October 1, 2008
By Rich Copley
Folks who turn out to see Balagula Theatre's production of The Mystery of Irma Vep will also see the debut of the new stage at Natasha's.
For years, the cafe has built an audience for its theater offerings usually performing on a stage the size of a modest walk-in closet. It definitely has its charm.
But, according to Balagula theater director Ryan Case, cafe owners Gene and Natasha Williams decided the audience had grown to the point it was time to expand the seating and the stage.
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Monday September 29, 2008
By Rachel Parsons
Natasha Williams and Ryan Case have a hard time remembering exactly when and how they met. They're just glad it happened.
It was certainly a fortuitous meeting, not just for their sakes, but for the theater world, as well. Thanks to their friendship and collaboration, the art scene in cental Kentucky is a little richer and actors don't have to stray so far from home to practice their craft.
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Sun, May. 08, 2011
By Rich Copley
Miranda Jane Walker has asked Jeffrey Pickman the dreaded question. It's the question no man wants to answer for a woman, the one many would self-inflict profound bodily harm to avoid answering: "Does this make me look fat?"
Answer yes, and Jeffrey is a first-class heel who has shattered Miranda's fragile psyche. Say no, and maybe he is not honest enough, in Miranda's mind, to tell her what she thinks is the truth.
For once, Jeffrey doesn't have to decide what to say. The audience will make up his mind for him.
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June 3, 2011
by Rich Copley
Balagula Theatre, the troupe based at Natasha’s Bistro and Bar, has announced its 2011-12 season, which it dubs “Eternity in an Hour,” using a term coined by William Blake.
The season includes two modern American plays and the world premiere of the winner of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference Prize for Women Playwrights.
The season is as follows:
One Flea Spare by Prospect native Naomi Wallace, Sept. 1 to 14. An award-winning play set in plague-ravaged 17th-century London.
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February 17, 2011
By Anne Nash
Lexington, KY - "Collaborative soup." That's how Natasha Williams described the Balagula Theatre Company's recent partnerships with other nonprofits to raise awareness and funds.
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Lexington, KY - In March 2010, Lexington will become a focal point of the American theatre community as it hosts the 61st Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) Annual Convention, the largest regional theatre event in the nation.
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Posted on Mon, Jun. 23, 2008
Rich Copley
Herald-Leader Culture Columnist
Ed Desiato will be the first person to tell you he's no John Barrymore.
”I'm not an idiot,“ Desiato says in a gravelly voice deepened by cigarettes and with a lingering New York accent. ”There was only one John Barrymore.
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November, 18, 2009
It’s only November, but Balagula Theatre can already lay claim to an award-winning season. The company, based at Natasha’s Bistro and Bar, took its productions of Samuel Beckett’s Play and Not I to Morehead State University for the community theater festival at theKentucky Theatre Association’s annual conference, and it came home with several of the top prizes.
They included:
Best performance: “Selected Plays of Samuel Beckett,” performed by the Balagula Theatre Company
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Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011
Posted on Sun, May. 16, 2010
By Rich Copley
It all went according to plan.
Last summer, Natasha Williams and Ryan Case built Balagula Theatre's first full season of shows as a quartet of existential, absurdist fare. They put together some of the greats of the genre — Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco and Jean-Paul Sartre — culminating with Arthur Kopit's Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad, which opens Sunday.
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