A Devilish New Comedy: David MacGregor's "The Antichrist Cometh" debuts at The Purple Rose Theatre

Tue, 03/19/2024 - 1:15pm by christopherporter

David MacGregor's plays have been performed in 15 countries, including India, Israel, South Korea, and Tasmania. 

Through the Grisly Maze: "Elizabeth Cree" is a puzzle-filled operatic mystery

Wed, 03/13/2024 - 3:00pm by christopherporter

As the opera begins, Elizabeth is hung for the murder of her husband, the playwright John Cree. 

U-M law professor Barbara McQuade fights against disinformation in her new book

Thu, 02/29/2024 - 4:00pm by christopherporter

When Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and MSNBC legal analyst, prosecuted a doctor who “cured” cancer in patients who didn’t have cancer, some victims refused to believe they’d been duped. They had trusted their doctor, after all, and how could they have been so wrong?

In her new book, Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, which she will discuss at the Ann Arbor District Library on March 7, McQuade uses many examples from history, here and abroad, to show us just how disinformation works. 

A Jill of All Trades: Julia Garlotte takes the helm of The Penny Seats Theatre Company

Mon, 02/26/2024 - 1:00pm by christopherporter

A theater's artistic director has to oversee everything on stage. She also has to check in with financial managers so the production stays on budget, and she has to understand acting, directing, and design—the whole deal.

Insulation Versus Isolation: U-M's production of “Arbor Falls” holds a mirror to society's divisions

Thu, 02/08/2024 - 2:15pm by christopherporter

Caridad Svich’s play Arbor Falls is set in a small, landlocked, tree-lined town of that name. We know little about the town, save that it is near another place where something terrible happened, and the people of Arbor Falls want to feel safe. We know, too, that it is home to a church with a dwindling congregation and a preacher unsure of his faith. 

Creative Visions: Theater set designer Jungah Han conjures new worlds from scratch

Tue, 10/17/2023 - 10:00am by christopherporter

Jungah Han doesn’t try to copy a successful look from a previous production of a play, musical, or opera she is designing. She doesn’t look at photos or read about what other designers have done, and she tells her University of Michigan students to begin without preconceptions, too.

UMMA's "Arts & Resistance" exhibits look at the role of creative works in fighting for cultural change

Wed, 10/04/2023 - 12:00pm by christopherporter

Artists resist.

Dress for Success: Costume designer Suzanne Young clothes actors for local, national, and international theater productions

Wed, 09/13/2023 - 10:15am by christopherporter

It was 1981 when Suzanne Young, 21, moved to Boston from her native England.

Golden Years: Purple Rose Theatre's "Jukebox for the Algonquin" focuses on seniors living and loving

Mon, 07/03/2023 - 9:00am by christopherporter

Billed as “a serious comedy about sex, drugs, and rocking chairs,” Paul Stroili’s Jukebox for the Algonquin transpires at Placid Pines, a senior living community in the Adirondack region of New York, circa 2003.

Take a Leap: Fifth Wall's new abstract chamber-rock opera "The Precipice" debuts at Riverside Arts in Ypsilanti

Wed, 04/19/2023 - 11:00am by christopherporter

Our lives are not static.