Grossly Talented

Paul Gross and Kim Cattrall in Private Lives.

I never realized I knew so many people so enamored with Paul Gross. Unless you've caught some of his films, or TV series like Due South, He doesn't have the kind of name recognition south of the Canadian border that he does on his home turf. But when I mentioned that I was interviewing him for Time Out New York, I was peppered with questions like, "How did the interview go?" "What was he like?" "What did he have to say?" He is as charming and witty as the Broadway revival of Private Lives that he's currently starring in with Kim Cattrall.

Incidentally, at the performance I attended there was a light but noticeable murmur in the audience when Gross's character, Elyot, uttered the words, "Thank you kindly"--a line that became a catchphrase for Constable Benton Fraser, the Mountie mired in Chicago that he played on Due South. Did that line really come from Noel Coward, I wondered? Or was Gross having a bit of fun with his fans? And when I got home and looked it up, I discovered that, sure enough, "Thank you kindly" did indeed come from Coward. Almost makes you believe Gross was destined to play Elyot, which, judging by his funny and commanding performance, could very well be the case.

The Demon Puppet of EST

Steven Boyer and Scott Sowers in Hand to God.

Steven Boyer delivers a deliciously attuned performance as a shy teenager and the devil puppet who comes to control him in Hand of God, a very funny, if somewhat uneven, play by Ensemble Studio Theatre Youngblood member Robert Askins.

Kids Back in the Day

Margaret Nichols, Richard Thieriot and Darrie Lawrence in Children.

A.R. Gurney's 1974 play Children takes place on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, and under the auspices of the sure-handed TACT, it's aged quite well.

My Meeting With Jane

Former NEA chair Jane Alexander

My first journalism job was at Back Stage, which asked current and former colleagues for reminiscences for its 50th anniversary. Mine — about halfway down the page — involves Jane Alexander, the NEA and a trip to D.C.

Not Quite Front-Page News

John Viscardi, Vladimir Versailles and Melanie Charles in The Wood.

I had never heard a newspaper's front-page story referred to as "the wood," until Time Out assigned me to review a play with just such a title. The Wood is described as a "no-holds-barred" account of the life of controversial New York Daily News columnist Mike McAlary, but I suspect some holds were definitely barred.

Enter, Stage Left

The New York Neo-Futurists in The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions…

Leave it to the New York Neo-Futurists — with a just little help from Eugene O'Neill — to turn stage directions into an engaging evening of theater, with a title that's nearly as long as the 80-minute show, The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Volume 1: Early Plays/Lost Plays. It's also a nifty primer for those unfamiliar with O'Neill's early works (and let's admit that's most of us), kind of like a Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). See it if you can.

Levels of (Partial) Comfort

Chad Beckim and Molly Pearson of Partial Comfort Productions.

The Off-Off Broadway theater company Partial Comfort Productions scored a slew of accolades last year with A Bright New Boise, a play that was more solid and satisfying than many produced by major Off Broadway companies. Their new show, After., is about an innocent man released from prison thanks to DNA. Somehow its author, Chad Beckim, one of the company's founders, and his colleague, Molly Pearson, have kept the company afloat while for 10 years pursuing that thankless task of developing and producing new plays. I had the chance to talk to them about how they do it.