Pamela Briggs

1 week ago | rcreader.com | Pamela Briggs |Mike Schulz

I've caught fire, and it's glorious; been given not only inspiration, but also fully expressed ideas. Whether from gods or demons doesn't matter, because even if the end product is utter crap, it feels divine. But if your career, your reputation, your self-image, your very being is made of that fire – what if it's extinguished?

1 week ago | rcreader.com | Pamela Briggs |Mike Schulz

Farce is a popular theatrical form 'round these parts, as elsewhere. But such productions are delicately balanced structures of script and performance that can easily topple due to weaknesses in either aspect – or both. To my joy, Girls' Weekend, now making its area debutat the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, is delightful. I laughed more than I have in a year of theatre. Its script, published in 2014, is tight and funny – the first by playwright/actor and Des Moines native Karen Schaeffer.

2 weeks ago | rcreader.com | Pamela Briggs |Mike Schulz

What's up, Doc? Stressed? Need a mind massage, a warm hug for your heart, a relaxing hot shower for your soul? If you're desperate for a breather, there's an oasis in the desert, a rainbow after the storm – yes, Virginia, even a Santa Claus – and its name is Haus of Ruckus. Has it really been only three-and-a-half years since they won my heart with their first production "Jacques"alope?

1 month ago | rcreader.com | Pamela Briggs |Mike Schulz

The tragedy of the wreck of the huge luxury liner RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City still captivates and horrifies, 113 years later. More than two-thirds of the estimated 2,240 passengers and crew perished – poor emigrants and billionaires alike. Most survivors were from first class, and most of them were women, due to the "women and children first" rescue tradition.

2 months ago | rcreader.com | Pamela Briggs |Mike Schulz

The Prom, currently running at Augustana College, is a happy, even joyous musical, even though its ripped-from-the-headlines premise is an utter disheartening downer. Two high school students are told they can't attend the prom together because they are women. They object. The school cancels the prom. Other students bully the pair. Parents organize a private prom, supposedly for all students, and a second, ultra-secret private prom to which the couple aren't invited.