items tagged with Scott Irelan

If I were a college (or even high school) student of the female sex, I might find playwright Merri Biechler’s Real Girls Can’t Win! poignant and, if not life-changing, at least food for thought. I’m not, though, so while I appreciated Augustana College's cute presentation of the piece, I found the play itself to be rather pretentious, and annoyingly preachy.

Augustana College’s Wrestling with Angels & Demons approaches race, ethnicity, and racism from a personal perspective, as six people share their experiences – from first arriving at college to returning to one’s homeland – with much humor and grace and very little anger. It’s effective at addressing its issues in a nonconfrontational way, thoughtful, and – while dealing with a touchy subject – also quite enjoyable.

Augustana College opens its 2010-11 theatre season with the student/faculty collaboration Wrestling with Angels & Demons, and true to its title, the play will find its performers doing a fair share of wrestling. Yet rather than physical (or metaphysical) beings, the production’s student actors will actually be grappling with questions: What is democracy? What is the American Dream? And a question that many of us have contemplated this year: Is Rod Blagojevich really blacker than Barack Obama?

Whether you attend stage works sporadically or, like me, you saw 85 shows in the past year, anyone who enjoyed even one will understand that feeling of leaving a venue thinking, "Wow ... that was really good." I experienced that sensation numerous times this year, and while this list is hardly exhaustive, it'll hopefully give you an idea of just what you've been missing if you missed out on 2009's offerings.

Five Inspiring Ensembles

Powerful lead performances and scene-stealing supporting turns are always welcome; one- and two-character shows can be a gas. But for my money, nothing quite beats the theatrical pleasure of watching a tightly knit ensemble in action, and the following five productions ensured that this pleasure was a continual one.