here’s an adage in the writing business: “Write what you know.” Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr., known as A.R., certainly took that advice to heart. After studying playwriting at Yale in the 1950s, Gurney set out on a writing career based almost exclusively on his uppercrust family background, the clubby Northeastern…
Don’t let the simple stage dressing of this three-woman musical fool you. The stories told by the trio in Bubbe Meises — Bubbe Stories deal with complicated matters of the heart, family ties, and lessons that can only be learned over time. Its rough-edged plot shines toward a brilliant end; the interweaving of two grandmother¹s stories and superstitions fit like a puzzle, creating an inspirational and emotional crescendo as the granddaughter ultimately creates her own story and a new future. Sarah Wolter¹s portrayal of the adult grandchild waivers among confused, sentimental, fearful, and angry — but her Broadway belt and stunning smile carries her character through the play. On both sides of her sparse surroundings are two very different lived-in homes, where the past comes alive. Sitting among expensive Jewish trinkets is Grandma number one — a sometimes-German-accented Gittel (Rhonda Stearns), who looks stifled in her buttoned-up costume with glasses halfway down her nose; her armor is pierced and her lonely heart revealed when she uncovers the sad truth behind surface materialism and her love for her late husband. But Grandma number two, Annie, played by Miki Edelman, really stands out. Her salt-of-the-earth chutzpah and tough-love lessons make this apron-wearing survivor delicious to watch. Her saucy and strong performance is reminiscent of Anne Bancroft; her best moment is when she remembers courting her now-hated, once-adored husband. This multilayered play is an emotional roller coaster that goes beyond the roots of the family tree and stretches its branches into the unknown future. — By Rachel Galvin (Through May 9 at the Atlantis Playhouse, 5893 S. Congress Ave., Atlantis, 561-304-3212.)
Maybe it’s fitting that my reactions to “Michael Joo” are split right down the middle. By most accounts (including the artist’s), Joo’s work has a great deal to do with dichotomies. His current exhibition, on display at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art (PBICA) in Lake Worth, certainly seems…
NOW SHOWING A Picasso: Picture this: Bearlike Pablo Picasso sits in a dark stone cellar amid stacks of paintings, staring intently at his beautiful female model, who happens to be a Nazi official. As the woman begins to disrobe, Picasso sketches furiously, and despite the dank, dark surroundings, you can…
Before the Bosstones were Mighty Mighty, before Mephiskapheles signed a pact with Satan, and back when Skankin’ Pickle was just a cucumber and the Skalars were undergrads at Two-Tone University, the Toasters were laying the foundation for a new wave of ska music in America. Formed in 1982, after English-born…
THU 22 Aha! We figured out the mystery! ClueLess on Las Olas is really a pub crawl disguised as interactive murder mystery theater! Show up at the corner of Las Olas Boulevard and SE Ninth Avenue (next to Mangos) at 5:30 p.m. to register for the event. At 7 p.m.,…
Whatever happened to Earth Day, people? Remember the ’90s, when we were all worked up about developing solar energy and finding a solution to the solid waste crisis? We know, we know, the hippie look isn’t trendy, and being an environmentalist is passé. Do y’all even recycle anymore? So-called “liberal”…
Local daredevils test their man-powered machines SAT 4/24 “He’s the strangest dude I ever met,” Rodrigo Lima says of teammate Dan Bigalow, whom he plans to push off a giant papier-mâché camel into the waters of Biscayne Bay. The two young men, along with friends Rodrigo Davila and Crystal Lense,…
… and help stock Becca’s Closet FRI 4/23 After you hear Rebecca Kirtman’s story, you’ll probably want to play golf this Friday, even if you’ve never picked up a club before in your life. Rebecca was a special young woman who died far too early, in the fall of 2003…
Event showcases corny crops SUN 4/25 You might want to salute 280-pound “Jammin'” Joe LaRue as the “kernel” of consumption. A circuit star with the International Federation of Competitive Eating, this husky Hollywood chef will take on top-status scoffer Ed “Cookie” Jarvis and others on Sunday, April 25, to compete…
Social commentary in my rap-metal? FRI 4/23 Need to brush up on your Spanish curse words? Listen to Molotov, Mexico’s megapopular, socially conscious rap-metal band that features a guitarist (Tito Fuentes), two bass players (Micky “Huidos” Huidobro and Paco Ayala), and an American-born drummer (Randy Ebright) who moved to Mexico…
As a proud sponsor of the Colin Farrell media blitz, Intermission opens on the lad’s salable mug, basically sporting the same buzz-cut ‘n’ tats look from his punky cameo in Veronica Guerin. It’s a cunning editorial move, pushing the product from the get-go, yet it gets interesting as Farrell’s dumb…
The six-month intermission is over; those of you left in the lobby, wondering if Uma Thurman ever did kill Bill, may now return to your seats and unbuckle your belts and resume your gorging. Rest assured that Kill Bill Vol. 2, the final half of Quentin Tarantino’s fifth movie, offers…
This just in: White people have a lot of secret racial prejudice. J.T. Rogers hammers home this theme in White People, now playing at the New Theatre in Coral Gables. The three-character show is more poetry than drama, a series of interlaced monologues that centers on deep-buried anger in white…
NOW SHOWING Trembling Hands — How far will one friend go for another? In Ivonne Azurdia’s grotesque, funny crime drama, now in its world premiere by the Mad Cat Theatre Company, the answer is very, very far indeed. Following up on her splendid Tin Box Boomerang, a hit for Mad…
“Love & Slavery in Miami” — Willie Keddell is an artist who tills the fields of perception. The urban furrows of marginality are his seedbed of imagination. His work’s soulful aesthetic is abundant with concrete decay, the graffiti of untrod spaces, and the plaintive lament of the dispossessed. With assistance…
No Exit, an engaging philosophical piece by John Paul Sartre, continues to make us think 60 years after it was written. Three strangers are escorted one by one into an overheated room that¹s much like the ³Hotel California.² Leaving is, well, more difficult than entering. In this hell, there is…
Three years ago, Jerry Mathers took part in The Tonight Show’s “Celebrity Survivor” contest, and won — proving that the icon of wholesome 1950s All-Americanism can hang with the best of ’em. But Mathers (you remember — the Beav!) won only after eating a worm, which resulted in a trip…
THU 15 Alexandra Nechita may be young, but the 18-year-old Romanian artist is more accomplished than many artists thrice her age. Her paintings, lithographs, and drawings have found a home in the collections of Bill Clinton, the Vatican, and Oprah Winfrey and have won honors from the American Red Cross…
SAT 4/17 Like the man who goes to church once a year solely to beg forgiveness for his shameful ways, we celebrate Earth Day after 364 days of not giving a shit about the environment. So, to apologize to Mother Earth for our yearly eco-blunders, Quiet Waters Park (401 S…
Harriers run all the way to the bar SUN 4/18 Need a little excitement in your exercise routine? How about changing the weekly jog into a chase game of cat and mouse… er, dog and rabbit? The Hash House Harriers is a social club for runners based on the old…
