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Updated 11/29/07 CRITICS, HERE AND ABROAD An American Critic on THE MORGAN YARD Joe Pollack, THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH The Morgan Yard is a tragedy made more vivid because it happens on a sun-splashed afternoon, more timely because it points up the incipient disaster in massive confrontation, and it benefited from a strong performance Saturday night by the Kansas City-based Missouri Repertory Theatre, and directed by the author. An English Critic on THE MORGAN YARD Liz Mullen, THE COLCHESTER EVENING GAZETTE Kevin O'Morrison's new play, The Morgan Yard, had its European Premiere last night, giving Colchester's Mercury Theatre the most worthwhile material it has handled for months. The action takes place in Missouri at the burial plot of the Morgan family, which old Carrie Morgan refuses to hand over to the army as a munitions dump. She is prepared to defend the place where her loved ones lie, "Till the last trumpet". And slowly the atmosphere builds up to a shattering climax ... Carrie's defense plan has one thing in common with this production - sheer dynamite. An Irish Critic on THE MORGAN YARD J.J. Finegan in THE DUBLIN EVENING HERALD The voice of Siobhan McKenna singing a hymn, was heard at the Olympia a few minutes before she appeared, rifle on her shoulder, revolver on her right hip, as middle-aged, fresh faced, unassailable Carrie Morgan from the Ozark Mountains in Missouri ... With a kerchief tied peasant fashion, the actress looked remarkably like an American Mother Courage, and ... Carrie Morgan behaved like Brecht's heroine, right down to the shattering scene where the bodies of her son and grandson are ready to be mourned ... It is a play that grows on one ... and Carrie Morgan is an enormous and exacting role ... Miss McKenna projects a marvelously absorbing portrait of an indomitable character. She fills the stage with life. This is notable acting ... Siobhan McKenna won Ireland's "BEST ACTRESS" Award in this roleThe Morgan Yard can be bought at Samuel French, Inc. by clicking here FOR PERFORMANCE RIGHTS:
An American Critic on THE REALIST Ron White, THE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS He glories in himself and the fact that he has survived 83 years. For he should have been dead 82 years ago. In the small Italian village from which he came 35 was old age. But he has survived ... by stealing an egg from his mother who had saved it for the village priest -- and by some miracle he doesn't understand, himself. Because he has survived, he believes in his own specialness. To Vito, that is realism. But in Kevin O'Morrison's play, "The Realist" ... there is a question about whether a man who has built a multi-million dollar empire out of an Italian restaurant can be a Realist when he still believes New York has fresh air, and with Vito's rambling monologues one could easily believe that at times he is crazy. But it is not the insanity of senile psychosis. It is the insanity of one who knows the world is a place that is out to kill you, and who is determined to live. It is this ambiguity about Vito that gives the play its fascination. This is not Tennessee Williams' Big Daddy, stubborn but wise at heart. Vito is stubbornly successful despite being foolish at heart ... One can never decide if Vito is crazy or sane, hero or villain. And that is because Vito exists as the mind of an old man - living simultaneously in the glory of his past and the failure of his present. And at the end, we can rejoice as we accept his last, enthusiastic words, "Each day I live, he is one son of a bitch!" Rewritten and Re-titled "A PARTY FOR LOVERS", the play won The National Repertory Theatre's First Prize For Playwriting. FOR PERFORMANCE RIGHTS to A PARTY FOR LOVERS NYC Critics on DARK AGES Glenn Currie, UPI LIVELY ARTS EDITOR Kevin O'Morrison is a playwright of many moods ... "Ladyhouse Blues" was an eloquent study of a hardworking and courageous mother ... it was one of the best dramas of the year. This year, the versatile author has gone off in an entirely different direction ... Frequently, fantasies about the future are lurid and pointless. But O'Morrison never forgets civilized values and he celebrates the human spirit - even when evil forces are in command. Here is science fiction with a heart. FOR PERFORMANCE RIGHTS:
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A College Critic on"A BLANKET FOR JANOS" Suzanne Bradley, KAMIN REVIEW A requiem is a mass for the dead, and the play begins with one for the dead of Budapest. Flashing back to a limbo of civil war, the warring parties of the military and the common people pause to demand to know who the Audience is and why they have come ... We are in Budapest during 1955-56 when it was victimized by the Cold War ... The Set is appropriately a reflection of the mood of the play ... All theatrical pretensions are gone. With nothing but cold facts, the audience-actor-jury must now pass a verdict [on who is to blame - who is accountable ... It is very well done. For a free excerpt or to buy "A Blanket For Janos" click here
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