author: Erin Tarpley
“There nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do”
If you’re like me, then you have never heard of the play Crocodile Fever before. If you’re like me, you didn’t immediately see the connection between “crocodile” and Northern Ireland when you did get a brief whiff of where the story was set. If you’re like me, and you are ready to take a chance on the unknown but are ultimately looking for an evening of comedy and drama,
Curse, comfort, conjure; three words that Director Lee Conderacci uses in her “feminist practice and in her theatre art.” (words directly from Conderacci.) This time her artistic undertaking is Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin’s High School Coven, at The Strand Theater. Three words that individually bring forth a myriad of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Three words that together allow us to see the world through the eyes of Conderacci, even for a brief two hours;
A Shayna
Maidel is a play I had never heard of, and that’s really a shame,
because it was a powerful experience that left me thinking, for days. I’ve seen favorite plays performed in an
underwhelming way, and also saw a play I didn’t anticipate liking performed by
such talented thespians that I was converted to a fan, but the real treat with
this particular production of A Shayna Maidel,
Everyone should be needed by someone and need someone; be loved by someone and love someone. We all need someone to touch our bones when we are dead. The elusively fantastical play, The Pillow Book, which has only been produced once before in New York, makes its regional premier as a co-production with Cohesion Theatre Company and Strand Theatre Company here in Baltimore. Written by Anna Moench and Directed by Jonas David Grey,