The stage is a scuffed square in the middle of a black-painted room. Rows of chairs rise around it, bleacher-style, on all four sides. No curtains or fancy sets divide those watching the action from the action itself. This is the Vortex, Albuquerque’s highly regarded community theater now in its 36th year—and, as it happens, a fitting home for the stripped-down intimacy of Anton Chekhov’s classic drama-comedy, The Seagull.
The Dolls have been making a name for themselves since 1996 with their original material and drag-tastic interpretations. They're purported to be the crème de la crème of the Albuquerque drag scene. So it was a surprise and a disappointment to find their latest offering, Miss Mary Christmas, a bit of a mess.
Bit characters from Hamlet wander to their demise at Theatre X
By Leigh Hile
This is no spoiler: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.” An ambassador from England announces this at the end of Hamlet and this masterpiece from Tom Stoppard. Anyone who is familiar with Hamlet or has even read the title of Stoppard's classic absurdist drama has a pretty good idea of where they play's action is headed. Even the protagonists, at various turns in the story, know they're going to die, though they either forget or willfully ignore the information upon receiving it every time.
The premise may sound familiar as our real presidential election approaches, but this piece written by David Mamet is so absurd and pointless that it fails to connect to anything bearing resemblance to reality.
Mother Road brings the Battle of Gettysburg to life
By Leigh Hile
Featuring a cast of almost 30 characters representing real historical figures, The Killer Angels attempts to dramatize the events surrounding the Civil War’s pivotal Battle of Gettysburg
Great acting from Fusion Theatre Company probes familial bonds
By Leigh Hile
From the first rise of the curtain, expect to be captivated by Other Desert Cities. The new play by New York playwright Jon Robin Baitz wastes no time drawing the audience in.
Blackout innovates with a trio of domicile-driven love stories
By Leigh Hile
A philandering poet, a pair of clowns and a woman on the verge of burning her house down. These are several of the characters played by Jeff Andersen and Lila Martinez in Blackout Theatre Company’s latest original work, Stories of Us: A Guide to Home Improvement.
Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale is a fascinating yet problematic play. But director Paul Ford boldly tackles its challenges in The Vortex’s final installment of Will Power, the theater’s annual summer Shakespeare festival.
ALT’s lusty teen musical is uncoordinated yet awesome—kinda like your first time
By Leigh Hile
Take a late-19th century German play about school children. Adapt it as a rock musical with a score by a ’90s folk-rock one-hit wonder. Mix generously with explicit themes of adolescent sexuality, and the result is going to to be highly unorthodox.
