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Articles tagged with: Shannon Cochran

‘Goldfish’ at Route 66: As compulsive gambler, Francis Guinan lifts a loser to grace

Jun 30, 2015 – 4:30 pm | 1,214 views
No matter how wretched his luck, Leo (Francis Guinan, right) always has a tormented rationale for son Albert (Alex Stage). (

Review: Leo lives for those bets that feel good. You’d think winning would be the high, but no. When he has placed a bet that feels really good, Leo can breathe. Never mind that his luck is seldom good, or that his college-age son has minded this financially and spiritually broken, irreducible addict since the lad was little more than a child. Such is the starting point of John Kolvenbach’s eloquent, albeit painfully plain-spoken, play “Goldfish,” a sleeper gem of the season in a sparkling production by Route 66 Theatre. ★★★★

Role Playing: Shannon Cochran found partners aplenty in sardonic, twice-told ‘Dance of Death’

Jul 30, 2014 – 12:03 am | 3,421 views
Actress Shannon Cochran, who plays Alice in 'The Dance of Death' at Writers Theatre.

Interview: In working out her transfixing performance in the harrowing pas de trois that is August Strindberg’s “The Dance of Death,” now on the boards at Writers Theatre, actress Shannon Cochran says she got an indirect boost from Irish playwright Conor McPherson, who created the new English-language adaptation at hand.

‘The Dance of Death’ at Writers: Wedded war rages in old Sweden; fresh look at Strindberg

Apr 12, 2014 – 4:35 pm | 7,525 views
Kurt (Philip Earl Johnson) questions Alice (Shannon Cochran) about her tumultuous marriage. (Michael Brosilow) (2)

Review: If you liked Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” you’ll love the original: August Strindberg’s “The Dance of Death,” wherein a toxic, blood-sport marriage between a venomous old soldier and his hissing wife make the sniping between Albee’s George and Martha feel once more present in the room. Writers Theatre provides the well-polished dance floor for Strindberg’s caustic waltz. ★★★★★

Theater 2013-14: Fantasy ‘Old Man, Old Moon’ opens Writers’ season; new home draws near

Sep 3, 2013 – 2:53 pm | 9,310 views
PigPen Theatre's 'The Old Man and the Old Moon,' an off-Broadway hit in 2012, is being re-mounted and re-thought with Stuart Carden at Writers' Theatre

Ninth in a series of season previews: As artistic director Michael Halberstam began putting together the 2013-14 season at Writers’ Theatre with associate artistic director Stuart Carden, one coincidence seemed too good to be true: Halberstam’s right-hand man had been the teacher, at Carnegie-Mellon University, of an eclectic group of seven buddies called the PigPen Theatre Co., who were the buzz of Greenwich Village for their folksy fable called “The Old Man and the Old Moon.” The charming off-Broadway saga now comes to Writers’.

To cut, to shift, perchance to sharpen, Writers’ bold ‘Hamlet’ matches conviction with power

Sep 14, 2012 – 5:07 pm | 9,925 views
Scott Parkinson as Hamlet gazes at the skull of Yorick and contemplates death in Writers’ Theatre production of Hamlet 2012 credit Michael Brosilow

Review: ★★★★★

Vivid characters and some great singing carry the day for ‘A Little Night Music’ at Writers’

May 12, 2012 – 9:47 am | 6,461 views
A Little Night Music Stephen Sondheim Writers' 2012  Brandon Dahlquist Count Malcom Shannon Cochran Desiree Arnfeldt Jonathan Fredrik Egerman  Michael Brosilow

Sondheim’s paean to love. 4 stars!