The Woodpecker at Studio Stage

The Woodpecker

Studio Stage
520 N. Western Ave. Los Angeles

"Believin' ain't hard when believin's all ya' got." It's Jimmy's last day before going to war, he's addicted to glue, his mom is seeing visions in the sweet potato casserole, and his wheelchair-bound dad can kick his ass. Battered by his father's impossible expectations, his mother's delusional addiction, and the sweltering heat of the Arkansas summer, Jimmy turns to the only friend he has and pleads for help. God answers him with the rare and elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

Presented by Mutineer Theatre Company

Thru - Apr 10, 2011

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 8:00pm

Sundays: 7:00pm

Price: $16-$20

Show Type: Drama

Box Office: 323-871-5826

www.mutineertheatre.com

The Woodpecker Reviews

Average Rating based on 5 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...Like so many new plays aspiring to edginess, Samuel Brett Williams' relentlessly unpleasant drama wallows in physical and mental suffering, with neither the uniqueness of vision nor the mastery of language to leave much of value in its wake."

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- Philip Brandes

LA Weekly - Highly Recommended

"...Still, in director John Cohn's darkly moody staging, the drama's sense of existential rage is urgent and evocative, while its ferocious emotional charge outweighs the contrived plotting. Norris offers a particularly strong and moving performance as the increasingly tortured son, almost appearing to age and become hollow before our eyes. Compelling turns also are offered by Zook's spacey white-trash mother and by Withers' almost-too-monstrous dad."

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- Paul Birchall

Backstage - Highly Recommended

"...At the heart of this provocative production is the luminous performance of Brian Norris as Jimmy, a sensitive young man preparing to leave his Arkansas trailer-park home to report for military duty in an unspecified country. Jimmy's crosses to bear include an emotionally beaten-down mother (Tamara Zook), who has survived "booby cancer" and is addicted to pills, and an extremely abusive Vietnam vet father (Mark Withers), who demands that Jimmy live up to warped notions of manhood. The youth is tired of this hellish home life yet terrified to go to war. "

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- Les Spindle

LA Theatre Review - Not Recommended

"...But as risks sometimes do, Mutineer's production of Samuel Brett Williams' The Woodpecker failed to pan out. Overall the script was unoriginal and shallow while their production itself seemed unexplored, unrehearsed and lacking sensitivity."

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- Erin Daley

LAist - Highly Recommended

"...The Woodpecker is more a classic character-is-fate social tragedy, driven by compellingly watchable performances from Withers and Price and solidly centered by Norris."

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- Lyle Zimskind

The Woodpecker at Studio Stage

The Woodpecker

The Woodpecker Reviews

Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended

LA Weekly - Highly Recommended

Backstage - Highly Recommended

LA Theatre Review - Not Recommended

LAist - Highly Recommended

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