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  <title>Creative Loafing Tampa: Mark E. Leib</title>
  <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com</link>
  <description>Tampa Creative Loafing Weekly Newspaper, shelter from the mainstream for news, event listings, dining, movies and music, restaurants.</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <copyright>Copyright 2009Creative Loafing Tampa. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Creative Loafing Tampa readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Creative Loafing Tampa.</copyright>
  <managingEditor>online@creativeloafing.com</managingEditor>
  <webMaster>webmaster@creativeloafing.com</webMaster>
  <pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 MST</pubDate>
  <lastBuildDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:29:08 MST</lastBuildDate>
  <generator>Dispatch Gyrobase</generator>
  
    <item>
    <title>Smart new improv show The Dumb Show is a welcome monthly addition to American Stage</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/smart_new_improv_show_the_dumb_show_is_a_welcome_monthly_addition_to_american_stage/Content?oid=883326</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Good improv requires a lot more than acting talent. It requires intelligence, a wide-ranging imagination, split-second decision-making and an unfailing instinct for what&#39;s comic in the human condition. Where Gavin Hawk and Ricky Wayne of The Dumb Show are concerned, it also means the willingness to appear utterly ridiculous in front of a crowdful of strangers. Whether impersonating Britney Spears trying to make up with Kevin Federline, a sadistic father and his horrified son playing racquetball, or two U.S. Airway
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Art is an entertaining play about male friendship and contemporary art</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/art_is_an_entertaining_play_about_male_friendship_and_contemporary_art/Content?oid=892927</link>
    <description>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Yasmina Reza&#39;s Art has two subjects, one of them serious and worthy of attention, the other slightly embarrassing and perhaps even philistine. The better theme -- and the one that gets most of the stage time -- is male friendship and the unspoken agreements that sustain it. The three men in this case are Marc, Serge and Yvan, whose comradeship is threatened by a disagreement over a painting, and who eventually discover what awkward and never-admitted assumptions have bound them
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Jobsite&amp;#39;s usually nimble troupe sucks the life out of Night of the Living Dead.</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/jobsite_s_usually_nimble_troupe_sucks_the_life_out_of_night_of_the_living_dead_/Content?oid=879094</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      There were arguably two ways to go with a stage version of the 1968 cult-film classic Night of the Living Dead: play it straight, for chills and thrills, or play it for laughs, as a sort of inspired Charles Ludlam-like parody. Jobsite tries for both, and succeeds at neither. There are a few good moments &mdash; a couple of graphically gory shockers, some silly combats, and all the much-too-short scenes involving Jason Vaughan Evans &mdash; but in general this is
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Review of The New Century at St. Petersburg&amp;#39;s American Stage</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/review_of_the_new_century_at_st_petersburg_s_american_stage/Content?oid=879096</link>
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        A brilliant start but a tepid finish to an "After Hours" comedy....
       
      
        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Paul Rudnick&#39;s The New Century starts out incandescent, loses a little effulgence in its second scene, becomes decidedly lackluster in its third, and fizzles out completely in its fourth and fifth. The American Stage &quot;After Hours&quot; production offers two outstanding performances &mdash; by Annie Morrison and Matthew McGee &mdash; and even during its least interesting moments, there&#39;s always a chance that witty Rudnick will deliver another zinger. But clever jokes aren&#39;t enough to hold a play together, and The New
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Ghost story: A review of The Woman in Black</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/ghost_story_a_review_of_the_woman_in_black/Content?oid=869072</link>
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        <i>The Woman in Black</i> is a thriller that's actually thrilling at Gorilla....
       
      
        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      The Woman in Black is an entertaining, unusually literary ghost drama for the Halloween season, though one that lacks much reason for existing outside its capacity to excite a degree of fear. Beautifully acted by Christopher Rutherford and Glenn Gover, the current Gorilla Theatre production is genuinely spooky -- several times spectators shrieked -- and pleasingly original. It won&#39;t remind you of anything else you&#39;ve seen. It features wonderfully discomfiting sound effects, super-serious characters (to raise the level of terror),
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Gospel truth: Just As I Am: The Life, the Times, The Voice of Mahalia Jackson</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/gospel_truth_just_as_i_am_the_life_the_times_the_voice_of_mahalia_jackson/Content?oid=869080</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      If you&rsquo;re interested in hearing some superb gospel singing, don&rsquo;t miss Sharon E. Scott in Just As I Am: The Life, the Times, The Voice of Mahalia Jackson. But the title is misleading: in fact, Scott&rsquo;s script leaves out huge chunks of Jackson&rsquo;s life and times, leaving audiences pretty much uninformed about more than a few important events in the great vocalist&rsquo;s biography. Not that it matters too much: the attraction here is Scott&rsquo;s soulful, stirring singing, which would be
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Theater review: Fascinating Jails, Hospitals &amp;amp; Hip-Hop</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/theater_review_fascinating_jails_hospitals_hip_hop/Content?oid=861627</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Actor/writer/performance artist Danny Hoch has made it his personal mission to bring an unusual type of character to the live stage. This character usually shows up only in the margins of dramatic literature: he may be a criminal or a drug addict or physically or mentally damaged. He may be a white kid who wishes he were black, a crippled man who wants to join the Air Force, or a poor guy who figures that prison is better than the
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Theater Review: A fine Fences at American Stage</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/theater_review_a_fine_fences_at_american_stage/Content?oid=861640</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Fences is a character study of a flawed man whose defects aren&rsquo;t entirely of his own making. Troy Maxson is an African-American garbage collector who spent 15 years in jail for killing a man in a robbery, who afterwards became a star baseball player in the Negro Leagues, and who then married a good woman with whom he settled down to raise a family. But he&rsquo;s also a tyrant and a philanderer, a man who doesn&rsquo;t love his needy son,
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Fall Theater: Ten hot prospects</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/fall_theater_ten_hot_prospects/Content?oid=816273</link>
    <description>
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        Ten hot prospects for the coming fall theater season....
       
      
        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      My Children! My Africa! Two South African students, one white and one black, become friends under the guidance of an idealistic teacher. Athol Fugard&#39;s apartheid-era drama is still stunningly relevant. Stageworks, Sept. 4-20, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa, 813-251-8984, www.stageworkstheatre.org. Jails, Hospitals &amp; Hip-Hop. Talented local actor Curtis Belz takes on the challenge of Danny Hoch&#39;s one-man &quot;fresco of modern life&quot; (Variety). The buzz on a recent preview run at Jobsite was excellent. HCC Ybor Mainstage Theater, Performing Arts Building,
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Christine Decker is the Dirty Harry of nuns in a dazzling American Stage production of Doubt</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/christine_decker_is_the_dirty_harry_of_nuns_in_a_dazzling_american_stage_production_of_doubt/Content?oid=789336</link>
    <description>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      What a gift John Patrick Shanley gave to middle-aged-and-over actresses when he brought Doubt to the stage. The role of Sister Aloysius is the sort performers dream about: dominating, unpredictable, withering, unwittingly comic, getting by not on glamour but on ugly old self-righteousness, mean-spirited certainty and unflappable overconfidence. Sister Aloysius is a Dirty Harry of a nun, unbothered by fine moral distinctions, and willing to plug any culprit she suspects of malfeasance, sufficient evidence or not. She&#39;s the perfect anti-heroine
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Local play The Doors is a would-be farce on post-9/11 paranoia</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/local_play_the_doors_is_a_would_be_farce_on_post_9_11_paranoia/Content?oid=780131</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      The Doors, by local theater artists Jack Holloway and Joe Winskye, is a not very interesting play on a very interesting subject: the American paranoia about terrorists since 9/11. If a play could be judged solely by its theme, this Hat Trick Theatre production would win lots of prizes for timeliness and good sense. But satisfying plays provide more: suspenseful action, three-dimensional characters and inventive dialogue, for starters. Even more to the point, successful plays keep sending new information our
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>The Little Dog Laughed is a smart satire about a closeted actor in love</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/the_little_dog_laughed_is_a_smart_satire_about_a_closeted_actor_in_love/Content?oid=776092</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      The Little Dog Laughed is a smart, sophisticated satire about a gay Hollywood actor who wants to come out, but who is pressured by his flamboyant and high-powered lesbian agent to stay in. It&#39;s also about the relationship this actor has with a young New York hustler, and about the woman this hustler has been intermittently sleeping with. Douglas Carter Beane&#39;s play is scathingly original, fearlessly explicit -- it includes full male nudity -- and about as wise about Hollywood
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Respect: The Musical brims with pop songs that have defined women through the decades</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/respect_the_musical_brims_with_pop_songs_that_have_defined_women_through_the_decades/Content?oid=767190</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Respect: A Musical Journey of Women is a lot of fun. Thanks to four terrific performers -- Alison Burns, Ashley Blake Fisher, Nadeen Holloway, and Heather Krueger -- it&#39;s a delightful tour of the songs women have been singing for the last century or so, and a welcome reminder that there&#39;s nothing innocent about Top 40 music, nothing that&#39;s not touched by history and social mores. Created by Vanderbilt professor Dr. Dorothy Marcic, Respect is a funny, rousing and occasionally
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Book Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Bathhouse: The Musical is soft gay porn masquerading as theater</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/bathhouse_the_musical_is_soft_gay_porn_masquerading_as_theater/Content?oid=756548</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Arts on 9th is a new facility in Ybor City, featuring a theater, art gallery, photography studio and shop. It&#39;s a welcome addition to the Bay area scene, which ought to have 20 such spaces. But the first play offered there -- Bathhouse: The Musical by Tim Evanicki and Esther Daack -- is far from impressive. Treating gay life as if it had no reality outside the sexual, it&#39;s essentially an evening of soft porn, of real and metaphorical crotch-grabbing
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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    <title>Tuesdays With Morrie is a play to cherish at the new American Stage</title>
    <link>http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/tuesdays_with_morrie_is_a_play_to_cherish_at_the_new_american_stage/Content?oid=749137</link>
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        By Mark E. Leib
      
      
      Tuesdays with Morrie is a lovely play about dying and living, about making the most of one&#39;s life and learning the importance of expressing love. In Jeffrey Hatcher&#39;s intelligent adaptation of Mitch Albom&#39;s bestselling book, all the drama in Albom&#39;s story is gently brought to life, and Albom&#39;s message to the planet -- you&#39;d better love now, tomorrow is the night -- is communicated with only occasional wandering into sentimentality. Much of the success of the American Stage production is
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    </description>
    <category>Arts/Theater Review</category>
    <pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:00:00 MST</pubDate> 
    <source url="http://tampa.creativeloafing.com">Creative Loafing Tampa</source>
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