Theater
Story Stream
Reconsidering Theater as a Civil Society Institution August 15, 2025
Whether one prefers a Bible study, a soup kitchen, or a motorcycle club, a well-developed civil society institution fulfills two needs for its participants: a communal need and an interest-based need. In recent years and across diverse political pers...
Sydney Sweeney Has Great Scenes August 14, 2025
This weekend on August 15th, my first movie as a writer-director — Americana — lands in theaters. It’s a crazy quilt of a small town crime story set on the modern day South Dakota-Wyoming border that gradually turns into an old school bloody Western....
A Naked Attempt at Saving Comedy August 01, 2025
On December 2, 1988, the day after Akiva Schaffer’s 11th birthday, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! hit multiplexes. For the elementary school kid, watching the silly cop movie in a crowded theater was a comedy awakening. And maybe anot...
The Wonder Of A Small-Town Theater May 21, 2025
I wrote a few weeks ago about a documentary screening I attended, and a discussion panel afterwards. It was a documentary on the housing crisis, and it was screened at an old neighborhood theater near Capitol Hill in D.C. You can read my film/event w...
The Millennial Darkness of Matthew Gasda May 09, 2025
Few contemporary American authors are as in touch with today’s zeitgeist as Matthew Gasda. His break-out play Dimes Square premiered in 2022 and was hailed as both “decadent” and “delicious.” The play provides a generational snapshot of millennials a...
Show Biz Kids May 08, 2025
Most Tuesdays, I walk a few miles from my apartment in Pasadena down into the main commercial strip of the city, through leafy streets and blankly hostile highway overpasses, to my local chain movie theater, the Regal Paseo. The Paseo is one of those...
Author Spotlight: Matthew Gasda, ‘The Sleepers’ May 08, 2025
Akari has arrived at a particularly tough moment in Mariko and Dan’s relationship. The cinematographer has just arrived at her sister’s place in New York to crash on their couch after a particularly long conversation in the middle of the night about ...
Lewis Pullman Steps Out of the Shadows May 08, 2025
It’s a sunny Saturday in April, and in about two weeks, Lewis Pullman’s life is going to change. On May 2, Thunderbolts*—Pullman’s first foray into the industry-defining, fan-obsessing, billions-of-dollars-generating Marvel Cinematic Universe—will de...
'The Rehearsal' Is the TV Event of the Decade May 06, 2025
There is a special, unique, and increasingly rare thrill in watching a television series where week-to-week, you have absolutely no idea what you’re in for—a show that dares to defy the formula and familiarity built into TV’s DNA. Back in 2022, Natha...
The Anti-Semites in the Conservative Manosphere May 05, 2025
On March 13, podcast king Joe Rogan asked his guest: “When did Hitler start going after the Jews?”It was a grim turn for Rogan, who conquered the podcast industry with hours-long casual interviews, sometimes with news makers but often with fellow com...
A World Beyond Words May 05, 2025
A century ago, all Hollywood knew was silent films. People flocked to the cinemas. Dressed in gowns and tuxes, they treated a night at the movies like a night at the opera. Of course, they had nothing to which to compare it. Perhaps to our bleary, ov...
A Midsummer Night’s Stream May 02, 2025
There’s no real substitute for live theater, but during the pandemic lockdown, companies across America hastily threw together online performances to keep their audiences engaged and their actors at least partially employed. “Zoom theater” grew incre...
