Maggie Sulc

NEWS 1/23/13 6:00pm

Wiess Tabletop returns with a Grimm spectacle

By Maggie Sulc

After last spring's Hello Hamlet, Wiess College Tabletop still has the parody slot covered with its new one-act, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. Though the cast and crew are mostly underclassmen still new to the world of college theater, they have created a fast-paced romp through all the classic fairy tales, with jokes about current events and college life set to raise chuckles from Rice audiences.

NEWS 11/8/12 6:00pm

Tartuffe triumphs with lies and deceit

By Maggie Sulc

Tartuffe illustrates why Rice University benefits from having a theater department with the ability to combine student talent with experienced professionals to bring a classic piece of theater onto Rice's campus. In the mix of this semester's many other comedic pieces, Moliere's Tartuffe stands out in bringing audiences a satire from the time of France's Sun King that still elicits tittering giggles, chuckles and guffaws from today's audiences.

NEWS 10/24/12 7:00pm

Guernica grapples with questions of violence and war

By Maggie Sulc

Duncan College's performance of Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal's Guernica sends its audience somewhere outside of its green college quad, but where, I am not exactly sure. As planes pass over, the sound of bombings echoes through the courtyard and off-stage characters and random passersby watch the play in the center of the quad. I cannot tell whether I am meant to see the play as set in bomb-ridden Guernica, Spain - the fake rubble in the middle of an otherwise safe and clean college; or set in the aftermath of almost any large act of violence. In any case, I appreciated that the short, sharp college production directed by Duncan senior Philomena Bradford could lead me to ask such questions.

NEWS 10/29/09 7:00pm

This Is It wows audiences with true Jackson experience

By Maggie Sulc

This Is It is not a documentary about Michael Jackson's life or the scandals surrounding his death. If a narrative at all, the film shows the process behind putting together a major concert: the auditions, rehearsals and changes that take place before the gates of the stadium are even opened. At its core, This Is It is simply Michael Jackson's last concert tour, miraculously resurrected after the icon's death. Everything about this film is something of a spectacle. Clapping and cheering fans packed the theater, giggling and screaming as the lights went down and the first images flashed onto the screen. It felt like we were all waiting for Michael Jackson to appear right there in front of us. And in many ways, he did. When Jackson arrived on screen, he was energetically singing and dancing as usual, amazing the world with his smooth voice and signature dance moves, as if he had never left.

NEWS 10/22/09 7:00pm

New take on classic Our Town

By Maggie Sulc

On the surface of Our Town, the bare staging and the colloquial dialogue seem to suggest a simple play. But with director Gregory Boyd and the cast of the Alley Theater at the helm, the plot's simplistic action is imbued with more complex themes.For those unfamiliar with the play, there is no set for Our Town. Playwright Thornton Wilder penned the piece to have no backdrop, no curtains and only certain essential props like chairs and tables. Industrial ladders represent second-story windows and three rows of chairs signify a graveyard. With only the audience's imagination and a few instructions from the Stage Manager (James Black), Wilder creates the entire town of Grover's Corner - complete with its own Main Street, shops, churches, school buildings, railroads and family houses - from these meager elements.

NEWS 10/8/09 7:00pm

The sights and sounds of Austin City Limits

By Maggie Sulc

The Austin City Limits Music Festival, held annually in Austin's Zilker Park, has always been an event for hardcore music lovers. In the past, festival-goers have braved dehydration, September heat and the dust kicked up by thousands of feet bustling to the next stage. Fortunately, ACL's bigwigs decided both of these problems could be fixed: This year, the three-day event was pushed into October in hopes of cooler weather and the city of Austin spent $2 million to cover the historically-dusty Zilker Park in a layer of fresh green grass.As I'd never been to ACL before, the entire concept, to say nothing of the new changes, sounded fantastic. I had heard my friends recount horror stories of the dust clouds and witnessed their horrible coughs upon their return to school.

NEWS 9/17/09 7:00pm

All-star cast powers inventive 9

By Maggie Sulc

A movie about nine human-like rag dolls banding together to save the post-apocalyptic world does not sound like a rousing adventure story. But when Tim Burton produces it, there is no sense in ruling out the possibility. Burton, one of the visionaries of 9, transforms the rag dolls - called "stitchpunks" - into endearing, individual characters uniting to fight a destructive robotic beast. The film begins when the last human on earth crumples to the floor and his final scientific creation, 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood), first opens its mechanical eyes.