glove Theatre on Main Street in Gloversville is one of the beautiful old theatres that harken back to bustling downtowns and large community arts events…
Playhouse Stage Company Announces 36th Season
This year, Playhouse Stage Company enters its 36th Season presenting professional and youth musical theatre to Capital Region audiences. The upcoming lineup features a…
Troy Foundry Theatre’s “Hard Candy” is Sweet and Pleasing
With the World Premiere of “Hard Candy & Misdemeanors,” Troy Foundry Theatre has produced (of all things!) a workplace comedy that plays on your emotions. It can rile you…
“Lunar Eclipse” Reveals Hidden Dimensions of the Heart
What could be better than sitting out in a field waiting for a lunar eclipse and watching the stars? How about a matinee of a World Premiere play by a Pulitzer-winning…
5 Questions with Tyler Cardona
There have been more than a couple of interviews with Brian Sheldon, the playwright and subject of the autobiographical “Custom Cuts,” which is getting its World Premiere…
5 Questions with Kristen van Ginhoven
Kristen van Ginhoven, Founder and Artistic Director of WAM Theatre, is stepping down after 13 years of running this innovative organization, which donates a portion of its…
5 Questions with Evan Jones
Evan Jones is a true believer. He has seen the power and the glory of theater on stage and wants everyone to experience its healing and redemptive mercies. I first met Evan…
Alan H. Green’s “Finally” Closes the Cabaret Season at Mr. Finn’s
Alan H. Green exploded onto the William Finn Cabaret stage with the famous opening Zulu lines from Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Circle of Life,” which roughly translated…
Back to School with “Barbie”
She’s looking good for being 60 years old, and she knows it. In fact, Barbie (Olivia Sargent) greets the audience with that acknowledgment in the first line of her opening…
Fort Salem Theatre Announces 2024 Season
Fort Salem Theater is thrilled to announce its highly anticipated 2024 season, offering an exceptional array of performances that promise to captivate audiences and bring…
Amal Walks Across America with Stops at Ashfield & North Adams
Little Amal, the iconic 12-foot puppet symbolizing a young Syrian refugee girl, will step foot in Ashfield and North Adams on September 10. This is part of her monumental…
Hubbard Hall Teams Up with The Drama League
Tuesday, Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education in Cambridge, NY (Executive & Artistic Director David Andrew Snider) and The Drama League of New York City…
5 Questions with Mary Testa
Barrington Stage Company’s latest smash hit musical revival on the Boyd/Quinson Mainstage is very special indeed. It is “A New Brain” by BSC Associate Artist William Finn…
Harbinger’s 10th Consecutive Capital Region Premiere is a World Premiere by Brian Sheldon,…
Harbinger Theatre will bring their 10th consecutive Capital Region Premiere, “Custom Cuts,” a World Premiere written by Brian Sheldon to Albany Barn in September. It is…
Love Late in Life in “On Cedar Street”
There is much to love in the World Premiere of “On Cedar Street,” playing at the Unicorn Theatre, maybe too much to love, but more on that later. The musical is an adaptation…
All Hail Annette Miller!
Annette Miller finished her second run of “Golda’s Balcony” by William Gibson this weekend at Shakespeare & Company. Her first was its World Premiere in 2002, which was…
Great Actors in “Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson-Apt. 2B”
Kate Hamill, the extremely popular playwright who repackages classic literature and serves it back up onstage in a post-modern sensibility by cutting roles, gender-swapping…
Lillias White Gets a Resounding Yes! from a Spellbound Audience
There is some kind of alchemical magic in the greatest performers, and Lillias White at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret Monday night at Barrington Stage changed the temperature in the…
“Circle Mirror Transformation” is a Late Summer Treasure
Annie Baker is one of the most preeminent playwrights working today. She is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (for “The Flick” in 2014, which was seen last year…
Come and Get Your “Midsummer” Love!
William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is without a doubt one of the most popular comedies ever written. It certainly is one of the most produced and might be the…
“The Plein Air Plays” Offer Breathtaking Vistas
What may have started as a necessity during COVID’s enforced distancing and ready ventilation has turned into an inspired new form of theater for the Ancram Opera House.…
5 Questions with Kelly Sienkiewicz
Kelly Sienkiewicz is a major talent in the Capital Region. She is hard not to notice onstage with her fiery red hair, hysterical comic chops, and powerful belt. She is so…
“Her Name Means Memory” is Indomitable Storytelling
Theater in the Covid era has gone through incredible iterations and efforts to carry on and tell the stories that need to be told. Living Room Theatre, now in its twelfth…
5 Questions with Ingrid Madelayne
In the Capital Region, you can find performances on stages, in parks, in cemeteries, and this weekend on a battlefield.On Saturday and Sunday, August 5th and 6th, the…
Powerful Women Emerge From “The Hidden Territories of the Bacchae”
Double Edge Theatre is like no theater you have ever attended before. It is situated on a farm in Ashfield, MA. It uses the farm and its environs for its extraordinarily…
“Fences” Goes Deep
August Wilson’s Fences is hitting it out of the Packer - that is, the Tina Packer Stage at Shakespeare & Company, where it is playing in a perfectly cast, incisively…
5 Questions with Leigh Berenis
Did you know that Saratoga Children’s Theatre has a sister company called Spa City Theatre, founded in 2019 which has adults and students performing in the Capital Region…
5 Questions with Sandy Boynton
I’ve known Sandy Boynton almost as long as I’ve been performing in the Capital Region. She is an actor, director, educator, costume designer and Shakespeare lover. Our paths…
“Still” Could Use Some Forward Movement
A man and a woman of a certain age sit at a hotel bar finishing off a bottle of wine and banter playfully about how the body’s cells are completely regenerated every four…
5 Questions with Reina Oduro
There are certain indelible performances that stay with you your whole life. If anyone asked me what the most unorthodox or adventurous theater pieces I’ve ever seen, I would…
“Blues for an Alabama Sky” Should Be More Widely Known
Pearl Cleage’s 1995 play “Blues for an Alabama Sky” is set in 1930 as the famed Harlem Renaissance is being eclipsed by The Great Depression. The play opens with the lead…
“Love’s Labor’s Lost” Will Rock Your World
Who would have thought that a story about serious, young students who take a vow of chastity, abstinence, and intermittent fasting would produce such a party? It is…
5 Questions with Aidan White
They call it Smallbany because everybody knows everybody and this weekend Schenectady Civic Players is opening their production of “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” with four…
5 Questions with Laura Darling
One of the most influential and active members of Capital Region Theater is flexing her muscles this weekend. Laura Darling is directing the World Premiere of her own play…
CTC’s “Guards at the Taj” is a Beauty
The winding Route 20 heading east out of Lee can take you to some exotic places. It ranges past Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, and just a little farther down the road is the…
“Off Peak”: Exes on a Train
As you take your seat in the theater at the Danial Art Center at Bard at Simon’s Rock on a Friday night, you are greeted by a meticulous recreation of a section of a…
Shadowland Stages’ “The 39 Steps” Reaches New Heights
What good is sitting alone in your room? That’s what Richard Hannay (Eric Bryant) is thinking when he heads out to the theater in Patrick Barlow’s hilarious adaptation of…
“The Making of a Great Moment” Has Many
Imagine devoting your life to a profession with 90% unemployment knowing that the chances are you will never own a house, have regular medical insurance, or build a…
5 Questions with Megan Calos
Fort Salem Theatre opened “Footloose” last weekend, and it looks like they have another smash hit on their hands. It is, of course, the stage adaptation of the 1984 Kevin…
“The Contention” is a History Come to Exciting Life
The Contention, playing on the Tina Packer Playhouse stage at Shakespeare & Co., is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, and a bit of a hard sell. “You’re…
“Misery” Has Plenty of Artistic Pleasures
The charming wood barn theater nestled in the woods down a beautiful country road has a very disturbing tenant for the next couple of weeks. Misery, the thriller about a…
“The Stones” Has Too Much Mystery
As you enter the smaller 100-seat black-box theater in the Daniel Art Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where the Great Barrington Public Theatre has a summer…
5 Questions with Vanessa Clay
There is much to celebrate with the current production of “Rent” being presented by Capital District Arts Initiative at Lark Hall, which has five more shows this weekend at…
“Photograph 51” Documents Credit to Trailblazing Woman
“Photograph 51” is a great example of the Great Women of Science play. An underappreciated genius woman sets off on her instinctual path. She is undermined, condescended to,…
5 Questions with David Quiñones Jr.
David Quiñones Jr. has worked throughout the Capital Region in big roles and small and always seems to have a couple of projects going on at any given time while he is also…
Fine Company for “Just Another Day”
Two seeming strangers named Man and Woman encounter one another in a park and begin speaking familiarly quickly after meeting. Their dialogue picks up a rhythm and lines…
HVSF’s “Henry V” Creatively Crowns a New Leader
What does it do to Shakespeare’s rousing patriotic play Henry V play to cast Henry with a woman? Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is asking this summer how does it make us…
Actors Save the Day at “Dear Jack, Dear Louise”
Shakespeare & Company have opened their season with the prize-winning play “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” by America’s most prolific comic playwright, Tony winner Ken Ludwig,…
5 Questions with Aaliyah Al-Fuhaid
“The Nether” by Jennifer Haley is a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner about a man being investigated for criminal acts related to a website he has created that encourages…
BST’s Tense “East of Berlin” is a Captivating Thrill
A young man (Orlando Grant) lights a cigarette downstage right and tells us about his birth in Berlin in 1945 and how he has come to live in Paraguay in a little German…
WAM’s “What the Constitution Means to Me” is a Great Deal Indeed
Playwright Heidi Schreck toured the country as a 15-year-old competing in constitutional debates to win prize money to put herself through college which the Broadway actress…
5 Questions with Kathleen Reilly
When I was wondering who I should interview next for my 5 Questions series, I probably had just come from a conversation at work with Kathleen Reilly about what was going on…
5 Questions with Jean-Remy Monnay
One of the greatest demarcations in Capital Region Theater marking the change and growth in our community pre and post-lockdown after the Covid virus stopped the world is the…
“Stranger in the Attic” Compels Attention
Treasure can be found throughout the Capital Region Theater scene and on a beautiful night’s drive from Albany to the Claverack Free Library to see The Two of Us Productions’…
5 Questions with Emily Bryan
Opportunities abound in Capital Region Theater, and this week sees the lovely Emily Bryan making her Schenectady Civic Players debut in Donald Margulies 2000 Pulitzer winner…
5 Questions with Rory Alexa
Schenectady Light Opera Company closes its season with “It Shoulda Been You.” A musical comedy about a wedding that has its complications and comedy. The bride’s Jewish…
“Rude Mechanics” Struts and Frets Funnily in Bridge Street Season Opener
Bridge Street Theatre opened their 2023 Season, which they are calling “A Holiday for Misfits,” with “Rude Mechanics,” a World Premiere comedy by local playwright Eric Hissom…
5 Questions with Theresa Rebeck
Actors and directors in rehearsal spend a great deal of time investigating the meaning of words. Words revealing or hiding character and the words telling the story that…
5 Questions with AJ Halsey
One of the greatest joys of being a theater fan in the Capital Region is the ridiculous amount of opportunities and venues to see and be wowed by the young talent in the…
5 Questions with Kathleen Carey
Kathleen Carey, besides being a leading light on Capital Region stages and the recipient of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association award for Best Actress in 2021 for her…
5 Questions with Ash Visker
Local actor Ash Visker stormed into my consciousness last year with two vivid, thoroughly committed, galvanizing performances in Will Kempe’s Players The Comedy of Errors and…
5 Questions with Jennifer Van Iderstyne
Jennifer Van Iderstyne is directing this weekend’s Capital Region premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s “The Revolutionists” at Schenectady Civic Players. It’s an interesting choice…
5 Questions with Lauren Letellier
Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill is heading into the month of March with four weekends of solo shows. Every Friday through Sunday for the rest of the month, you will; get…
5 Questions with Peyton VanDerheyden
March is known for many things culturally. Nippertown’s March Madness, The Oscars and Green Beer, but nothing is as momentous or marvelous as the high school musical! The…
5 Questions with Alexander Heck
“Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan-Lori Parks is a towering play of intimate consequence. Two Black brothers, Lincoln and Booth, share a single hotel room and make time hustling each…
“10×10” Chases the Winter Blues Away
Barrington Stage’s 12th edition of “10x10 New Play Festival” is a charmer packed with compelling performances in intriguing situations and never less than entertaining from…
5 Questions with Jae Gayle
Creative Action Unlimited’s artistic director Michael Kennedy encourages their theater makers to contribute their own stories to develop stage and film works centering around…
5 Questions with Peggy Pharr Wilson
Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts is presenting their 12th Annual “10x10 New Play Festival” tand along for the ride is the indomitable Peggy Pharr Wilson…
Sherlock at the Schacht
TROY - Theatre Institute at Sage is presenting Sherlock Holmes to us and to their student groups that are bussed into the Schacht Fine Arts Center Theatre on the Russell Sage…