Naomi O 2

Naomi Orwin

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since June 25, 2013

Naomi Orwin is a freelance writer who has written for a variety of publications on the arts, community, and women’s issues. After almost twenty years of teaching screenwriting, she’s delighted to be focusing on live theater both on stage and behind the scenes. You can also find her at offstagephilly.blogspot.com.

Naomi Orwin is a freelance writer who has made Philadelphia her home since 2012.

She combines her love of words and the arts to write for and about theater, film, and dance. Before coming to Philly she taught screenwriting and women’s films at the School of Film and Animation at Rochester Institute of Technology, where she was instrumental in developing the screenwriting program. She also covered people, places, and events for the local paper, The Jewish Ledger.

She was associate writer on the Lifetime TV series Our Group, a scripted group therapy program, and lyricist for the award-winning children's TV show Unicorn Tales and the children’s musical Western The Phantom Kid. She has published newsletters and articles in local and national magazines and newspapers on religion, spirituality, education, and women's issues.

She is now focusing on her own writing about the arts and developing a blog about what goes on behind the scenes in Philadelphia. She is also finishing a book called Tarot for Writers on how to find creative inspiration.

You can follow her at offstagephilly.blogspot.com or nomiwrites.blogspot.com.

By this Author

128 results
Page 1
Sunny and Tahlia Ellie as the unbeatable team of Sandy and Annie. (Photo by Mark Garvin.)

Walnut Street Theatre presents Thomas Meehan and Charles Strouse's 'Annie'

Pluck and politics

In Walnut Street Theatre's 'Annie,' a spunky child overcomes adversity, finds a dog, becomes a millionaire, and even inspires hardened politicians to do the right thing. Naomi Orwin reviews.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 2 minute read
Have party, will travel. (Photo by Emcee Studio Photographie)

The Fifth annual Philadelphia 'Dîner en Blanc'

A white canvas outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Those who participate say it’s a magical event. What’s wrong with an evening of fun, even if you have to bring your own entertainment and supplies? Naomi Orwin takes a look at 'Dîner en Blanc.'
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Essays 4 minute read
Russ Widdall as Robert Kennedy and Joshua Tewell as Richard Goodwin. (Photo by Alex Lowy of lowyphoto.com)

New City Stage Company's world premiere of 'Roseburg,' by Ginger Dayle

'Roseburg': At the intersection of theater and reality

When our entertainment and our news overlap, we are left bewildered by both, but can theater really bring about change? New City Stage's world premiere 'Roseburg' looks at past and present U.S. gun violence.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
<em>The Bacchae</em>'s women gone wild. (Photo by Ted Apostolacus)

Phenomenal Animals's 'The Bacchae,' at Walnut Street Theatre Studio Five

Filthy minds, female power

In Phenomenal Animals's 'The Bacchae,' are frenzied women killing men a political metaphor or a cautionary tale (or both)?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Joe Guzman and Joanna Liao. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Naomi Iizuki's '36 Views,' at Lantern Theater Company

36 Views: Making smart women cry

'36 Views' is a smart play about a smart woman who lets passion undermine scholarship and pays the price. Men, it seems, can combine business and sex and succeed; women end up crying.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Danielle Williamson and company. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Walnut Street Theatre's 'Sister Act'

Plenty of nunsense with a Philly flair

A rousing, feel-good musical that fills the Walnut Street Theatre with tapping feet. Not quite the same as the movie, the show has its own quirky logic that leaves the audience cheering for everyone.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 2 minute read
Steve Pacek as Dickon and Bailey Ryon as Mary Lennox. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's 'The Secret Garden' at Arden Theatre Company (first review)

A childhood favorite reimagined for adults

What happens when we peek behind the scenes of a beloved classic? This musical version lets grownups in and provides a satisfactory tear at the end, but why is the story of a strong young woman turned into a tale of a man’s love lost?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Childs: Doing standup at 90? (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

Jennifer Childs’s ‘I Will Not Go Gently’ (2nd review)

Comedy as an antidote for aging

In I Will Not Go Gently, Jennifer Childs provides plenty of laughs about aging without ever addressing the critical question: How do you do it well?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Tuomanen (left), Anthony, Beschler: No spoiler alert needed. (Photo: Dave Sarrafian.)

Sophie Treadwell’s ‘Machinal’ by EgoPo (2nd review)

. . . But roses have thorns

In 1the 1920s the repressed protagonist of Machinal murdered her husband. Today’s women have found healthier outlets for their frustrations.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Whelan (left), Stern: Housewives can sing, too. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

'Always . . . Patsy Cline' at Walnut's Studio 3

When a superstar needs a friend

In Always… Patsy Cline, a Texas housewife meets her idol, and the rest of us share vicariously in the joyous entertainment of the moment.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
High-end computers are linked to a plotter. (Both photos courtesy of Vectorworks, Inc.)

The Philadelphia Design Center opens in West Philadelphia

Affordable working space for theater professionals

The new Philadelphia Design Center offers a coworking space that gives theatrical designers both space and access to high-tech design aids.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Before Wendy, there was Molly. Shuchman and O’Rourke. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at Walnut Street Theatre

A golden grotto of star stuff, and other gender issues

A rollicking good comedy about pirates and crocodiles and star stuff has me laughing while asking questions about gender parity, trans issues, and child abuse. Why can’t I just enjoy the show and forget about all that other stuff?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
At work in the Brill Building. (Original Broadway cast; photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy of the Kimmel Center)

'Beautiful: The Carole King Musical' at the Academy of Music

A legend set to music

Setting our lives to music makes the hard parts so much more palatable. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical makes us feel good about ourselves and the possibility of happiness with and without marriage, even if it’s just a modern day fairytale.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
He can’t stop hustling: Dauchan as Wolf. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

August Wilson's 'Two Trains Running' at the Arden (second review)

The black experience then and now

Two Trains Running addresses the problem of racial, if not gender, diversity in the theater. It’s interesting to note the ways in which the discussions the characters were having in 1969 are still relevant today.
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 3 minute read
Can’t we do better than this? (Photo by Dave Sarrafian)

EgoPo's revival of 'The Women'

The man behind the curtain

The Women is a play by a woman starring women. Does having a male director make a difference in how the material is handled? Or is this just a play that isn’t relevant any longer?
Naomi Orwin

Naomi Orwin

Articles 4 minute read