Tribune: BLACK PEARL SINGS is "Lively" & "Profound"

BLACK PEARL SINGS received an excellent review from Kimberly Roberts at The Philadelphia Tribune! Check out some of what she had to say:

‘Black Pearl Sings!’ is a lively character study

By Kimberly Roberts
Tribune Entertainment Writer
Friday, June 4, 2010

Interact Theatre Company, known for its small but profound productions, has done it again with “Black Pearl Sings!” ...

Both Wright and Slusar have a gift for comedy, and Higgins’ earthy, dialogue driven piece is filled with zany one-line zingers, delivered with plenty of attitude by both characters, along with some inconvenient truths that are often painful to hear.

The cozy intimate atmosphere of The Adrienne is conducive to the interactive nature of “Black Pearl Sings!" In her InterAct Theatre debut, Wright, who should be a strong contender for a Barrymore Award after this performance, fully engaged the audience with her expressive facial features, inner angst and compelling delivery of the traditional hymns and spirituals.

Barrymore winner Catharine Slusar, ... consistently shines a bright light on Pearl’s “authentic” heritage, while refusing to address, or even acknowledge, the problems in her own ... the two women form a sisterhood, though not quite a friendship, that was engrossing.

Based on the age-old story of exploitation (for the sake of art, of course), “Black Pearl Sings!” is a provocative production that demonstrates, once again, how deeply stereotypes, racism, and prejudice are woven into the fabric of America. ...

Links to more information about BLACK PEARL SINGS!:

Read Kimberly Roberts' Full Review

Purchase Tickets

Read Wendy Rosenfield's Philadelphia Inquirer Review

Listen to Music Featured in
BLACK PEARL SINGS!

Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar

An Interview with Playwright Frank Higgins

Watch a video trailer of BLACK
PEARL SINGS! at Ford's Theatre
in Washington D.C.

Inquirer: BLACK PEARL SINGS is "The Real Deal"

Check out these excerpts from Wendy Rosenfield's review of BLACK PEARL SINGS! in today's Inquirer:

Black, White Women Bond Musically and Winningly

By Wendy Rosenfield
Friday, June 4, 2010

... In Seth Rozin's hands, Black Pearl sings, all right, and women wasting their girls-night-out money on faux female-bonding shows like Respect or Menopause: The Musical ought to demand refunds, link arms, and head straight to the Adrienne Theatre for the real deal, courtesy of InterAct Theatre Company.

There's music here too, both spiritual and playful, albeit from the Depression era and earlier. Higgins' drama is modeled after the relationship between bluesman Leadbelly and musicologist John Lomax, but the women make it their own, with tunes devastatingly bellowed by C. Kelly Wright as Pearl Johnson, and sung with a self-conscious reserve by Catherine Slusar as Susannah Mullally.

Rozin carefully calibrates the women's intellectual and emotional balance. He allows them dignity, silliness, and secrets in equal measure without forcing them to wallow too deeply for too long in the type of unbridled pathos and sentimentality that could drown this play.

... Wright and Slusar are strong enough to resist the script's baser instincts. The play's success lies in its characters' friendship, not their surroundings - though Shannon Zura's set ... allows the women to stretch out and explore the space between them. ...

There may be some irony in the fact that this endearing examination of women and race was written and directed by a pair of white men, but then again maybe that's just Higgins' point. Just as Susannah's search for "authenticity" led her to expand the definition, this production asks its audience to do the same.

Links to more information about BLACK PEARL SINGS!:

Read Wendy Rosenfield's Full Review

Purchase Tickets

Listen to Music Featured in
BLACK PEARL SINGS!

Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar

An Interview with Playwright Frank Higgins

Watch a video trailer of BLACK
PEARL SINGS! at Ford's Theatre
in Washington D.C.

Central Record Hails WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA as "Impressive" and "Imaginative"

Here's another great review that was posted today on The Central Record by Sally Friedman:

"In the line at the parking lot across from the Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia, the debate still raged. Those of us in that line who had just come from the InterAct Theatre’s production of "When We Go Upon The Sea" were not yet finished with analyzing the play we’d seen, a play that left us at once confounded - and also impressed. ... Bush [is] wonderfully wrought by Conan McCarty ... But it’s the “why” ... that is at the heart of this intriguing semi-comedy ... Issues of war and peace, responsibility and indifference, and surely the key issue of what actually is a President’s responsibility, keep the moral issues flowing. Director Paul Meshejian manages to combine the sharpest Blessing wit ... in just the right doses, and then he can turn on a dime to weighty issues and imponderables. This play moves! ... the script is imaginative and perfectly rendered by this small, gifted cast. ... The play is already commissioned to play off-Broadway in June, surely a feather in the cap - and a first - for InterAct. For that reason alone - along with plenty of others - this provocative play is worth your time ..."

Read Sally Friedman's Full Central Record Review


Links to more information about WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA:

WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA Moves to Off-Broadway!

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer Review

Read Audience Reactions to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Review

Read J. Cooper Robb's Philadelphia Weekly Review

Read Alaina Mabaso's EdgePhiladelphia.com Review

Read Robert Zaller's BroadstreetReview.com Review

Purchase Tickets

Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar
(including a talk-back with playwright Lee Blessing)

An Interview with Playwright Lee Blessing

Actor Conan McCarty on Playing George W. Bush

InterAct's 20/20 New Play Commission Program

Philly Weekly Calls UPON THE SEA "Daring ... Thoroughly Compelling"!

Another outstanding review for WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA from J. Cooper Robb in Philadelphia Weekly:

"Whether you love George W. Bush or hate him, you’ll be fascinated by the portrait of the ex-president in Lee Blessing’s daring political drama WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA, which is receiving a thoroughly compelling world-premiere production from InterAct Theater Company. ... Bush is joined by Piet (an enigmatic Peter Schmitz) ... [and] Anna-Lisa (Kim Carson in a terrific performance) ... Under Paul Meshejian’s exacting direction, McCarty portrays Bush as a punk, but not necessarily a monster. He’s aggressive and frighteningly assured ... In this dark and disquieting play, Blessing isn’t concerned with simple Bush bashing. His purpose in SEA is to investigate the relationship between rulers and those they rule. ... At the end of Blessing’s drama, we are left with the uneasy feeling that perhaps America doesn’t want a man of the people in the Oval Office, but rather an omnipotent ruler with an insatiable thirst for power."

Read J. Cooper Robb's Full Philadelphia Weekly Review



Links to more information about WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA:

WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA Moves to Off-Broadway!

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer Review

Read Audience Reactions to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Review

Read Alaina Mabaso's Full EdgePhiladelphia.com Review

Read the BroadstreetReview.com Review

Purchase Tickets

Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar
(including a talk-back with playwright Lee Blessing)

An Interview with Playwright Lee Blessing

Actor Conan McCarty on Playing George W. Bush

InterAct's 20/20 New Play Commission Program

The Raves Keep Coming for WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA

Check out a few excerpts from Alaina Mabaso's outstanding review of WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA:

"... Blessing’s play is by no means a vehicle for easy shots on the former President. Blessing, Director Paul Meshejian, and a superb cast (Conan McCarty, Peter Schmitz and Kim Carson) have much more important things to unearth ... Blessing does deftly reveal a man with all the foibles, gaffes and indefatigable pride we might expect to see in an onstage W. Yes, we’re going to discuss the "terrorists" and an almost megalomaniacal certainty ... But Conan McCarty’s Bush is an intensely human, grounded performance, and the dialogue Blessing fashions through Bush’s mouth on supremacy, justice, annihilation, and even the indignity of a corporate jet over the pomp of Air Force One is less a meditation on a single character receding from world politics, and more an uncomfortably recognizable journey through universal human qualities destined to repeat in any leader of the future. ... McCarty is a native of Bush’s own home county in Texas, and his performance is not an impersonation, but an embodiment of a real piece of American life, and a reminder that understanding our leaders might just be best done with a hard look at ourselves. ... Peter Schmitz’s eminently sleek Piet lucidly echoes Bush’s blunt sentiments ... Kim Carson as enigmatic "relaxationist" Anna-Lisa brings sensual sparks as well as a poignant, intelligent depth. Blessing helps to make another incisive comment on the American public ... Having seen the play once, I would welcome the opportunity to listen to this timeless and well-characterized piece again. ..."

Read Alaina Mabaso's Full EdgePhiladelphia.com Review



Links to more information about WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA:

WHEN WE GO UPON THE SEA Moves to Off-Broadway!

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer Review

Read Audience Reactions to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Review

Read the BroadstreetReview.com Review

Purchase Tickets

Play Description, Artist Bios & Performance Calendar
(including a talk-back with playwright Lee Blessing)

An Interview with Playwright Lee Blessing

Actor Conan McCarty on Playing George W. Bush

InterAct's 20/20 New Play Commission Program