Broad Street Review

Philly's home for arts, culture, and conversation

Jim Rutter

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since November 15, 2006

Economist, philosopher, weightlifter, Libertarian.

Jim Rutter has reviewed theater in Philadelphia since 2006, and has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer since September, 2011. He has covered dance, theater, and opera for the Broad Street Review, and has also written for many suburban newspapers, including the Main Line Times. In 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a Fellowship in arts journalism. Thames & Hudson released his updated and revised version of "Ballet and Modern Dance" in June, 2012. From 1998 to 2005, he taught philosophy and logic at Drexel, and then Widener University. He has competed in the sport of weightlifting at the national level, is a USA Weightlifting National Coach, and coaches at his club, Philadelphia Barbell, which has produced multiple National level athletes, top-ten finishers and medalists.

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Mike Daisey plays his <em>'Trump Card.'</em> (Photo courtesy of FringeArts)

Mike Daisey's 'The Trump Card' at FringeArts (first review)

Big mouths strike again

Controversial performer and monologuist Mike Daisey takes on another controversial performer and monologuist: Donald Trump.

Jul 19, 2016 Articles 3 minute read

<em>Bonzi</em>, featuring (l to r) Daniel Mayo, Andrea Yorita, Skyler Lubin, Gary W. Jeter II, Edgar Anido, Caili Quan. Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev)

BalletX 2016 Summer Series with Klip Collective

Lost memories and vibrant dreams

BalletX's Summer Series brings technology into dance. But in the contest between human and machine, which one prevails?

Jul 12, 2016 Articles 4 minute read

'The Sea Plays': Drinking, death and Eugene O'Neill in a single night.

A man's guide to the 2013 Fringe Arts Festival

No music or feelings, please: A man's guide to the Fringe Arts Festival

Men may dominate the theater world, but women dominate the audience. So how can a male theatergoer enjoy this month's Fringe Festival? By choosing carefully and relying on the expert guidance of my weightlifting teammates and drinking buddies.

Sep 01, 2013 Articles 4 minute read

Kevin Seelaus (left), Tomasovic: Only the good-looking survive. (Photo: Evan Robinson.)

Mask & Wig Club's "Beautopia'

124 years old, and still silly

Mask and Wig Club's Beautopia is set in a 25th-Century dictatorship, where citizens are ranked by physical appearance. Does this plot line sound familiar?

Feb 19, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

DeHaan: The meek shall be avenged?

'Chronicle' vs. Plato's 'Republic'

What Plato could learn from teenagers

Plato suggested that even just men will be corrupted by unchecked power. Chronicle, a new teen fantasy flick, takes a different tack: Even the most just among us, it implies, have scores we're itching to settle, if only we had a magic wand or potion.

Feb 26, 2012 Articles 4 minute read

Damron, Frey, Brennan: Unfulfilled, and never wondering why. (Photo: Arron J. Oster.)

Headland's "Bachelorette,' by Luna

Lost generation, still losing

At a pre-wedding party, three single women fast approaching 30 chase down their sour grapes with pot, pills, and champagne. Notwithstanding its lack of plot, Bachelorette scores some perceptive points about the “happiness gap” suffered by young professional women who lack traditional families.

Jan 31, 2012 Articles 3 minute read

Castellan, Quinn: Above all, the need to be liked.

Billington's assault on absurdism

Absurdism isn't relevant? Don't be absurd!

Abdurdism, a European artistic response to the senseless horrors of World War II, has lost its relevance, according to critic Michael Billington. Yet from Greece to the Tea Party to the Occupy movement, millions of people today wander in aimless stupor like the hoboes in Beckett's Waiting For Godot.

Dec 31, 2011 Articles 4 minute read

Relaxing after his one-on-one against Michael Jordan.

My locker room buddy, Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il, the ultimate competitor

I first met Kim Jong-il in 1992 on a weightlifting exchange program to North Korea, and we bonded immediately over our mutual addiction to sports of all sorts. Take it from me: This was no tyrant—this was the world's greatest sports competitor since Jim Thorpe.

Dec 20, 2011 Essays 2 minute read

Chunky Move's 'Connected': Why bother to figure it out?

When choreographers talk (too much)

Here's what I meant to say…..

Why do choreographers engage in post-performance talkbacks to explain what they were trying to say? Why don't they let the artwork speak for itself?

Dec 05, 2011 Articles 3 minute read

Frings (right) with Janis Dardaris in 'The How and the Why': Beyond entertainment.

An encouraging trend: Theater for grownups

Here come the grownups, or: Theater for thinking people

Until recently Philadelphia's theater community seemed mired in edgy plays about alienated 30-somethings in dysfunctional families. But four recent productions— all intelligent, challenging, profound, even elitist— suggest an encouraging new direction.

Nov 15, 2011 Articles 4 minute read

Pryor: Familiarity breeds... what?

Hiring local actors: triumph or calamity?

All-Philadelphia casts: Is this good news or bad?

Philadelphia's Arden and Wilma theaters open their seasons this month with large-cast plays populated by local actors. That's a tribute to the growing wealth of local talent available— and also cause for concern that directors are getting too comfy and complacent in their own provincial backyard.

Oct 04, 2011 Articles 4 minute read

A radical refashioning of the audience experience. (Photo: Suzanne Delaney.)

Applied Mechanics' "Overseers' at Fringe Festival

Minding everyone else's business

Overseers concerns a revolt in a totalitarian society. Its creators at Applied Mechanics are themselves rebels against the tyranny of theatrical boundaries.

Sep 10, 2011 Articles 4 minute read

Original idea, but the same old movements.

"Dancing Dead' by Brian Sanders

Waiting for Sanders to evolve

In Dancing Dead, choreographer Brian Sanders has developed a brilliant and original concept. Still, if you've seen one Sanders piece, you've seen the limits of his movement vocabulary.

Sep 06, 2011 Articles 4 minute read

Rude Mechs as Burden disciples: So you think you're dedicated to theater?

"The Method Gun' at the Fringe Festival

Eat your heart out, Jesus: What Stella Burden's disciples did for art

The obsessive acting coach Stella Burden once drew five young actors together for nine years to rehearse the bit parts of A Streetcar Named Desire. She went crazy in the process, but her method— as portrayed in The Method Gun— revealed the profundity that often lies behind madness.

Sep 03, 2011 Articles 3 minute read

Cairns: When despair becomes addiction

Luna Theater's "How to Disappear Completely' (1st review)

Stop the worldâ€” I want to get off (again)

Fin Kennedy's How To Disappear Completely is part meditation on selfhood and part how-to guide to changing your identity. Unfortunately, it succeeds at neither.

Sep 03, 2011 Articles 3 minute read