Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
One year after Bethlehem Steel shut down in 1998, Touchstone Theatre hosted Steel Festival: The Art of an Industry, which created and assembled several works of art and cultural projects to help the community cope with the loss. As many in the city worried about the economic future of the city, lost jobs and pensions,…
Behind this façade of musical satire, Christopher Shorr’s “Dictators 4 Dummies” is grounded in some very real horrors of our current global political climate. I walked in Touchstone Theater on 3rd Street, and immediately, unbeknownst to me, I was already on set of this faux-production. The production assistant, played by Emma Ackerman, was smiling by…
You enter a dimly lit theater. The stage sits dark, minimally dressed. Scattered papers outline the borders of the floor and a labyrinth is projected centerstage. Upstage, four flat panels connect on the wall to create a large screen. The sole actress enters stage left, dressed presumably as a tourist. A recorded voice both orients…
On February 25th, I spent the early afternoon with Emma Ackerman (née Chong), the playwright and sole performer of “The Complete and Authoritative Tour of Holy Stuff.” The play, which ran from March 2nd through March 12th at the Touchstone Theatre, explores what we consider holy in our lives. Emma elaborates on this conception, explaining…