Maura Hogan

2 months ago | charlestoncitypaper.com | Maura Hogan

The Shark Is Broken centers around the men — and machinations — behind the 1975 blockbuster | Principal Photography Anyone growing up in the 1970s in a coastal town like Charleston may recall the unprecedented dread of the beach in the wake of Jaws, the 1975 thriller directed by Steven Spielberg that pitted three men against an outsize predator.

Nov 14, 2024 | charlestoncitypaper.com | Maura Hogan

Marriage is one hell of a time warp. Whether it goes the distance or goes down in flames, it more often than not lingers in the frontal lobe for the long haul, drawing you back to moments grand or grim, coloring notions of future romantic love forever.  Perhaps that’s why the musical “The Last Five Years,” the fan favorite with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, continues to find productions and audiences, including one now up at Pure Theatre that plays through Nov. 30.

Oct 18, 2024 | charlestoncitypaper.com | Maura Hogan

Purlie Victorious follows a charismatic traveling preacher as he navigates the challenges of the Jim Crow era | Reese Moore Photography It might seem incongruous to coax comedy from the Jim Crow-era South. Decades after gaining their freedom, Black Americans continued to confront seemingly insurmountable inequities. In so many ways, life on the plantation abided with all its inequities. But then there was Ossie Davis.

Sep 9, 2024 | charlestoncitypaper.com | Maura Hogan

A hand-wringing, emo-prone young man is harangued by the ghost of his father to avenge his murder. The rub? Said son is so addled by overthinking he just can't seem to check the dreadful deed off his to-do list. If this sounds like the basis of one of the Western world's most well-known tragic theatrical works, it is. Well, kind of. "Fat Ham" is in many ways true to its source of "Hamlet," until it's not.

Jun 2, 2024 | culturesouth.substack.com | Maura Hogan

With their mano-a-mano gun-slinging showdowns, gold-crazed miners, bonneted prairie womenfolk and terrible take on Indigenous people, the tried-and-true tropes of the American West were for a good long stretch the regular stuff of celluloid films. Think of a badge-clad John Wayne exacting hard-won justice on some dastardly menace or a steely-eyed Clint Eastwood taking matters into his own unflinching hands.