Skip to main content

Talent shines in play about acting

By

Talent shines in play about acting
“Circle Mirror Transformation” is billed as a comedy, but it's also a heady drama about the limits of self discovery
Posted Nov 5, 2011, 10:15 am
Dave Irwin
TucsonSentinel.com

In “Circle Mirror Transformation,” four small town wanna-be actors, eager to expand their horizons, start in a local community class with their instructor. Over six weeks, covered in 90 minutes of vignettes, they go through a series of enlightening and humiliating psychological exercises, guided by their teacher, Marty.

Written by Annie Baker, “Circle Mirror Transformation” won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play and made a number of lists for top ten plays of 2009.

Fortunately, this production has a balanced, talented cast that doesn’t overwhelm the intimate Invisible Theatre space. Director Betsy Kruse Craig keeps a subtle hand on the proceedings, letting the action simmer nervously until it explodes.
Photo: Tim Fuller
The cast of 'Circle Mirror Transformation' at Invisible Theatre. (Clockwise from upper right - Carrie Hill, James Henriksen, Lucille Petty, Brian Weez. Center - Molly McKasson
To call “Circle Mirror Transformation” a comedy, though probably better for marketing, is to miss more than half of its meaning. Watching five characters flay themselves to uncertain purpose is clearly tragedy. There are some laughs in particular moments, but overall, this is a cathartic work that says much about how we live our lives, questioning how truthful we are to ourselves and others.

Read the full review here: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/arts/report/110411_circlemirrortransformation/talent-shines-play-acting/

Popular posts from this blog

INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING AND DIVERSE LINEUP OF PLAYS FOR ITS 2022-2023 SEASON!

By Anonymous
 INVISIBLE THEATRE ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING AND DIVERSE LINEUP OF PLAYS FOR ITS 2022-2023 SEASON!  (April 1, 2022, Tucson, AZ); Invisible Theatre’s Managing Artistic Director, Susan Claassen and Associate Directors James Blair and Betsy Kruse Craig, announce six plays for the company’s 51st Anniversary Season. The lineup includes the SW premieres of acclaimed Off-Broadway contemporary plays, romantic comedies, the Arizona premieres of the award-winning musical tribute to the great Billie Holiday with BILLIE! - Backstage with Lady Day and intimate portraits of outspoken “Defenders of Liberty” like witty and brassy Molly Ivins in RED HOT PATRIOT: The KickAss Wit of Molly Ivins and the Off-Broadway acclaimed WIESENTHAL that tells the compelling story of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The season also includes THE SABBATH GIRL, a contemporary comedy with an old-fashioned heart, SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, a unique and compassionate new play that asks how we address life’s biggest questions whe...
Read more

"Coming Apart" review in the Arizona Daily Star

By
Link to AZ Star   Tucson's Invisible Theatre starts its season with laughs By Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star       Tim Fuller "Love and Marriage Go Together Like" …  unless you are romance author Frances Kittridge (Susan Kovitz) and her husband comedy columnist Colin (David Johnston) who are going through a trial separation and division of worldly goods while living in the same NYC apartment! So she has planned Invisible Theatre’s season accordingly. “The first couple of shows are lighthearted in what appears to be a challenging fall for the world,” says Claassen, the company’s managing artistic director. Next week, IT opens its 2016-17 season with Fred Carmichael’s comedy, “Coming Apart.” At its heart:  “Coming Apart is “a romantic comedy of love and marriage, but it also touches on what happens when pride enters a relationship,” says Claassen, who is a member of the cast. The couple coming apart are both writers who h...
Read more

Broadway World Review: Invisible Theatre Opens 51st Season with THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT

By
  Review: Invisible Theatre Opens 51st Season with THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT https://www.broadwayworld.com/phoenix/article/Review-Invisible-Theatre-Opens-51st-Season-with-LIFESPAN-OF-A-FACT-20220905?fbclid=IwAR2mZ5Iwsj_LVsppP13ho-poXjIDN-MW5ZLgWOnVKAQIzB91JuexqHQOUZo  The play is based on a book transcribed from a controversial essay. by  Robert Encila-Celdran   Sep. 05, 2022              At the heart of THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT is the heady and contentious intersection of journalism and creative prose. Invisible Theatre's 51st season-opener is based on John D'Agata's book of the same title, co-authored by Jim Fingal, who had served as a fact checker of John D'Agata's original essay from which the book was transcribed. Prior to their shared achievement, the authors had a wrangling seven-year discourse related to questionable details about D'Agata's otherwise compelling narrative about the culture of suicide in Las Vegas. T...
Read more