When I first started Zoe Writes Theatre, I very much stayed within my comfort zone. I spent more time writing posts about theatre than anything, and when I did write about a show, it was either at Hedgerow or People’s Light. And of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! Due to many twists and turns (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little), I got an invite to a theatre that I couldn’t even imagine getting an invite to…The Wilma. I’d seen shows at The Wilma, of

For all of the plays written by Shakespeare, the comedies, tragedies and histories, I doubt any are as famous as Romeo and Juliet . It’s an age old tale of forbidden love, intense rivalries, and death. And although I don’t know why this play has been the Shakespeare forerunner for all this time, I must say, every time you see it, you’re going to see something different. From the numerous stagings of it, as well as movies, and even musicals (seriously, there’s a rendition

Over the past three years, I’ve been to a ton of different theatres in the Philadelphia area. I’ve talked about the plays I’ve seen, and the people I’ve spoken to, but I’ve never actually talked about the theatres themselves. This is the start of a new segment for me that I’m calling “Theatre Tour”. Our first stop on the theatre tour is Quintessence Theatre in Germantown. Now, Quintessence is one of my favorite theatres in the area, for quite a few reasons. And it’s a th

(Photo credit to Mark Garvin) I know I’ve probably said this a million times, but I am a huge Shakespeare nerd. I’ve been studying his work since I was six years old. I’ve read a good chunk of his work (including some of the Histories, and those are super hard). I have my favorite quote from The Tempest (my favorite Shakespeare play) tattooed on me. Throughout the past thirty years, Shakespeare has been an inspiration to me, and I don’t know where I’d be, especially in

Happy almost 2026! This year has been quite a year for me, and for Zoe Writes Theatre. I celebrated my three years running this blog, and my little baby project just keeps growing and growing. Since we’re mere days away from the new year, I wanted to do a sort of year in review. 2025 was definitely very good to me, and I really can’t wait to see what 2026 brings me. At this point, it can only go up from here! So here is me, Zoe, reflecting on the past year. I hope you g

There are so many ways a play can be good. There are so many ways a play can be great. And it really just goes on from there. I’ve seen a lot of good plays, and great plays, and plays that completely blow me out of the water. The Mountaintop was in a category that I don’t get to see all the time…it completely took my breath away. Although the idea and setup were pretty simple, it was something that I haven’t seen in awhile, and I’m sure it’ll be awhile before I get to s

Photo credit to Linda Johnson. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m a huge fan of musical theatre. Musicals have always been so important to me, and nothing will ever change that. And if you really want to go back to the roots of musical theatre, you definitely have to look at anything by Gilbert and Sullivan. I’m sure the names are familiar to both theatre people and non theatre people alike. The writer and composer are absolutely iconic, and created amazing operettas

We live in a very “tuned in” world. All generations are spending so much time on their phones, on the internet…we’re constantly texting each other, or watching videos. I think we probably spend just as much time on our screens as we spend in real time. This idea is only the start of Job , even if we don’t know that right away. What we do know from the start is that a young woman is pointing a gun at an older man and that makes it pretty obvious that we’re going to be in

Award programming is very important to media. It’s a way to recognize the work done in a year. We’ve all heard about the big ones…the...

One of the cool things about theatre is that you’re never restricted to just one role. It goes beyond being cross trained, which many...

Okay, so I’m not a stranger to plays about Benjamin Franklin. I’ve actually been in one, and it was one of the best experiences of my...

As a queer person, I’ve really tried to educate myself on queer history, literature, and what it took to get me here in general. One of...

One of our famous selfies! Over the past couple years, I’ve needed a theatre buddy who deals with all my insanity and supports me totally...

Something that has always struck me about theatre is the relationships you form with the people you’re working with. In the thirty years...

Sometimes, you find really wonderful things where you least expect them. Sometimes, some of your favorite things get combined and it...

As someone who has been going to see shows since they were three years old, I can definitely say that I’ve been in a lot of different...

Recently, I was talking to a coworker about how my wife and I go to the opera. I was telling him about the most recent opera we had...

This is one of those posts that is all about me. I know I talk a lot about my love of musical theatre. I’ve talked about different...

I wrote about being a child actor…now I want to talk about being an adult stage manager, and what that means to me. I never thought I’d...

Something that we see a lot onstage is child actors. So many shows require them, and I think a lot of people don’t think about what it...