Name: Cotter Interactive
Price range: $

“Us against the world”: Ng and Carter. (Photo by AustinArt.Org)

'Lights Rise on Grace' at Azuka Theatre

Lights Rise on Grace illuminates three dark souls

Though Lights Rise on Grace often feels constructed, its jumps in time and points of view keep it unpredictable. Love stories never get old, and this one, after some painful episodes, offers a bit of hope.

Mark Cofta

Nov 10, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Presenting a plausible alternative: Hodge, Lawton, and Hissom. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Bill Cain's 'Equivocation' at the Arden (second review)

Mixed feelings about 'Equivocation'

My reaction swayed back and forth during different parts of this extravagantly ambitious work. In the end, I was frustrated and annoyed by the play while admiring the acting and staging.

Steve Cohen

Nov 03, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

A work that will last at least 50 years. (Photo by Mark Garvin)

Bill Cain's 'Equivocation' at the Arden

Revising Shakespearean history

Witty, smart, fast-paced, and overly long, with some gratuitous full-frontal nudity, Equivocation shows off the writer’s genius and the actors’ abilities, and a lot of pallid male skin. Even though it’s brilliant, a play about guys, starring guys — semi-naked guys — has a bit too much testosterone for my taste.

Naomi Orwin

Nov 03, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

More method than madness: Cumberbatch as Hamlet. (Both photos by Johan Persson)

Benedict Cumberbatch in 'Hamlet'

Sherlock Holmes does Hamlet

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the sanest Dane you’ll ever see in Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedy.

Carol Rocamora

Nov 02, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

"Bullets over Broadway" is fun, but don't think about it too hard. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

'Bullets over Broadway: The Musical'

Everyone cheats

Talent aside, I can’t disassociate Woody Allen from his work, and Bullets over Broadway: The Musical has enough misogynistic sentiment to infuriate me even while I laugh at the antics on stage.

Naomi Orwin

Oct 31, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

A dignified gentleman — aside from that whole bloodsucking thing: Hernandez, Bloechl (photo by Kyle Cassidy)

'Dracula' at Hedgerow Theatre

An old vampire with a few new tricks

Hedgerow Theatre’s revival of the classic Dracula story succeeds through solid acting, without camp or excess.

Mark Cofta

Oct 27, 2015 Articles 2 minute read

A handmaid by "choice": Isa St. Clair. (Photo by Rebecca M. Gudelunas)

'The Handmaid's Tale' at Curio Theatre

A Tale both frightening and plausible

A feminist nightmare comes to life in a brilliant stage adaptation of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale by Curio Theatre Company.

Mark Cofta

Oct 27, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Wailing, chants, and desperate moans: The Wilma/Attis “Antigone.” (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev)

'Antigone' and 'Metamorphoses'

A few words about dramatic language

When watching classic plays translated from other languages, consider what is lost and how much our contemporary mindset and values change meaning.

AJ Sabatini

Oct 26, 2015 Articles 6 minute read

Greer (left) with Paul L. Nolan as Martin Weinberg: Remember Blaze Starr? (Photo: Paola Nogueras.)

Bruce Graham’s ‘Rizzo’ at Theatre Exile (third review)

The real Frank Rizzo, as I knew him

The good and the bad of Frank Rizzo the man are both there in Bruce Graham's Rizzo. But the play barely hints at the terrifying ugly of the man and some members of his police force, which I witnessed firsthand.