Email Author Alisa Solomon

1999 Stories by Alisa Solomon

• Wright’s Waxy Buildup

  published December 7, 1999

  In one of the many cloyingly clever moments in Robert Lepage's investigation of mysticism and architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright's assistants show... More >>

• Soloing Through the Gray Zone

  published November 16, 1999

  If you were teaching a seminar on the history of American performance art, you just might build the whole course around the 20-year careers of... More >>

• Suha’s Charges

  published November 16, 1999

  'Blood Libel!' the tabloid screams, pronouncing the death of a candidacy that hasn't even been declared yet. Pundits insist that Hillary Clinton... More >>

• Styx and Stones

  published October 26, 1999

  First, a large banquet table stretches the entire length of the stage. Soon it splits in two, the halves sliding away from each other to outline a... More >>

• Heady Intentions

  published October 19, 1999

  It's been just over 100 years since the censors stopped rehearsals of Oscar Wilde's Salomé because, well, it made fun of other... More >>

• A Comics Opera

  published September 28, 1999

  Here's the plot: A package gets delivered from one building to another. That, at least, is how the composers, director, librettist, and production... More >>

• Mud and Desire

  published September 14, 1999

  "Am I the only survivor?" The question pops into the conversation innocent and unexpected, the way someone might ask whether it's still raining... More >>

• Wackenhut Detention Ordeal

  published August 31, 1999

  Emmy Kutesa propped his chin on his hand to keep his head from drooping as he waited on Thursday for an immigration judge to decide his fate. By... More >>

• In Defense of Liberty

  published August 24, 1999

  When the imposing pipe organ at Madison Square Garden starts tolling in ascending minor thirds, Liberty fans chime right in with what well might... More >>

• Critical Condition

  published August 10, 1999

  Last week the Pew Charitable Trust announced it will devote some $50 million over the next five years to pushing cultural policy onto the... More >>

• Ms. Robinson's Neighborhood

  published August 3, 1999

  Journalists are milling outside the Liberty locker room on a steamy July night, waiting for Coach Richie Adubato to come out and tell them how his... More >>

• Scotch on the Rocks

  published July 27, 1999

  Beware of a play that winds toward its ending with lines like: "Now we've both told the truth. Now we've judged each other right enough. For if... More >>

• Cold Comfort

  published July 13, 1999

  In the opening moments of Uncle Vanya, the disaffected Doctor Astrov wonders, as Chekhov characters often do, "What are people going to say... More >>

• We're Queer, We're Here

  published June 22, 1999

  There weren't any gay organizations in Dublin when Joe Kelly began to suspect that he was gay. There weren't even any bars. And there wasn't... More >>

• Women's Lib

  published June 8, 1999

  The Liberty were wrapping up a practice session last week with a half-hour scrimmage, and coach Richie Adubato was loping down the court just... More >>

• Sweet Release

  published June 1, 1999

  Nine years and 45 days. Lulseged Dhine's unconscionably long detention by the immigration and naturalization service finally came to an end on May... More >>

• Prison Prayers

  published May 18, 1999

  A woman swishes a broom delicately across the floor, as if trying to blow away the accumulated dust of history. Soon, she begins to thwack it with... More >>

• Steal This Stage

  published May 18, 1999

  "Is she a fat, cheesy slut?" That's the question audiences ask whenever a woman gets onstage, argued playwright and performance artist Deb... More >>

• Big Guns on Campus

  published May 4, 1999

  The City University's security service purchased 100,000 rounds of ammunition— including at least 4000 rounds of nine-millimeter hollow point... More >>

• Domestic Affairs

  published April 20, 1999

  It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment in An Enemy of the People when Thomas Stockman crosses the line between standing up for principle... More >>

• Girl Power?

  published April 20, 1999

  It's the first really good Saturday in April but the fifth weekend that the girls of East Harlem Little League are assembling at a field on 112th... More >>

• Arresting Developments

  published March 30, 1999

  "Wanna get busted on Wednesday?" That's the question that burned up my phone line last week as I prepared to join a contingent in the protests at... More >>

• A Dream Detained

  published March 23, 1999

  Osadeba Eboigbe stares at his hands, folded tightly on the plastic table in front of him, as if he could hold back his fear and bewilderment if... More >>

• Hare Shirt

  published March 23, 1999

  A little more than halfway through Via Dolorosa— at about the point that Palestinian voices enter David Hare's account of his trip to... More >>

• Revise and Consent

  published March 16, 1999

  Brecht has never had an easy time of it in America, and his Lehrstücke— or teaching plays— have had the hardest time of all.... More >>