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Steel Magnolias at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Or: Hail Ouiser Robert Harling’s 1987 Steel Magnolia’s is a play with a origin as captivating as its plot. Created in 10 days during “a...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
Les Miserables at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Or: These are the songs that touch our souls When Jean Valjean (Stephen Mitchell Brown) is freed from 19 years of hard labor, it only to...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20234 min read
The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Or: Gilded Glory The town of Windsor, Wisconsin, 1947. The War is over and the air is thick with gayety, anticipation, and other musky...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20234 min read
Calvary
Or: Redemption unreached On Sunday, Father James (Brendan Gleeson), Shepherd of a small Irish town, is informed via confessional that one...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Moody’s Pub
Or: Rude and Rapturous Mechanicals In the mellow night of a late august eve, partitioned from the world by rough stone walls, sheltered...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
All Our Tragic
Or: Blood, tears and bright burning hope Sean Graney, director and adaptor of the mad and marvelous All Our Tragic wanted nothing less...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20239 min read
The Size of the World
Or: You Can't Go Home Again A man of charisma, loquaciousness and determination young Peter Hogancamp (Matt Edmonds) has returned to...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
A Most Wanted Man
Or: The Soft Touch In Hamburg, Germany, the compost ground of international terrorism (and counter-terrorist agencies) Issa Karpov...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
Who Rowed Across Oceans: A new work by Danielle Littman
Or: “Don’t hate the sea from the shore/the ocean was here long before...”* “How does a life get led?” That, for me, is the question;...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20234 min read
The Forest Play: A new work by Taylor Bostwick
Or: “Everybody says they want a fairytale wedding; and yet, when I show up the curse the firstborn, I’m the bad guy.”* The vows have been...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20235 min read
Juno
Or An Irish Fiddler Midway through act one of Juno I was sized by a sense of deja vu. Where had I seen this lively party ripped asunder?...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
The Pirates of Penzance: or the slave of Duty
Or: Not Quite the Very Model But Quite Good Enough For Me Before begin I find myself Duty bound, to tell those others who dote upon...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20235 min read
The Hundred Dresses (encore)
Or: the Coming Chill In the stage rendering of Elenore Estes novel, the world occupied by Maddie Martins (Myrna Conn) and her playmates...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
The Qualms: a new play by Bruce Norris
Or: Swinger State In a well appointed sea-side apartment Teri (Kate Arrington) and Gary (Keith Kupferer) prepare to host this months...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
The Art of Losing a new play by Julie Del Prete
Or: The Kingdom The outlook wasn’t hopeful for the Boston Red Sox that year, or indeed for any of the 86 previous years since they won...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
Monstrous Regiment at Lifeline Theater
Or: The Girl I left behind me In Chris Hainsworth's adaptation of Terry Pratchett's satyric masterpiece Monstrous Regiment we find...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20234 min read
Northwestern's 2014 New Playwright's Showcase
Or: Bending Upwards, Searching for the Sun Last night I had the rare and distinct pleasure of watching ten minute cuttings ten new plays,...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20234 min read
This is, Or: The Wild Hunt for Home and Heart
It’s not really my wicket; the blood hot and bone raw wandering type theater grown from its performers and scattered across a landscape...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
Griffin’s Tale: Bubble Bobble’s Game Show of Doom
Or: I am Joyful Griffin’s Tale has done it again. Venturing out to Chicago’s Elementary schools to inspire memories, discussions, and...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20233 min read
Thou Proud Dream
Or: About Face Returning home from the bloody streets of Kirkuk, Iraq, Leroy (Brett Matthews) is having a hard time adjusting to civilian...
Ben Kemper
May 16, 20232 min read
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