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Backstage

Wild night at ProArts Playhouse

From the top of “It’s Only A Play,” audiences realize that a wild night is in store for them at the ProArts Playhouse. At a Broadway opening night party, the loveable and extraordinarily green, Gus P. Head (Elisha Cullins) has been hired to collect coats. This young, wannabe actor is ...

Incisive, penetrating

As coordinator of the Maui Fringe Theater Festival for the past nine years, the most common question I receive is, “What is a fringe festival?” The easy answer is that it is the same thing as a film festival but with plays, but that doesn’t accurately explain what fringe is. The best ...

Get ready for a wild comedy ride

Like “42nd Street” and “A Chorus Line,” Terrance McNally’s “It’s Only A Play” is a behind-the-curtain look at what it takes to put on a Broadway production. Unlike those dramatic musicals, “It’s Only A Play,” which opens at the ProArts Playhouse this weekend, is a wild ...

Master of satire

When I last spoke with David Sedaris, the celebrated humorist and author ended up interviewing me, asking why I became a writer, and what my “process” was. “It’s a test of perseverance,” he advised me. “No one has their hand out for you when you get out of school. The reality of ...

2018 Top 10 Showstoppers

One of my favorite Backstage columns to write is the annual top 10 list of performing arts showstoppers at year’s end. These stage moments are my personal favorites, yet abundant audience enthusiasm is the actual deciding factor in what warrants a look back as we say aloha to 2018. 10. Loose ...

End the year with laughter

There are a few backstage columns that have become a tradition for me, and having my annual chat with Bill Maher always reminds me I’m running out of time to prepare for the holidays. After seven years of New Year’s shows, I realized I have never asked Maher if he had any resolutions. ...