Linda Eisenstein The Other Side of the Aisle: Reviews, Essays & Theatre Journalism

Since 1995, I've also been working the other side of the aisle: writing theatre reviews, essays, and arts journalism for the Plain Dealer, Cleveland's daily newspaper, angle: a journal of arts + culture, Cool Cleveland, and Aisle Say: The Internet Journal of Reviews & Opinion.

At times it's not easy. After all, I'm reviewing inside my own professional community, where I've been colleagues with many of the artists for years, and where my own work still appears on stage.

There are no reviews here of Cleveland Play House productions, nor the work of eight of Cleveland's most talented playwrights. That's a conflict-of-interest line I won't cross -- certainly not while we're resident writers together in the Play House's fabulously supportive Playwrights' Unit.

Reviews (selected, 1995-present)

(M=Musical; P=Play; O=Solo/Ensemble Performance; *=Premiere)

• All My Sons, Arthur Miller, Halle Theatre, 1/97 - P
• An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Cleveland Public Theatre, 9/98 - O
• Angst:84, Toni Thayer, Dobama Theatre's Night Kitchen, 11/00 - P
• The Bad Seed, Maxwell Anderson, Ensemble Theatre, 10/01 - P
• Bed & Sofa, Polly Pen, Laurence Klavan, Lakeland Theatre, 6/01 - M
• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, adapt. Bill Rudman, Ensemble Theatre, 5/00 - M*
• The Candle Lit, Frances Madeson, Cleveland Public Theatre, 10/95 - P*
• The Colored Museum, George C. Wolfe, Karamu, 1/06 - P
• Coming of the Hurricane, Keith Glover, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, 2/98 - P
• Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Lynn Nottage, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, 10/99 - P
• Eating Raoul, Paul Bartel, Jed Feuer, Boyd Graham, Beck Center for the Cultural Arts, 5/00 - M
• Fiddler on the Roof, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, Halle Theatre, 5/98 - M
• For Reasons That Remain Unclear, Mart Crowley, Dobama Theatre, 10/97 - P
• Fugitive Pieces, Caridad Svich, Cleveland Public Theatre, 3/01 - P
• The Homecoming, Harold Pinter, Ensemble Theatre, 5/98 - P
• I Dreamed of Rats, adapt. Nikolai Gogol by Terence Cranendonk, New World Performance Laboratory, 4/97 - O*
• Kaspar, Peter Handke, Oberlin College, 10/94 - P
• Lemonade, Eve Ensler, Cleveland Public Theatre, 11/95 - P
• The Lisbon Traviata, Terrence McNally, Beck Center for the Cultural Arts, 10/98 - P
• Lonely Planet, Steven Dietz, Brick Alley Theatre, 11/98 - P
• Love and Anger, George F. Walker, Dobama Theatre, 9/95 - P
• Mortal Coil, Lester Thomas Shane, Cleveland Public Theatre, 10/97 - O
• Mrs. Rogers' Back Porch, Hassan P. Rogers, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre - P
• Mud, Maria Irene Fornes, Brick Alley Theatre, 3/99 - P
• Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life, Langston Hughes & Zora Neale Hurston, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, 596 - M
• Never Speak to Strangers, adapt. from J.M. Barrie, Theatre Labyrinth, 5/98 - O*
• The Notebook of Trigorin, Tennessee Williams, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 10/96 - P
• On the Hills of Black America, Keith Joseph Adkins, Cleveland Public Theatre, 2/99 - P
• One Edward Two, adapt. by Frank A. Barnhart from Christopher Marlowe, Act Out Productions, Cleveland Public Theatre, 4/98 - O
• Painting Churches, Tina Howe, Ensemble Theatre, 11/00 - P
• Paul Robeson, Philip Hayes Dean, Ensemble Theatre, 2/01 - P
• Pretty Fire, Charlayne Woodard, Eldred Theatre, 7/96 - O
• The Rocky Horror Show, Richard O'Brien, Beck Center for the Cultural Arts, 7/00 - M
• Rush Limbaugh in Night School, Charlie Varon, Mapleleaf Theatre, 6/99 - P
• Science Gets Serious, Frank Green, Cleveland Public Theatre, 5/96 - O*
• The Sibyl & The Nowhow, Jenny Magnus, Par Lagerkvist, Theatre Labyrinth, 10/98 - O*
• Something Cloudy, Something Clear, Tennessee Williams, Ecclesia Theatre, 8/97 - P
• Talking Bones, Shay Youngblood, Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, 4/96 - P
• Three Tall Women, Edward Albee, Beck Center for the Arts, 10/00 - P
• To Be or Not to Be in the 90's, Mary E. Weems, Cleveland Public Theatre, 9/97 - O
• The Trips: A Madras Parable, Jenny Magnus, Cleveland Public Theatre, 1/97 - O
• The Whaling Wife, Bonnie Kohn Remsberg, Ecclesia Theatre, 7/97 - O
• Woyzeck, Georg Buchner, adapted by New World Performance Laboratory, Cleveland Public Theatre, 5/99 - P*
• The Young Man from Atlanta, Horton Foote, Ensemble Theatre, 10/99 - P

Essays (selected)

• Five Propositions for a Barroom Brawl (What's Missing in Cleveland Theatre?)
• Top Hidden Secrets of Playwriting Revealed!
• Turn That TV Off!
• 17 Surefire Ways to Get Your Script *Rejected*

Preview Articles & Interviews (selected)

• Keith Josef Adkins, playwright, On the Hills of Black America
• Eric Coble, playwright, Ten Minutes to Cleveland
• The Dark Room, a new works cabaret
• convergence-continuum and Sincerity Forever
• Angels in America, preview, with director Joel Hammer
• Quentin Crisp, author/performer, An Evening with Quentin Crisp
• Tim Miller, author/performer, Shirts and Skin
• Stephen Schwartz, composer/librettist, Children of Eden
• Toni K. Thayer, playwright, ANGST:84
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, preview, Great Lakes Theatre Festival
• Backward/Forward - 2004 wrap-up of memorable moments in Cleveland theater