Invisible Theatre News

Invisible Theatre presents "Borrowed Time" By  Kathy Allen Ann Dusenberry has taken on big challenges in her life. The Tucson native and University of Arizona graduate faced sharks in “Jaws 2,” co-starred with Lucille Ball in the television series “Life with Lucy,” and dealt with murder in “Murder, She Wrote.” But this year, the actress-director has faced one of her biggest artistic challenges — directing her husband Brad Fiedel in his one-man show, “Borrowed Time.” Invisible Theatre brings it here for one performance on Sunday. “It was hell,” she says with a laugh in a phone interview from her Santa Barbara home. Read the entire preview here:  Invisible Theatre presents "Borrowed Time" Composer-turned-actor Brad Fiedel left Hollywood behind to pursue other dreams.

Invisible Theatre's  Miracle on South Division Street  is the perfect play for a season that celebrates family by   Sherilyn Forrester , Tucson Weekly ... Playwright Tom Dudzick unfolds the story of the Nowak family with a very light touch. The result is a good-natured piece that has us laughing from start to finish at a wonderfully contrived setup and characters who are not so very different from people we know and love. ... Miracle on South Division Street  gives us a spirited and very funny story. The IT gang does a fine job, and chances are this will be a hot ticket this season. Nab yours soon. Carley Elizabeth Preston, Alida Holguin Gunn and Seth Fowler in  Miracle on South Division Street. Read the entire review here:  Shrines, Soup and the Seventies | Review | Tucson Weekly

Review: Miracle on South Division Street November 17, 2013 12:00 am   •   By  Kathy Allen What this wispy comedy lacks in substance is made up in charm and heart. Director  Gail Fitzhugh  has assembled a cast that’s committed to the outrageousness and to fleshing out the characters.... Sibling rivalry reigns supreme in this rollicking comedy with Ruth (Carley Elizabeth Preston), Bev (Alida Holguin Gunn) and Jimmy (Seth Fowler). -- Credit: Tim Fuller It’s tough not to laugh at this play, even when it uses broad strokes and goes for easy laughs. Fitzhugh and company have, happily, given us something to smile about. Read the entire review here:  Review: Miracle on South Division Street

by Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com    photo by Tim Fuller Shocking news surprises the Nowak family (from left) Beverly (Alida Holguin Gunn), Clara (Toni Press-Coffman), Jimmy (Seth Fowler) and Ruth (Carley Elizabeth Preston). A lovely warm-up for an ecumenical holiday season is found at Invisible Theatre in its sprightly production of “Miracle on South Division Street” by Tom Dudzick. Not to be confused with Kris Kringle’s Christmas shopping “Miracle on 34 th  Street,” this miracle of a much different kind is set in Buffalo, New York, in 2010. Gail Fitzhugh directs a tightly knit cast of four to deliver plenty of laughs while reminding us that family devotion will always be more important than religious differences. Anyone who grew up back east will recognize the spot-on characterizations in three generations of the Nowak clan of Polish-American Catholics who staked their claim to the New World just before World War II. First, we are reminded how u...

By CASEY KNOX   Published November 11, 2013 at 10:50pm   Updated November 11, 2013 at 10:50pm For Susan Claassen, the theater’s managing artistic director, the play epitomizes the types of productions that the Invisible Theatre likes to bring to Tucson — ones that aren’t the typical production. ... “I think everyone can relate on some level to it,” Claassen said. “We hope that people can relate to it and look at the world a little differently.” Calling it a “comedy with heart,” Claassen said “Miracle on South Division Street” will simultaneously tug on the heart-strings of audience members while making them laugh. The show stars Toni Press-Coffman, Alida Holguin Gunn, Carley Elizabeth Preston and UA business management senior Seth Fowler. Read the entire preview here:  Arizona Daily Wildcat :: Stage comedy comes to downtown Tucson Photo courtesy of Tim Fuller Sibling rivalry reigns supreme in this rollicking comedy with Ruth (Carley Elizabeth Preston), Bev (Alid...

November 07, 2013 12:00 am   •   By Ashley Reid Special to the Arizona Daily Star In Tom Dudzick’s comedy, family secrets and comedic events are twisted together. Laughs are there, said [Director Gail Fitzhugh]. But there’s more. “They are all very interesting characters. They are working class people and the play itself really deals with family, faith, and sometimes lack of, and the lies we believe,” said Fitzhugh. “It’s about what it is we believe and how we can change and adjust to surprises in life. It is very funny and very inclusive, really heartfelt.” The Nowak family, clockwise,starting with seated: Jimmy (Seth Fowler), Bev (Alida Holguin Gunn) Clara (Toni Press-Coffman) and Ruth (Carley Elizabeth Preston). Credit: Tim Fuller Read the entire preview here:  Invisible Theatre brings us a "Miracle"

Totalitarian Trauma  A dark drama at IT takes on sex, lies and government-speak by  M. Scot Skinner Anna, an editor at the Soviet-style Ministry of Information, is not one to complain and certainly not to the Director. But the man has summoned her and is now standing much too close. And if you must know, this new project might just be the death of her. Anna and her comrades, black markers in hand, are working like the devil cleaning up the personal letters of Russia's most famous composer. Seems the late composer was a boisterous homosexual who liked putting pen to paper. He documented his sexual adventures at length and with explicit glee. "It's pornography," Anna tells the Director, who clearly has a dirty mind of his own. The grim-faced worker, played by Lori Hunt, explains that the filth removal is proceeding as planned. But it's dawning on her that the Director (Roberto Guajardo) didn't call her to his office for a status report. Something else is going...

Power struggle play echoes Orwell's 1984 Dave Irwin TucsonSentinel.com Better known for light comedy, Invisible Theatre opened its 43rd season with a taut psychological drama that owes much to “1984,” George Orwell’s dystopian novel, as well as to the Soviet era that provides the play’s setting. The backdrop for “The Letters,” by John W. Lowell, is the Soviet Union of 1931, as Joseph Stalin was consolidating his dictatorship through fear and reprisals towards any and all opponents, actual or perceived. The play examines the issues of a culture built on fear and deception, through a two-person power struggle fraught with suspicion, manipulation and intrigue. The cat and mouse game begins Read the entire review here:  Invisible Theatre’s 'The Letters' is a doubleplusgood drama Lori Hunt and Roberto Guajardo in 'The Letters.' photo by Tim Fuller

September 14, 2013 12:00 am   •   By Ann Brown Arizona Daily Star Surveillance, suspicion and misinformation evoked tension and paranoia during the Invisible Theatre’s opening Wednesday of its 43rd season with John W. Lowell’s 2009 “The Letters.” A departure from the theater’s often-sentimental fare, “The Letters” is a two-actor, 80-minute quiet thriller of intrigue set in a ministry director’s office in the 1931 Soviet Union. From the moment the lights go up on the monochromatic, sepia-toned office set — splashed with the bold red Soviet flag with its glinting gold hammer and sickle — a feeling of oppression percolates through the intimate theater. Portraits of Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin  seem to be watching every move. Personal space reflects power and the shift of power in Invisible Theatre’s “The Letters,” with Lori Hunt and Roberto Guajardo. READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE:   Review: "The Letters" at Invisible Theatre .

Theatre - Let the Show Begin Anna (Lori Hunt) keeps up her guard talking to The Director   (Roberto Guajardo)   in "The Letters" The most fascinating aspect of Invisible Theatre’s production of “The Letters,” directed by Susan Claassen, is how two actors – Roberto Guajardo and Lori Hunt – can create such electrical tension on stage using only their words and their body language. Without question, “The Letters” is the first must-see event of the new season. It is powerful the way sheer drama is powerful, drawing truth from taut conflicts between willful personalities. Instead of threatening weaponry, massive explosives hooked up to a ticking timer, agitated suicide bombers or other such special effects, there is a desk and two chairs. And talent…there is a lot of talent. Guajardo is The Director and we are in his office, with his title painted on the door. Hunt is simply called Anna, a subordinate. She seems to be a featureless cog in the bureaucratic Soviet mach...

September 05, 2013 12:00 am  •  By Chuck Graham Special To The Arizona Daily Star “The Letters” lit up regional theaters across the nation, reminding audiences of uneasy reports about U.S. government programs to spy on its citizens. Tucson’s Invisible Theatre has scheduled its production of Lowell’s “The Letters” opening next week. Read the entire preview here: Invisible Theatre stages "The Letters"

Golf Goofiness | Review | Tucson Weekly : Invisible Theatre closes its season with a wacky touch by  Sherilyn Forrester  tell you, those folks at the Invisible Theatre have no fear. Far be it for them to be dissuaded from producing a full-out farce, complete with a sizable cast chasing each other and doing pratfalls and other broad physical comedy stunts on a stage the size of a beach towel. Last week, IT opened its last show of the season, a truly silly, old-style comedy,  The Fox on the Fairway  by Ken Ludwig. The resulting laughs—and groans—are abundant. ... This kind of show requires a director who can choreograph the actions of the characters carefully and deliberately and orchestrate a pace that builds and swells as the complications grow. Veteran Susan Claassen understands this well and does a good job directing traffic with farcical finesse. She also is not afraid to utilize some cheap comic tricks, but usually does so knowingly, with a wink-wink ...

If laughs are birdies, 'Fox on Fairway' gets plenty Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star There's no way around it: Golf is funny. The concept - hit a little ball with a skinny stick and try to get it into a tiny hole far, far away - is just plain ludicrous. And do this while not hitting the ball into sand traps, water hazards and your fellow golfers? Please. And then there's the clothing: bold plaids and loud colors are preferable. So it's no wonder that playwright Ken Ludwig opted to use the sport as the basis for his comedy "Fox on the Fairway," which Invisible Theatre opened Wednesday. ... Director Susan Claassen knows her comedy and she shaped a play that was easy with the laughs and polished enough to gloss over the script's rough spots. She had a cast that helped immensely. Read the entire review. here:  If laughs are birdies, 'Fox on the Fairway' gets plenty

BIG LAUGHS IN THIS "FOX" By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com “Stop making sense,” David Byrne so famously said, “And go see ‘The Fox on the Fairway’ at Invisible theatre.” Well, no, he didn’t say that last part. But it is still excellent advice. A cast of wild and wacky actors led by director Susan Claassen have unleashed one of the most enthusiastically uninhibited productions this company’s stage has seen in quite a while. Making sense is never required. In fact the less you think about the logic in this comedy of bad bets, broken hearts and tacky fashions, the better. Ever wonder what it would look like if a very proper lady accidentally let a raw oyster slip down the front of her dress? You won’t be wondering any longer. Ken Ludwig (“Lend Me A Tenor,” “Moon Over Buffalo”) is the playwright here, with farce on his mind and garishly garbed golfers in his gun sights. Ludwig himself says “farce, essentially, is broad comedy.” If this “Fox” was played any more broa...

Invisible Theatre opens 'The Fox on Fairway,' a wry shot at golf : Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star Ken Ludwig knows from funny. His plays, such as "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo," have kept audiences chuckling across the country and around the world. ... Ludwig's "The Fox on the Fairway" opens at Invisible Theatre next week. It's an over-the-top look at the game and the people who play it. Read the entire preview here:  Invisible Theatre opens 'The Fox on Fairway,' a wry shot at golf

'First Kisses' that last a lifetime : February 07, 2013 12:00 am   •   Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star Maedell and Harold Dixon star in Invisible Theatre's production of "First Kisses," playwright Jay D. Hanagan's first full play. It traces a 61-year relationship that starts in childhood. Invisible Theatre/Tim Fuller You might call Jay D. Hanagan an accidental playwright. Hanagan, who penned Invisible Theatre's next offering, "First Kisses," had written sketches since high school, but it hadn't occurred to him to do plays. Then, in the late 1990s, he was asked to help pick scripts for the Geneva (N.Y.) Theatre Guild's Playwrights Play Readings. Read the entire preview here:  'First Kisses' that last a lifetime :