Burning Coal offers a lovely Sunday in the Park for a few more nights

I've been to the Art Institute of Chicago many times and viewed the famous Seurat painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - 1884, each time.  I'm with those who consider the painting a pointillist masterpiece, a painting that captivates you both with the techniques Seurat used to create it and, at times, in spite of them.  Until earlier tonight, however, I had never seen Sunday in the Park with George, the Sondheim and Lapine musical about the painting.

Having now enjoyed Burning Coal Theatre's production of this award-winning play, I encourage you to check to see if any tickets are available for the few remaining shows this weekend (it closes after Sunday's performance) and head to Burning Coal if there are.  The show is both fun and serious at various times, the cast members turn in generally good performances, and the several major themes are compelling.

I went to the play with no knowledge about it save for its tie to the painting, so on the chance that you might also not already know the play, I'm not going to give away any of its plot.  You certainly don't need to know the painting or anything about Seurat to have a good time at this show.

When a live theatrical performance goes well, it has a special kind of power that is like nothing else.  For twenty-five bucks you can catch an award-winning play, enjoy a strong cast of local actors giving it their all, and after over two hours of entertainment leave with much to consider.  That's a bargain.

Catch Sunday in the Park with George at the Burning Coal Theatre if you can.

Kids Write

Last Friday night, before the ice cream and cupcake tasting, we spent two and a half enjoyable hours at Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh watching four one-act plays. What made the plays unusual was the ages of their authors: all were students who had not yet started college. Burning Coal was performing the plays as part of the local Kids Write program, in which a group of judges considers a large number of plays from local students and chooses four for production.

We went because, as I've mentioned earlier, Sarah's friend, Katharine, was one of the writers. Though I must admit to being biased, I honestly feel that Katharine's play was the best, most complex, and most interesting of the group. A drawing-room set piece that examined the effects of guilt, it featured well-delivered, rapid-fire dialog that both gradually illuminated the main character and constantly maintained your interest.

All of the plays were worth watching, and all had at least some points of cleverness and interest. Though one had no real plot and another was perhaps too predictable, I'm glad I got to see them and would recommend them to others--had the run not been for only a single weekend.

The actors, directors, and everyone involved at Burning Coal also deserve a special note for giving the work their best. At every point in the production, from the introduction, through the plays themselves, and into the Q&A with the writers and cast, it was clear that the Burning Coal actors and staff cared about the material and worked hard to create the best possible productions in the time available to them. One of these days, I'm going to write a play, and I now know that Burning Coal is a place I will want to shop it.

If you're in this area for next year's Kids Write, you could do far worse with a weekend night than to watch the work of talented young writers and a solid theater company bringing their written words to life.