Pennsylvania Playhouse takes a thoughtful look at identity and culture with its funny, poignant production of “La Gringa” through March 29 at the playhouse, 390 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem.
The Obie-winning play by Carmen Rivera-Tirado, which opened in 1996, has become the longest running Spanish language play in off Broadway history. However, the version being presented by PA Playhouse is the playwright’s English translation of the play.
It is 1922 during the Troubles in Ulster, the six counties of Northern Ireland. The Catholics are in conflict with the Protestant unionists who want to remain part of the United Kingdom.
But in Belfast, the country’s capital, the Gallagher family is getting ready to eat dinner. The whole play takes place in their dining room.
Read more: “A Terrible Beauty,” an Irish supper serving delicious helpings of terror and good cheer
Touchstone Theater premieres an original work that looks at friendship and hard-to-answer questions in the thoughtful, poignant “Language of Dolls.”
The piece, created and performed by long-time friends Lizzie Olesker, Peggy Pettitt and Louise Smith, is powerful and brutally honest as the three women come together to examine what makes them the same as well, and more critically, what makes them different.
Read more: Thoughtful, poignant "Language of Dolls" at Touchstone, through March 8
Civic Theatre of Allentown delivers a dark, moody and musically dense “Sweeney Todd” highlighted by jaw-dropping stagecraft and swirling harmonies.
Civic stages the Stephen Sondheim classic through March 15 at Civic’s 19th Street Theatre, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown.
The show opens with a powerful “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” bringing the whole cast out to fill the stage reflect ing the teeming underbelly of 18th century London.
Read more: Civic's "Sweeney Todd" dark, moody and musical, through March 15
Usually, it’s just Facebook friends that linger on for months or even years after they checkout.
“Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Rachel Williams, makes it clear that dying is not so simple if a stranger picks up your cell phone after you have croaked.
This play might cause you to question your connected lifestyle. To wonder if your so-called friends would ever call you if they hadn’t heard from you in while. Maybe you will think about your relationship with Mom—is she really proud of you?
