The SunBreak » act theatre

At ACT, “The Invisible Hand” delivers

Chris Burlingame — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:59:47 +0000

Let’s not mince words and please forgive the hyperbole; there’s not much time for that. Between tonight and its closing on Sunday, there are eight performances of “The Invisible Hand” at ACT Theatre. I would strongly implore everyone reading to do what they can to make it to at least one of those performances. It is … Continue reading →

Victor Janusz tells his own story with humor and song in Hands Solo: Pianoman

Chris Burlingame — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:09:39 +0000

Victor Janusz has been a fixture behind a piano almost constantly since he was eight years old. He has played department stores, fancy parties, upscale restaurants, and even fundraisers for future presidents. During that time span, he has amassed plenty of stories to tell. He compiled those stories, mixing in original and cover songs, into … Continue reading →

“The Price” Isn’t Right

StefanDW — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 13:27:30 +0000

Attention must be paid to the set dressing. Arthur Miller’s The Price is set in an attic, that place where we put all the things we don’t want but with which we cannot part. The characters that populate this purgatory have come to negotiate a price on their history–they are selling the furniture. It’s a … Continue reading →

Please Don’t Encourage Them — Sugar Daddies at ACT

Courtney Meaker — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 18:30:41 +0000

At the end of Sugar Daddies (at ACT through Nov 3; tickets), I thought, “Did that just happen?” Yes. Yes it did, and much like with my experience at First Date at ACT a couple of years ago, I can’t un-see it, I don’t understand why people were amused by it, and I can’t let … Continue reading →

ACT’s “Rapture, Blister, Burn” Tries to Have It All

StefanDW — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 17:35:02 +0000

The female WASP and her marital and gender-oriented struggles are the grist that is ground in ACT’s production of Rapture, Blister, Burn (through August 11). Playwright Gina Gionfriddo has enough self-awareness to out her subject demographic, but the problems of the privileged are as familiar as they are suspect.

A Tell-All Memoirist Comes Home in “Other Desert Cities” at ACT

StefanDW — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:09:43 +0000

The familiar give and take of family secrets and threatened revelations gets a Hollywood shine and sociopolitical update in ACT’s production of Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities (through June 30). Hamstrung by an under-rehearsed cast and a weak-jointed plot, the show still provides an amusing, if sentimental, evening of entertainment.