Dave Sarrafian Two mistaken assumptions about EgoPo Classic Theater’s Stairs to the Roof might be: 1. That a “lost” early Tennessee Williams’ play is likely awful, and 2. A professional theater’s co-production with a college will be amateurish. Director Lane…

Shawn May ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Quintessence Theatre Group Rebecca Wright is an inspired choice for Quintessence Theatre Group’s first guest director; the Applied Mechanics cofounder (Vainglorious, We Are Bandits) shares Quintessence’s artistic director Alex Burns’ tastes for boldly unconventional staging.…

Sabina Louise Pierce ‘Under the Skin’ at Arden Theatre Philadelphian Michael Hollinger’s new play contains the heart and humor we’ve come to expect from the author of Opus, Ghost-Writer, and five other plays premiered by the Arden Theatre Company, but…

Shawn May ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Quintessence Theatre Group Rebecca Wright is an inspired choice for Quintessence Theatre Group’s first guest director; the Applied Mechanics cofounder (Vainglorious, We Are Bandits) shares Quintessence’s artistic director Alex Burns’ tastes for boldly unconventional staging.…

ALEXANDER IZILIAEV BEHIND THE PHOTO: (L-R) “Superb actors” Harry Smith and Ian Merrill Peakes speak as each other, overlap lines and assume other roles in The Body of an American. In 1993, Canadian photojournalist Paul Watson took his Pulitzer Prize-winning…

N. Kuruna The Cabaret Administration presents its “The Nutcracker” burlesque for grownups this December. Philadelphia’s theaters reach out to families and the offbeat crowd with big productions during the holiday season, staging both traditional and new fare that, while not…

Johanna Austin via Theatre Philadelphia “The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence” by Azuka Theatre. Love and science cleverly converge in Madeleine George’s *The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, in which an unlikely string of “real” Watsons — Alexander…

Theatre Exile Brian Ratcliffe as Ray in “Red Speedo.” How selfish can people be? That’s the real issue driving Lucas Hnath’s drama, Red Speedo. Performance-enhancing drugs in the world of sports are just a backdrop for a taut, often darkly…

Mark Garvin Doug Hara as Herbert Pocket, Josh Carpenter as Pip, Lindsay Smiling as Mr. Wemmick, and Sally Mercer as Galley Captain in Great Expectations. Six actors play more than 40 characters in a story that spans more than 28…