King's physical persona - particularly the glasses, head shape and hair - reminded me of Joseph P. Kennedy, gone to seed – which isn’t a bad image to have in the back of your head.

Bishop and Fuller worked together, handing puppets back and forth with the deftness of surgical assistant passing a scalpel.

Entering the house, you soak in Joe Ragey’s scenic design upon which the contradictions of the place are writ large. “Harlan County is UMWA County” isn’t the only sign proclaiming union loyalty, but they all seem overshadowed by the smaller ‘We Accept Food Coupons’ placard.

That slightly heightened unreality of 1930’s camp is such a great leveler that nobody emerges enough to really capture your interest.

A stranger ignites 'Sister Play' in playwright John Kolvenbach's premiere at Magic Theatre.

San Francisco Playhouse 2015-16 season line-up: Dogfight, Stage Kiss, Colossal, Red Velvet, City of Angels. A sixth play is TBA. Read all the details here on Stark Insider.

While our negativity threshold saves us, sometimes we need to get psychically beaten to get a bit of truth in now and then. Stupid Fucking Bird does precisely that.

If you’ve been petutzed by the DC clowns, so devoid of the Christian virtues they claim to profess, Tartuffe will have a salutary effect on your blood pressure - at least temporarily.

Like North Pool and Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, the characters of Lake Effect take a heightened form of the imperfect journey we all take when crossing into uncomfortably different worlds.

Loper is the sort of actor who’s totally in the moment, absorbing what other cast members put out there and responding to it.