Plays Directed by UPB's Ewert Lauded

Two plays directed by Dr. Kevin Ewert, associate professor of theater at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, received high praise from a newspaper in North Carolina, where the plays were performed by the Manbites Dog Theater in Durham.

The play “Age of Arousal” was named one of the top 10 productions of 2009 by the Independent, a newsweekly for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. The paper also recognized the play in the categories of best lead performance, best ensemble and best direction, saying

“Ewert’s enviable vision invoked another time – and ancestors bearing disturbing similarities to us.”

The Independent also named the play “The Pillowman,” which Ewert directed in 2007, as one of the 49 best productions of the decade in that area. The list also included such notable performances as “All the King’s Men” (parts 1 and 2), “The Bluest Eye,” “The Cherry Orchard” and “The Glass Menagerie.”

“Both shows were joys to work on,” Ewert said, “great casts, brilliant writing, and it’s certainly nice to see the critical kudos.”

“Age of Arousal” is Linda Griffiths’ comic fantasia about Victorian suffragists. Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” concerns a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is brought in for questioning about the disturbing similarities between his stories and some crimes recently committed.

The two shows were the only ones Ewert directed with Manbites Dog Theater. He plans to work again with the theater company in 2011.

Pictured, a scene from Ewert’s play “Age of Arousal”