Results tagged “balagantheatre”

CALL IT GOOF-HOP Kid Koala plays Nectar tonight. The Vancouver-born DJ makes relaxing hiphop/glitch-flavored songs. He’s one of those people whom it seems unfair to call a "DJ" because his records are more than remixes: his music is uniquely, goofily relaxing. His first record, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, sounds like a dance club on Sesame Street. Kid Koala is a rare thing: a DJ who just wants to make you smile. With Adira.

Back in 1986, Lily Tomlin won a Tony Award appearing in Jane Wagner's solo show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which was a (mostly) comedic double-take on having lived through the consciousness-raising '70s. Now Balagan Theatre is reviving the show (through August 29; Thurs-Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m.; tickets: $15 online, $20 at the door), with the gifted Terri Weagant as your cracked guide to a cracked universe.

Legend has it that Tom Hanks took the part of Picasso in the first reading of Steve Martin's play Picasso at the Lapine Agile back in the mid-nineties. Martin tried multiple times to get this play about the big forces of the Twentieth Century--embodied by Einstein and Picasso--swirling around a Parisian bar made into a movie without success, but if he could ever get the project together, and if Hanks could take some time off from his busy ripping-off-Umberto-Eco career, and if, perhaps, Martin himself could take on a role...well, let us tell you right now--that movie would fucking suck.

We like Neil LaBute because we also actively dislike most people. However, the degree to which we distrust others differs—personally, we think everybody’s a sociopath (to one degree or another), while LaBute’s plays and films deal with individuals who are downright psychopathic.

RECOMMENDED

Balagan Theatre's Othello (Thursday-Sunday through December 13, tickets $15/$12) is a sordid plunge into an underworld of violence, jealousy, and rage. Three women sitting next to us nearly jumped out of their seats, crying out involuntarily, during fight scenes.

The Arabian Nights is almost indestructible theatre--you just need to tell the stories, after all, and imagination does the rest--and that's lucky for Balagan Theatre because their production of Mary Zimmerman's play ($15, Thurs-Sun, through November 8) takes awhile getting to its feet.

Theatre Black Dog's runs through April 20, tickets $15 adv, $20 at the door.

Lisa Confehr and Kaitie Warren are the co-directors of Balagan Theatre's Romeo & Juliet, and they deserve co-praise for the hectic, breathless pace of this 16-actor-strong production. (Now through March 22nd, Thurs-Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 at the door.)

Balagan Theatre burst out of the womb of the Capitol Hill Arts Center last week with the opening of their new season in the La Spiga building at the corner of Pike and 12th. "Three weeks ago this was a concrete box," someone said before the performance, "and thanks to the hard work of many people, today it's a concrete box with curtains." It's actually pretty fly for a concrete box with curtains.

As we were saying, there's a lot more at Bumbershoot besides the music. You've got the comedy, the literature, the theatre, the dance -- and the people-watching, the sideshows, the side sideshows: yesterday we ran into Craig and Victoria doing a violin-and-flamenco act behind a tent; they say they'll be back today, roaming around, so look for a swirl of red.

Remember which pre-Socratic thinker said, "Time keeps on slipping into the future"? In Charles Waxberg's The Equation, time comes in sedimentary layers, a contradictory past unearthed month by month. It works, it doesn't work. But if you're going to see just one play this year -- and you want one that locates the roots of modern-day conspicuous consumption in the hand-to-mouth neediness of the Depression -- dig in.

You should go see Balagan Theatre’s wild west version of Titus Andronicus at CHAC, but if you want a taste of what you’re getting into before you go you should check out episode 501 of Southpark.