During the rehearsal process for a play, most actors spend time digging into the psychology and physicality of their character. How do they sound? How do they move? What was their childhood like? For Brian Owen, star of “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery” at Long Wharf Theatre, that process is a little more difficult than normal. That’s because he plays 17 distinct characters in Ken Ludwig’s madcap retelling of the famous mystery.
Read MoreWhen critics go too far, whether it be personal attacks, invoking vendettas, body shaming, etc, they deserve to be called out for it. It takes one to know one but these individuals can wield incredible influence on indicting the quality of a play, Those who mishandle that, should be criticized just as much as the productions they're writing about.
So without further ado, I give you "When Critics Go Too Far". We've already done one on Chicago's Hedy Weiss(who thankfully is out of a job). Today let's look at Jim Ruocco of CT, who chose to trash certain local theatres in the midst of praising another one.
Read MoreIn Long Wharf’s upcoming “The Chosen,” based on the novel by Chaim Potok, two Jewish boys in the 1940s form an unlikely friendship. While this is the world premiere of Gary Posner’s stage adaptation, it’s a return to the stories of Potok for actor Max Wolkowitz, who plays the show’s narrator Reuven. Two years ago, he played the title character in “My Name Is Asher Lev,” another play by Posner adapted from a Potok novel in New York. After what he called a “beautiful” and “challenging” experience at the Penguin Rep Theatre, Wolkowitz says he is happy to make his Long Wharf debut and once again inhabit a teenage Chaim Potok protagonist.
Read MoreLong Wharf Theatre’s Contemporary American Voices Festival gives New Haven residents a rare treat – a chance to see exciting plays that are brand new and, more importantly, still being worked on. From October 20th-22nd, Long Wharf will offer three staged readings of new works by Chris Chen, Jonathan Payne and Jen Silverman. With two days of rehearsal and minimal staging, actors will give voice to new pieces followed by post-show talkbacks with the creative team.
Read More“Very seldom do you get to speak the words first,” said actor Denis Arndt on performing in the world premiere of Matthew Barber’s “Fireflies” at Long Wharf Theater, “It’s a great privilege.”
For someone who has been in the business a long time, Mr. Arndt recently has had more than a few moments of great theatrical privilege. Besides making his Long Wharf debut alongside two stage veterans, he was nominated for a Tony this summer for Simon Stephens’ two-hander “Heisenberg” with Mary-Louise Parker. It was his first Tony nomination and also his Broadway debut, an impressive career milestone made at age 77.
Read MoreThe majority of plays are centered around, as Hamlet put it, “words, words, words.” From Shakespeare’s soliloquies to Mamet’s fractured urban poetry to Durang’s whimsical prose, dialogue is often the most important aspect to any given play. But what happens when your play features almost no dialogue at all? Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds,” which is playing New Haven’s famed Long Wharf Theatre from August 30-September 24, is such a work. It takes place at a silent retreat and only contains a handful of spoken lines, most of which comes from the mouth of actor Orville Mendoza.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there before.
It may be for different reasons for different people. For some, finding the right role or gig might just be too hard, leaving us with a large gap of time in-between our creative projects. For others, work or family life may be taking up too much time. If you’re like me, it might be because you’re still in the middle of a major transition phase in your life that’s left you too busy to take up any huge new projects, at this point in time.
But at one point or another, I’m sure we’ve all known – to varying lengths or degrees – the unpleasant experience that is theatre withdrawal.
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