Author Archives: Diana Lu

Oct 03

Come Together, Off-Center: Saath-fest 2026

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Image via SAATh Fest.

Off-Kendrick’s South Asian-American Theater Festival (Saath-fest)
Presented by Off-Kendrick

September 18-20, 2026
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Review by Diana Lu

WATERTOWN, Mass. — SAATh is not just an acronym; the name also means “to come together.” The South Asian American Theatre festival therefore is a rare occasion that South Asian storytelling communities all over America can come together and be centered. 

SAATh-fest is the flagship event for Off-Kendrick, a non-profit experimental theater group founded in 2008 by Bengali Bostonians. Kendrick means “center” in Bengali, so Off-Kendrick means off-center in Benglish. In the 18 years since its founding, Off-Kendrick has grown from a small group focusing on Bengali plays about the immigrant experience to an established cultural authority bringing original plays written and performed by artists across the South Asian diaspora to stages in New England. Continue reading →

Aug 04

Charisma, Charm, and Grace: “Buyer and Cellar”

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Victor L. Shopov as Alex More in “Buyer and Cellar.” Photo credit: Hub Theatre Company.

Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
Written by Jonathan Tolins
Directed by Daniel Bourque

July 18 – Aug. 1, 2026
Club Cafe

Critique by Diana Lu

BOSTON — Buyer and Cellar is a one-person one-act written by celebrated playwright and screenwriter Jonathan Tolins. The comedy begins with LA actor Alex More’s monologue about getting fired from his mascot position at Disneyland. Subsequently, he is propositioned by his former boss, who then recommends More for a unique, once-in-a-lifetime position as the sole customer service employee in Barbara Streisand’s basement mall under her mansion. Inspired by descriptions of Streisand’s home and basement mall in her memoirs, the play explores themes of consumerism, identity, isolation, celebrity and other fantasy, and power through More’s misadventures while trapped in the basement. Continue reading →

Mar 02

We Didn’t Start the Fire. The Princess Did. Because She’s Petty: “The Fiery Mountain and Its Princess”

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Photo via Puppet Showplace website. Puppet by Li Chuan- tsain.

Presented by Galapagos Puppets
Puppeteering by Madeleine Beresford & Margaret Moody
Music performed by Jimmy Zhao and Iris Zhao
Bu Dai Xi puppets made by Li Chuan- tsain of I Wan Jan Troupe, Taiwan 
Script by Li Tien-lu of I Wan Jan

February 14–17, 2026
Puppet Showplace Theater
32 Station Street 
Brookline, MA 02445

Running time: approximately 60 minutes, no intermission

Article by Diana Lu

BROOKLINE, Mass. – The Fiery Mountain and Its Princess: A Monkey King Tale, presented by Galapagos Puppets, is a rare experience of cultural legacy as a living, breathing, and playful entity. The show, performed in the traditional Taiwanese puppetry style “bu dai xi”, combined masterful yet slapstick hand puppetry, improvised riffing off of Classical Chinese music in a fantasical and famous story told in the intimate, child-friendly environment of Brookline’s Puppet Showplace Theater. Watching it, you realize that culture isn’t about artifacts painstakingly preserved. It is a relational and embodied experience to be enjoyed, connected with, and paid forward. Continue reading →

Feb 27

The Woolf of Washington Street: “The Things Around Us”

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Presented by ArtsEmerson
Composed, Written, & Performed by: Ahamefule J. Oluo 
Produced by Roya Amirsoleymani
Lighting Design Lily McLeodmed by Ahamefule J. Oluo

Robert J. Orchard Stage
Emerson Paramount Center
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
February 20-22, 2026

Runtime: 90 minutes, no intermission

Article by Diana Lu

BOSTON – There are theater experiences that entertain you for a couple of hours and then fade pleasantly into memory. And then there are performances that quietly rearrange your understanding of what art can do, what intimacy means. 

The Things Around Us, written and performed by Ahamefule J. Oluo, accomplishes something rare in contemporary solo performance. It creates profound intimacy without confession. The connection between artist and audience forged over the course of the evening does not arise from autobiographical revelation or narrative excavation, but from structure itself.  Continue reading →

Nov 10

Oh, to be young, green, and safe to live from my truth: “Lizard Boy: A New Musical”

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From left: Chelsie Nectow, Keiji Ishiguri, Peter DiMaggio; photo courtesy of Benjamin Rose Photography.

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Written and Composed by Justin Huertas
Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Music Direction by Violet Wang

October 25-November 23, 2025
Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Run-time: 1 hour 30 minutes, no intermission

Critique by Diana Lu

BOSTON — It’s been ten years since Lizard Boy: A New Indie-Rock Musical premiered in Seattle, and SpeakEasy Stage Company has proven its Lizard BOY is a capable and self-assured MAN-phibian. Under the direction of Lyndsay Allyn Cox and the musical direction of Violet Wang, SpeakEasy’s invigorating revival allows the many strengths of the show’s impressive score and cast to shine, while also exposing its narrative limits.

Lizard Boy finds Trevor, a gay, green-skinned twenty-something, on the first anniversary of a painful breakup. While looking for love, he reveals this is the only night of the year he leaves the house—and the anniversary of the childhood dragon attack that turned his skin green. As the evening unfolds, he finds companionship, an archnemesis, a superpower, his soul truth, and maybe… the end of the world!  Continue reading →

Oct 08

Using His Powers for Good: “300 Paintings”

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Sam Kissajukian in performance of 300 Paintings. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva

Presented by American Repertory Theater
Written and Performed by Sam Kissajukian
Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals

Now – Oct. 25, 2025
Farkas Hall
12 Holyoke Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Critique by Diana Lu

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Watching 300 Paintings feels a bit like being dropped straight into the mind of Sam Kissajukian, mid-manic episode—but with comfy seats, visual aids, and killer comedic timing. For 80 minutes straight, the comedian-turned-painter commands the stage with no script; his first 300 paintings flash on the black screen behind him. The result is a hilarious, high-energy, and surprisingly insightful comedic monologue that explores the fine line between genius and madness, connection and isolation, and what gets assigned as worthy in this late-stage capitalist world of unprecedented wealth disparity—a world obsessed with packaging everything, including ourselves, into “brands,” “content,” “product.” Continue reading →

Dec 16

The WASPs are Not OK: “Incels and Other Myths”

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Photo by Stratton McCrady: Matthew Swain, Julien Tornelli, Fady Demian.

Presented by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre 
Written By Ally Sass
Directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo
A BU New Play initiative production
Produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre

December 2-12, 2021
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
BPT on Facebook

Review by Diana Lu

BOSTON — Incels and Other Myths invites the audience into the world of massive multiplayer online gaming and the Lord of the Flies corners of the internet, where misogyny has even less consequences than in the physical world. Elaine (Allison Blaize), a mythology teacher at an all-girls high school, and her precocious but awkward son Avery (Aidan Close) play the historical fantasy game, “Oracle.” In “Oracle,” they try on highly gendered, performative personas and encounter friends and monsters that help them get in touch with integral parts of themselves they couldn’t face in real life. Continue reading →

Nov 08

Witches, Vamps, and Rock & Roll: “Macbeth in Stride”

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Steven Cuevas at the piano with Kira Helper, Charlie Thurston, Reggie D. White, and Whitney White in rehearsal for Macbeth In Stride.
Photo: Lauren Miller

Presented by American Repertory Theatre
Created and performed by Whitney White
Orchestrations Steven Cuevas and Whitney White
Music Director Steven Cuevas
Choreography Raja Feather Kelly
Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky and Taibi Magar

October 23 – November 14, 2021
Audio Described Performances: Friday, November 12 at 7:30PM and Saturday, November 13 at 2PM
Open Captioned Performances: Thursday, November 11 at 7:30PM and Saturday, November 13 at 2PM
Loeb Drama Center
Cambridge, MA
ART on Facebook

Review by Diana Lu

Macbeth in Stride is a lush pop, rock, gospel, and R&B musical theater event that can only be described as An Experience. It is the first of a five-part series by Obie Award-winning artist Whitney White examining the women of Shakespeare through a black, queer, feminine lens. I’m often skeptical of shows with stated agendas like this, but Macbeth in Stride delivered far more than what was promised, in more ways than I expected. Continue reading →

Dec 14

Tweeting Truth to Power: How Far Has Cyrus Come?

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Presented by Fort Point Theatre Channel and Boston Cultural Council
By Cyrus McQueen

Tuesday, Dec 1, 2020, 7 PM
Streamed Live via Youtube
Boston Cultural Council on Facebook
FPTC on Facebook

Review by Diana Lu

YOUTUBE–Cyrus McQueen used to be just your everyday standup comedian of Last Comic Standing fame. In the Age of Trump, he’s also become Twitter-famous as a cultural critic, offering race and politics analyses and wisecracks 280 characters at a time. He’s developed his experiences over the last four years into a first book, Tweeting Truth to Power: Chronicling our Caustic Politics, Crazed Times, & The Great Black & White Divide, which is supposed to be equal parts memoir and political discourse. Continue reading →

Jul 15

“Waiting for Kim Lee” Doesn’t Do Asian American Women Justice

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Presented by Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston
Written by Vivian Liu Somers
Directed by Alison Qu

Virtual Staged Reading, July 8, 2020, 7PM
HowlRound Theatre Commons
AATAB on Facebook

Critique by Diana Lu

ZOOM/HOWLROUND — Let’s be clear: Waiting For Kim Lee is not a play; it’s a rant, forced into a dialogue. I hate it when people screech from the steps of a soapbox and call it art (David Mamet* comes to mind). I also hate the superficial media representation-discussion that seems to be the only thing Asian American artists ever talk about.

That was fine in 2016, but right now, we’re dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than the national average and getting hate-crimed for America’s pathetic epidemic response. We’re struggling to keep our businesses afloat, and protesting for our right to exist, and for Black lives. Complaining about parents and how many auditions you’re getting right now seem like outdated and out of touch problems.

It would be one thing if Waiting for Kim Lee had anything especially insightful or new to say about it, but this play just recycles the same few talking points that have already been rehashed by every Buzzfeed article for the last five years. Not only are they stale, but they are also narrow-minded and miss the point. Continue reading →