Email Author Michael King

1994 Stories by Michael King

• New Theater on the Block

  published July 7, 1994

  "You're not the first person who's asked that question," William Hardy replies with a grin. After nearly three years of working to create -- and... More >>

• Dead Men's Tales

  published July 7, 1994

  Long since set on the British Empire, the sun shines eternal on Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle's detecting doppelganger has survived happily... More >>

• War Within a War

  published June 9, 1994

  A murder mystery lives on the misdirected expectations and presumptions of its audience. In the best of the genre, the onlookers should be... More >>

• Comedy with Character

  published June 9, 1994

  "Dying is easy, comedy is hard," goes the old actors' saw. Two hard-working actresses are doing their level best to prove the laughs are worth the... More >>

• Made in Houston

  published May 26, 1994

  Last week provided a wry opportunity to take in the lively extremes of homemade Houston theater, from the compositional precision of Edward Albee... More >>

• The Chinese Connection

  published May 26, 1994

  According to state records, Poly Sac, Inc. was incorporated in 1985, was formerly located at 4800 Clinton Drive in east Houston and moved to its... More >>

• A Refuge for Refugees

  published May 26, 1994

  When Florida Rural Legal Services worker Laura Germino heard from immigrant Salvadoran workers in Houston worried about troubles with their... More >>

• Hard Labor

  published May 26, 1994

  Necesitamos ayuda de inmediato. "We need immediate help." The letter from Houston, dated February 7, 1993, arrived a few days later on... More >>

• The Emperor of Swing

  published May 19, 1994

  "I'm an acquired taste," sings Nanki-Poo's would-be bride, Katisha, "and I'm educating his palate." The same might be said of the light operas of... More >>

• Commedia Dell'Art Car

  published May 19, 1994

  If there's a theatrical equivalent to Houston's Art Car parade, I suppose it's commedia dell'arte. So Carlos Goldoni's 18th-century farce... More >>

• Nut Case

  published May 12, 1994

  Tom Topor's Nuts, currently in the final weekend of a briskly effective production at Actors Theatre, has an unpromising title that threatens... More >>

• Mamet Goes to College

  published April 28, 1994

  "Higher education is ritualized annoyance." That's a professor trying to explain to his student why the course lectures may seem confusing,... More >>

• Jesus Is Just Alright

  published April 28, 1994

  Religious hypocrisy is the subject of Houston playwright Michael Morrow's The Secret Tapes of Jesus, given its premiere this month at the newly... More >>

• To Hell and Gone

  published April 21, 1994

  Tennessee had an exceedingly bleak vision of Mississippi. That is, playwright Tennessee Williams held a spiritually damning judgment of... More >>

• Return to Bali Ha'i

  published April 14, 1994

  At the risk of abandoning any further claim to rock-and-roll credentials and admitting full membership in geezerdom, I hereby publicly admit... More >>

• A Sermon from the Past

  published April 14, 1994

  To contemporary audiences, Ossie Davis is probably best known for his poignant portrayal of "Da Mayor" of Spike Lee's Brooklyn, delivering the... More >>

• Memory Down the Hole

  published April 7, 1994

  At the moment, the only hostages in the Middle East are the people who live there. Crimes, like clothes, go in and out of fashion, and apparently... More >>

• Return of the Art Bar

  published March 24, 1994

  The theater is dead; long live the theater! That's the theme running through the non-stop conversation of Nicholas ("Nick") Vastakis, one-time... More >>

• A Glutton for Farce

  published March 17, 1994

  If it does nothing else, La Nona should have a direct effect on snack sales at Main Street Theater. Roberto Cossa's play is so preoccupied with... More >>

• Po' PoMo Moliere

  published March 10, 1994

  It's a long way from Moliere to Mel Brooks. One might think this a theatrical distinction so elementary it hardly bears mentioning, but it seems... More >>

• Naked Laughter

  published March 3, 1994

  Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey is a charming and witty little comedy about AIDS. That unlikely combination is made more remarkable by the play's... More >>

• The Most Happy Loesser

  published February 17, 1994

  Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella is an operatic tragedy magically transformed into a musical comedy. Much of its affecting intensity, as well... More >>

• Between the Idea and the Reality

  published February 3, 1994

  Jane Martin's 1993 play, Keely and Du, currently in an engrossing production on the Alley's Arena Stage, takes on directly and viscerally one of... More >>

• Home Fires Burning

  published January 27, 1994

  Jon Robin Baitz is among the hottest of young New York playwrights, and his talent is apparent in Stages' current production, the Houston premiere... More >>

• Sing, Muse, the Wrath of Ma Rainey

  published January 20, 1994

  Playwright August Wilson credits the blues with giving him a voice and a history. As a young poet in search of a subject and a style, he happened... More >>