Mark Hein

'Crack Whore' begins lightheartedly enough, evoking vaudeville and burlesque. But soon clouds gather and it becomes a cri de coeur, crying justice in a voice first raised in 'The Trojan Women,' assaulting our comfort with a fierceness that would make Artaud or Brecht proud. This is theatre as the ancients of every race intended it -- strong soul medicine. I don't know a woman (or an LGBTQIA+ person) whom I would not warn about the show's many triggers. And I don't know a man I would let off the h... full review

"Trojan Women" is a formidable challenge –the characters are from a world 3,000 years gone, they speak in elevated poetry, and their story is relentlessly painful. Project Nongenue's dedication and artistry give us an hour of terrible empathy that will not allow us to forget these women — nor the ones who suffer in refugee camps and prisons all over our world.... full review

A TERRIFIC, WITTY TURN ON A CLASSIC. This is a remarkable work, perhaps even a great one. Denney has cut away 95% of Homer's "Odyssey," giving it a single focus and turning the testosterone epic into a feminist text, centered in heart and hearth. This quiet, domestic odyssey never leaves home -- no battlefields, no corridors of power -- yet its echoes for our imperial age are fierce (and often funny; we wince as we laugh). ... full review

"You in Midair: An Elegy for a Daughter" is not an elegy -- it's a mother's lament. Danna Schaeffer shares her joy in her daughter Rebecca, a rising actress, and recounts her arduous journey after Rebecca's murder into a life without her. Schaeffer is intelligent, vivacious, and witty -- but she does not enact the grief she describes. As a result, we do not experience it, nor the catharsis we wish for. ... full review

"The Importance of Being Oscar" is literate, funny, interesting and lively. (Author Brandie June deftly uses several of Wilde’s best bon mots, and throws in a few of her own.) It still has some rough edges. But in brief compass, it explores the many difficulties — and discovers the real importance — of being Oscar. ... full review

"Wounded" is not an anti-war play. It is a quiet, respectful examination of three intersecting lives. Not just these three, but everyone in their world has suffered the costs of war. Kaz makes it quietly clear -- war knows no boundaries, and no one escapes unharmed.... full review

In a brief hour in this small room, Steed’s artwork takes us far, on journeys deep into our own lives — our fiercest loves and losses, our unspoken fears, our regrets. Ghosts fill the space, charging the air with emotion and meaning. We are fortunate to have this “professional make believer” (as Steed describes herself) making her art in our city. And fortunate that she can find such fine collaborators. An experience like no other at Fringe. Or anywhere.... full review

"Buffy Kills Edward" is great fan service, and good fun for everyone. Author-composer-director Wiley and the troupe sustain a lively, silly romp that’s both tribute and satire at once. ... full review

A clever adaptation of an early Chekhov play from rural Czarist Russia to Palm Springs. Well-staged and well-acted, with Coeurage Company's usual professionalism,. But "Nicky" is dogged by the "Chekhov challenge" -- how to connect us to people who are disconnected from themselves? Playwright Boni Alvarez comes close to solving it with easily recognizable younger characters, and revealing monologs for the older ones -- but until we can feel more of what animates (or deadens) Nicky and Matthew and... full review

An elaborate, rambunctious romp through the fever dream that (supposedly) gave the Bard his plays ... Full of horrible puns, it pops parody shots at a large portion of Shakespeare's work, dashing through a daft plot that tangles up characters and tales, punctuated by dozens of remarkably well-staged musical numbers (almost all with disappearing dress) ... Watch for top-line burlesque dancing, powerhouse singing, constant campy humor, love and sex in all their forms ... and if you don't fall in lo... full review