Aug 06

Make You Feel Like a Queen on a Throne: “Love, Loss & What I Wore” + Apologetic Coda

The cast looking gorgeous. Photo by Tim Gurczak.

Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
By Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron
Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman
Directed by Paula Plum
Featuring: Nettie Chickering, Barbara Douglas, Lauren Elias, Evelyn Holley, June Kfoury

July 22 – August 5, 2023
Club Cafe
209 Columbus Ave
Boston MA

All tickets are Pay-What-You-Can.

Review by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — Hub Theatre Co. celebrates its ten-year anniversary with a production of Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss & What I Wore. Paula Plum and the cast made small updates to the original script to make it more tenable to new audiences. It runs at Club Cafe through August 5. 

You’d be so pretty if. Clean Underpants. Your first bra. BLACK. I have nothing to wear. Purses. Humiliation. Betrayal. Joy. Celebration. Love, Loss & What I Wore is a collection of themes and stories told directly to the audience about the clothing we wore and the memories we accumulated. The clothing is the memory. The memories are us.  Continue reading

Jul 23

Application Opens for the 2023 Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism

NEW YORK: On July 10, the American Theatre Critics Association opened applications for the second annual 2023 Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism on its website, https://americantheatrecritics.org/edward-medina-prize/. The application will close on August 11, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

APPLY HERE

All applicants will be notified of their application status by October 1, 2023. The Medina Prize will be presented in November 2023.

Edward Medina

The ATCA website says the Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism is an award for reviewers, critics, and journalists in the U.S. from under-represented groups (women, people of the global majority, trans, and non-binary) who write about theater and its role in highlighting people from various cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.

The prize is meant to cultivate relationships between ATCA and diverse critics, to increase readership of cultural criticism by diverse writers, and to financially support critics from under-represented groups. Continue reading

Jun 23

Knife’s Edge of Infinite Possibility: Boston New Works Festival and “SWAN”

Presented by Moonbox Productions as part of the Boston New Works Festival 2023
SWAN is written by Sophie Kim
Directed by Kai Chao

June 22 – June 25, 2023
The Boston Center For The Arts
Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
527 Tremont Street
Boston, MA

2 hours with 1 intermission

Review by Kitty Drexel

UPDATE: A previous edit of this review had misspelled  Vivian Liu-Somers’ name. It has been corrected.

BOSTON, Mass. — It is never too late to become who you are. This grammatically incorrect* but philosophically accurate statement rings true for the protagonists of SWAN currently playing as part of Moonbox’s second annual Boston New Works Festival at the BCA. Age, gender, dayjob, etc. should be incidental factors in one’s ongoing search for identity.  Continue reading

Jun 13

Who? Where? With What? Hilarity is Afoot: “Clue”

The cast. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by the Greater Boston Stage Company
Written by Sandy Rustin
Adapted from the Paramount Pictures film written by Jonathan Lynn and the board game from Hasbro, Inc
Additional materials by Hunter Foster and Eric Price
Directed by Weylin Symes
Fight choreography by Alexander Platt
Movement Consultant: Ceit Zweil 
EDI consultant: Kira Troilo

June 2 – 25, 2023
395 Main Street
Stoneham, MA 02180

Critique by Kitty Drexel

STONEHAM, Mass. — Clue is a game, a film, a musical, a play, and soon a movie remake by Ryan Reynolds. The stage play is performing now at the Greater Boston Stage Company. If you enjoy a farcical whodunit and a murder mystery spoof with gags aplenty, get your butts to Stoneham! 

Now a disclaimer: GBSC’s Clue may not be for you if you can’t imagine a stage performance being better than the movie. It’s not for you if you’re ready to pick apart what is and isn’t the same as the classic. 

Clue is for you if you can make room for new interpretations of old favorites. Clue is meant to be fun; it’s a funny show, movie, and musical. This production is for anyone willing to appreciate slapstick humor, silly puns, and great physical comedy despite and because of its renowned story.  Continue reading

Jun 07

Witnessing a War-torn Wonderland: “The Gaaga”

Photo via https://www.arlekinplayers.com/the-gaaga

Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre
Written and co-directed by Sasha Denisova
Co-Directed by Igor Golyak
Environmental Design by Irina Kruzhilinia
Produced by Sara Stackhouse
Featuring: Jeremy Beazlie, Boris Berdnikov, Irina Bordian, Daniel Boudreau, Jenya Brodskaia, Darya Denisova, Polina Dubovikova, Taisiia “Taya” Fedorenko, Anne Gottlieb, Dev Luthra, Robert Pemberton, Michael Sáenz, Garrett Sands, Julia Shikh, Misha Tyutyunik, Irina Vilenchik, Ilia Volok, Robert Walsh

June 2-18, 2023 | US Premiere
BEAT BREW HALL
13 Brattle St., Harvard Square
Live, In-Person June 2-18
Streaming live, online, June 8-18

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Imagine a future in which not only dictators, but also their conspirators and allies and simpering cronies, are held actually held responsible for their crimes against humanity. Imagine a forum for truth-telling and accountability, where the perpetrators are subjected to mockery and the survivors are entitled to impart judgment, rather than the all-too-common other way around.

This is, of course, a topsy-turvy dream, so it is fitting that The Gaaga: a site specific phantasmagoria situates the absurd concept within the mind of a child. Its Alice in Wonderland-inspired protagonist, The Girl (played by 17-year-old Ukrainian refugee and artist Taisiia “Taya” Fedorenko), leads her audience of juror-witnesses through her fantasy world, in which she puts Vladimir Putin and his conspirators on trial for horrific crimes against her family and country. Continue reading

Jun 05

An Imaginative View from Above: “Rooted”

Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.

Presented by The Lyric Stage Company
By Deborah Zoe Laufer
Directed by Courtney O’Connor
Composer & sound design: Dewey Dellay
Featuring Karen MacDonald, Lisa Tucker, and Katherine Callaway

June 2 – 25, 2023
The Lyric Stage Company
140 Clarendon Street, 2nd Floor
Boston MA, 02116

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. — Rooted makes a breathless first impression. Walking into the theater at The Lyric Stage Company, perhaps for the first time since I’ve started attending theater post-lockdown, I literally gasped at the sight: part treehouse deck, part overgrown garden, all shrouded in dappled shade from the foundational tree’s outstretched limb.

The set, designed by Janie E. Howland, is as much a character in Deb Zoe Laufer’s play as its protagonist, Emery (Lisa Tucker). Emery has sequestered herself to her treehouse sanctuary for 12 years by the start of the play, with only two connections to the world below: her caregiver sister, Hazel (Karen MacDonald), and her unexpectedly popular YouTube channel showcasing her plant experiments. Her compassionate, charismatic way with plants inspires her online fans to form a literal cult around her beloved tree. Continue reading

Jun 05

Defiant Like It’s Banned in Florida: “As You Like It”

Genevieve Simon and the cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s As You Like It (2023). Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project in partnership with The Theater Offensive
Directed by Harold Steward
Associated Directed by Brooke Hardman
Featuring Fady Demian, Lindsay Eagle, Gabriel Graetz, Jaime Josè Hernández, Doug Lockwood, Nathan Malin, Gavin Rasmussen, Genevieve Simon, Bobbie Steinbach, Regine Vital, Mishka Yarovoy

June 2 – 25, 2023
Tufts University’s Balch Arena Theater
40 Talbot Ave
Medford, MA 02155

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

MEDFORD, Mass. — At first glance, Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s declaration that its production of As You Like It “leans into (the play’s) famed crossdressing mayhem and gender euphoria” in defiance of the passage of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation could be as empty a stretch as a corporate Pride Month initiative. After all, As You Like It already is one of Shakespeare’s gender-bending plays, in which female protagonists find reasons to dress as men, woo men as men, and then be wooed in turn by women. Add to this that men played all the female parts in the original runs of these comedies, and on paper it seems like there would be little space to add more LGBTQ+ focus.

That is why it is all the more impressive that this production, done in partnership with The Theater Offensive, finds new ways to turn this absurd play into a weapon against the absurdity of a new wave of anti-LGBTQ+ hate. Continue reading

Jun 01

“The Color Purple” Critique Removed from NETG: We Humbly Apologize.

The New England Theatre Geek removed its review of the Umbrella Stage Company’s The Color Purple by Kitty Drexel on June 1, 2023. It was brought to our attention that it caused great harm to the Umbrella Stage’s community. We sincerely apologize for our harmful words.

The review prioritized white oppression over the experiences of Black people. Doing so was an act of white supremacy. We humbly ask for your forgiveness. We promise to do better.

We thank the Umbrella Stage Company, BW Gonzalez, the cast and crew of The Color Purple and producer Brian Boruta for telling us we caused harm.

We acknowledge that it is not anyone’s job to do so and that all involved took risks to inform us. Thank you for trusting us with your feedback.

We thank you for the opportunity to make amends. We will atone for our mistakes.

We wish you exuberant joy and great triumph in your closing weekend of The Color Purple.

With humility, respect and love,

Kitty Drexel

May 10

Words, Words, Words (With a Few Feelings): “Joy and Pandemic”


Presented by The Huntington Theatre Company
Written by Talor Mac
Directed by Loretta Greco
Sound Designer and Composer: Fan Zhang
Voice coaching by Rebecca Schneebaum
Dramaturgy by Shirley Fishman
Movement Consultant: Ryan Winkles
Featuring Stacy Fischer, Ella Dershowitz, Marceline Hugot, Ryan Winkles, Breezy Leigh

April 21 – May 21, 2023
The Calderwood Pavillion
527 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116

Tickets

Review by Maegan Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. — In an interview with dramaturg Shirley Fishman, Taylor Mac cites 19th century playwright Henrik Ibsen as a major influence behind Joy and Pandemic, currently premiering at Huntington Theatre. “Content almost always dictates the form,” Mac says, and indeed, the hyper-naturalism of judy’s (more about Taylor Mac’s pronouns here) play complements the central themes of belief versus reality.

The playwright whose echoing influence I heard the loudest however, was one of Ibsen’s contemporaries, George Bernard Shaw. This is a play about ideas, lots of them, with characters who represent opposing societal viewpoints and a captivating script that broadly prioritizes intellect over feeling. Continue reading

Apr 17

I Want to Heal the World Through Dance: “Dance Nation”

Schanaya Barrows as Ashlee (front), Alison Butts as Sofia, Paola Ferrer as Vanessa, Erik P. Kraft as Luke. Photo: Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company & the Chelsea Theatre Works
Written by Clare Barron 
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques 
Choreographed by Audrey Johnson
Dialect coaching by Christopher Sherwood Davis 

April 14-May 14, 2023
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet St
Chelsea, MA 02150

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CHELSEA, Mass. — Being a girl isn’t for the faint of heart.  In Dance Nation, a troupe of girls prepare for a competition and young adulthood by pushing their bodies and personalities to the brink. Amina (Audrey Johnson), Ashlee (Schanaya Barrows), Connie (Srin Chakravorty), Maeve (Ann Carpenter), Sofie (Alison Butts), Zuzu (Katie Pickett), and Luke (Erik P Kraft) learn choreography and how to navigate society through the skills they learn in dance class.

They could take it all the way to Tampa – the ultimate competition for the ultimate trophy! Dance Teacher Pat (Dev Luthra) is their guiding light and their worst enemy. Paola Ferrera plays an assortment of dance moms and Vanessa, a dancer who should’ve known better.  Continue reading