by David Glen Robinson
Published on February 21, 2019
From Davenport, Iowa, magical realism, pixie dust, and Tinker Belle, played by a shiny party ball, fling us into septuagenarian siblings' journey to Neverland.
What if Peter Pan did grow up? Sarah Ruhl in her play For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday imagines PP in a middle class Irish Catholic family in Davenport, Iowa where she found joy, success, and ennui with professional siblings. Jarrott Productions’ production of the play at Trinity Street Playhouse plumbs its complexities and offers memories for many with similar family histories. Caution: the show is for adults with considerable life experience, not …
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 09, 2018
SIGNIFICANT OTHER cycles through women friends' life stages as their companion skinny, gangly, stereotypically gay Jordan Berman seeks a measured existence with integrity and honor, with the low-stakes goal of just getting through one human life.
Significant Other is a contemporary play about downtown young professionals’ lives. This genre is perennially trending, and Jarrott Productions mines the niche to great success. The company takes full advantage of Trinity Street Playhouse’s geographic positioning in the Austin downtown business/government/ entertainment/club scene. The characters of Significant Other etch their lives into the landscapes of the East Coast, but their thoughts, successes, and epic fails connect immediately with urban Southwestern audiences. Their struggles are …
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 17, 2018
SEMINAR is not just a rant; Rebeck's too good a playwright for that. There is satisfying development of the characters and a story arc neatly tied up by the end. And even a little redemption for the wicked Leonard.
Last month we took a full day of our Chicago trip to drive to Oak Park, a western suburb, to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright house, now a museum, and to stroll the neighborhood where many of his striking early designs were constructed. The tour guide and info at the museum and workshop described and displayed Wright's genius and recounted his life. Afterward our daughter turned to us with a deeply offended expression. "He …
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on February 13, 2018
The audience was so wowed at the show that I attended that they were still holding their breath during the beginning of the curtain call, taking a beat themselves to fully process what they had just seen. And understandably so.
Travelling to a new place can be nerve-wracking. Certainly, it’s the worth the adventure and the thrill of seeing new things and meeting new people, but there’s always an underlining sense of unease. That is why hotels are so important in our culture, just as the village inn was thousands of years ago. No matter how your day goes--exhausting walks, strange foods, the not-quite-perfect communication with the locals--you can retreat to your hotel room. It is …
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 13, 2018
Director Rick Roemer and the cast create an engrossing, complex story unfolded, almost literally, in compelling rhythm. David Jarrott's performance as the beleaguered father will stay with you for a long time.
No novice to theatre, David Jarrott established his eponymous stage company in 2015 to produce Freud's Last Session with himself in the title role. Nothing wrong with that; there's a long and honorable tradition of actor-entrepreneurs gathering companies about them as they select dramatic works they can star in. Jarrott's done a good job of it, too, in choosing works that are smart and intelligent (adjectives that are not exact synonyms), recruiting really gifted talent, …
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 29, 2017
Sam Domino is the reason to go see PRODIGAL SON, for his focus, breath-taking mastery of Bronx dialect, astonishing physicality and and body consciousness.
Sam Domino is the reason to go see Prodigal Son, staged by Jarrott Productions at the cozy Trinity Street Theatre on the fourth floor of downtown's First Baptist Church at 901 Trinity Street. Domino has the brooding power and presence you might associate with James Dean, the young Brando or Paul Newman. Moody, isolated, struggling to find a moral compass in an alien environment, his character James Quinn incarnates the outsider teen who probably …