Director Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was a smash hit and the movie that made him Hollywood royalty. Making the movie, though, was a royal pain. Filming on Martha’s Vineyard put cast and crew at the mercy of the weather. Filming on the ocean, as Spielberg insisted on doing, revealed all the reasons no one ever films... Continue Reading →
For every chosen one, there is a multitude of the non-chosen, the ones whose resumes will be kept on file in case something opens up. For every boy wizard destined to save the universe there is the rest of his magic school graduating class, competent spell-casters destined to pull rabbits out of hats at children’s... Continue Reading →
It’s a busy time here at the Straz, so busy we’ve had to find creative ways to get the word out about all our shows. We want to make sure you know that Jobsite is presenting another of their bloody great Shakespeare productions. Macbeth runs Jan. 15 through Feb. 9 in the Jaeb Theater. https://youtu.be/C0WYHmP4wOQ... Continue Reading →
We’re in the middle of a contentious presidential race, exacerbating the already deep divisions in our electorate. Jobsite’s production of POTUS, then, will remind audiences that there’s at least one thing the left and right can agree on: government and politics are still comedy gold mines. Subtitled Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying... Continue Reading →
Well before the play’s first murder, Lady Macbeth establishes her place among Shakespeare’s most treacherous characters with this invocation: Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of... Continue Reading →
Starring in Jobsite’s production of The Rocky Horror Show has extra significance for Clay Christopher. He’ll be stepping into a role originated by one of his favorite actors, Tim Curry. “I am a huge, huge Tim Curry fan,” Clay said, “his artistry, his films, his work, just him.” Clay became a fan of Curry’s for... Continue Reading →
By David M. Jenkins In 2003 we staged our first play by London-bred Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. During that run, Straz Center then-CEO Judy Lisi made us an offer to become their resident theater company and effectively take over programming of the Shimberg Playhouse. Now that our residency is old... Continue Reading →
Giles Davies is a fright. Well known for his Shakespearean roles, he’s also carved out a niche – with a large, blood-stained knife, no doubt – as Jobsite’s go-to ghoul. He’s chilled audiences in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula. Next, he’ll play the titular doctor in Frankenstein who discovers, as most parents do,... Continue Reading →
Lizbeth A. Borden was a frequent theatergoer. Single and wealthy, Borden often attended performances in New York City and Boston, travelling from her home in Fall River, Mass. Ms. Borden passed in 1927. Had she lived a few years longer, she would have had the opportunity to see herself portrayed on stage. The Lizzie Borden... Continue Reading →
Eighty-six pages – that is how long a book needs to be to become one of the most beloved novels of all time, inspiring the imagination of millions of fans year after year. At least that is the case for Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. First published in 1865, Wonderland was an immediate... Continue Reading →
AN EXCLUSIVE FROM INSIDE, THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STRAZ CENTER Couple Leaves the Drama at the Stage Door Marriages, like most relationships, depend on trust. A spouse wants to know that their partner has their best interest at heart, that one would never purposefully harm the other. Trust is particularly important when one spouse... Continue Reading →
In 1966, Broadway impresario Harold Hecuba stunned critics and audiences alike when he staged Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a musical. Hecuba’s audacious move created a sensation and the Hamlet musical was a hit. The celebration soon was overshadowed by scandal, though, when a group of mostly amateur actors claimed to have not only written the musical... Continue Reading →
The intellectual distance between Steve Martin’s early, catchphrase-heavy stand-up comedy and his first full-length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile might seem great. Fear not, though, as fans of his early, funny stuff should recognize the same absurdist spirit that ran through Martin’s early routines in Picasso. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCYzJu12zI “He used a lot of irony. He... Continue Reading →
The art of origami might mean more than you think Photo: Ned Averill-Snell Mother Nature loves to fold. Flowers, wings, you name it. Just look at us, human beings: our brains and guts are wrinkles doubling back on themselves; proteins, the building blocks of life are intricately folded amino acids. And if those amino acids... Continue Reading →
Jobsite Theater is returning to the Shimberg Playhouse after nearly two years and Producing Artistic Director David Jenkins sounds like a man finally heading home. “The last performance Jobsite did in the Shimberg was March 12, 2020, our preview for ‘Doubt,’” Jenkins remembers. “We were supposed to open the next night. And we got notified... Continue Reading →
There seems to be an almost cultural fixation with firsts – first car, first kiss – who are we not to play along? Later this month, Jobsite Theater opens its season with Dr. Ride’s American Beach House, a play set on the eve of astronaut Sally Ride’s historic 1983 launch as the first American woman... Continue Reading →
Guest Blogger and Jobsite Artistic Director David M. Jenkins gives Caught in the Act a look inside the nightmares and belly laughs of Shockheaded Peter https://videopress.com/v/dpzfcUxr?preloadContent=metadata A little bit Tim Burton, a little bit Edward Gorey, Shockheaded Peter is the phantasmagorical staging of Heinrich Hoffman’s 1845 pitch-black children’s book, Der Struwwelpeter. It’s a self-proclaimed “junk... Continue Reading →
David at the Straz Center Riverwalk Stage. David M. Jenkins is producing artistic director and co-founder of Jobsite. He holds a Ph.D. in communication (performance studies) from the University of South Florida, an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Florida and a B.A. in theater performance, also from USF. He has additionally studied with... Continue Reading →
With its roots in ancient culture, including ivory and clay figures found in Egyptian tombs, puppetry has long been employed in storytelling including the theater. Terracotta Ancient Greek dolls. Exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Room 56. Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, November 11 2009. Both Aristotle and Plato in ancient Greece, referenced puppets in their... Continue Reading →
In April 1992, widespread rioting, looting and assaults broke out in South Central Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four white L.A. police officers of excessive force in the roadside arrest and beating of a black man, Rodney King. The six-days of riots, which resulted in 63 deaths, nearly 2,400 injuries, 12,000 arrests and more... Continue Reading →