COVID commanded creativity.
Tucson companies found ways to keep theater alive despite a raging pandemic and audiences reluctant to gather.
Live Theatre Workshop set up a stage in its parking lot and you tuned your radio into a frequency that allowed you to hear the play while sitting in your car. The Rogue Theatre had casts in masks and pre-recorded dialogue. Arizona Theatre Company had weekly podcasts with play readings and discussions with actors and directors and playwrights.
And through it all, some breathtaking theater was made.
Since 2000, the Star has traditionally given Mac Awards for excellence in theater. We skipped 2020 because theaters closed down in March of that year. And theaters were dark for most of 2021. In addition, COVID meant we were kept away from performances that we wanted to attend.
So, no Mac Awards this year. But we can’t let 2021 get too far behind without acknowledging some of the shows that stood out to us.
Invisible Theatre
We loved Invisible Theatre’s June production of “Tiny Beautiful Things,” a poignant and often funny story about an advice columnist. Susan Cookie Baker played the columnist with authority, and director Samantha Cormier saw to it that a piece that could have been schmaltzy never became that.
“Looped,” at IT in September, was a funny and insightful look into the life of Hollywood icon Tallulah Bankhead. And it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Betsy Kruse Craig in the role of the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, promiscuous stage and screen actor from Hollywood’s golden age. She commanded and kept our attention.
Southern Arizona Performing Arts Company
In August, the young musical theater company showed courage and excellence with its production of the rock musical “Next to Normal,” directed with a sure hand by Annette Hillman. Liz Cracchiolo gave the grief-stricken, mentally ill mother humanity and courage even in the midst of despair.
Arizona Theatre Company
ATC opened its season in October with the very funny one-person show, “My 80-year-old Boyfriend,” written by and starring the immensely talented Charissa Bertels. It’s not surprising the production, directed by Sean Daniels, is headed to off-Broadway.
In November, ATC greeted the holiday season with “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” which brought Jane Austen’s Bennet sisters together a few years after “Pride and Prejudice.” Playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon nailed the Austen sensibility, and Sean Daniels directed with a light-hearted hand. There were pristine performances all around, but we were especially taken with Jessica Jain who played the mousy Mary and Seth Tucker, who played her nerdy suitor.
The Rogue Theatre
In September, Rogue opened its moving adaptation of Kate Chopin’s 19th century novella, “The Awakening,” adapted and directed by Christopher Johnson. Bryn Booth played the mother trapped in a loveless marriage with a fierce determination that broke through the character’s fragility.
The Rogue was determined to make audiences giddy with its November production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and it did just that. Cynthia Meier directed a strong cast that included a hysterical performance by Carley Elizabeth Preston, who played the haughty Olivia.
Live Theatre Workshop
Lori Hunt owned the part of the fast-talking, no-nonsense Jenny in LTW’s November production of “Dry Powder.” The Sarah Burgess play, directed by Sam Rush, was a peek into the world of high finance. Sure, it sounds, well, dry. It was not; it was a hoot.
