Ricardo Pitts Wiley

Latest Articles

Sweet inspiration

Mixed Magic’s When Mahalia Sings
For more than three decades, until her death in 1972, Mahalia Jackson’s powerful contralto voice raised the spirits of even nonbelievers through her inspiring gospel singing. In an original production, Mixed Magic Theatre is reminding us about her legacy in the premiere of When Mahalia Sings .
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 08, 2010

Mixed and mismatched

Errors are still comical in the bucket
Oh those Elizabethans, those cutups, those bawdy scamps. If we had only William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors to go by, we'd wonder how the Brits ever built an empire between all the misidentifications and panicked confusions.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 18, 2009

Mixed Magic's When Fate Comes Knocking

Living history
It's been said before and it'll be said again: the election of Barack Obama casts a new light on the Civil Rights Movement. Or, in Ricardo Pitts-Wiley's words, "We get to tell the story in a different way."
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | February 12, 2009

American Dream

Mixed Magic’s latest Spirit Warrior
The songs are woven through a myth-like tale, set in a post-apocalyptic America, when the population is centered within 60 square miles and a corporate gang of the Mighty Four has taken over.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | February 27, 2008

Moby's metaphor

Mixed Magic modernizes Melville
Whether a reader of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick skims through that chapter on cytology or is faithful to every word of the novel, he or she can never forget Captain Ahab’s search for the Great White Whale.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | May 01, 2007

Daddy issues

Mixed Magic’s take on Williams’s Cat
Watching a production of any classic almost always opens your eyes or your ears to something you hadn’t noticed before.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | April 04, 2007

Tyrants’ tales

American Repertory Theatre’s Britannicus, Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s The Winter’s Tale
According to legend, Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
By CAROLYN CLAY | January 30, 2007

Seeking the truth

Mixed Magic’s The Well of Woman
It’s from the perspective of a man, but The Well of Woman makes a brave attempt at honoring and, to some extent, understanding what women go through, especially if they are African-American.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 24, 2006

Being Bessie

Mixed Media channels Ms. Smith
Waiting for Bessie Smith, written and directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, is a generous as well as enjoyable performance.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 05, 2006