Category Archives: Comedy

Jun 06

We Welcome Your Unique Perspective: “Eureka Day”

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The cast. Photography by Liza Voll.

Presented by The Huntington 
Written by Jonathan Spector 
Directed by Margot Bordelon

May 28 – June 28, 2026
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave. 
Boston, MA 02115

Review by Kitty Drexel

“If my son can’t bring a peanut butter sandwich to school, then you can’t bring your unvaccinated child.”
 – Elizabeth Cleveland, vice president/planning director of The Martin Agency

BOSTON — Watching Eureka Day at The Huntington is like seeing British philosopher Philippa Foot’s Trolley Problem play out in real time. Foot’s moral dilemma positions the survival of many against the survival of one via violent train death. It’s Sophie’s choice but with trolleys. In the case of Spector’s play, this choice plays out within a private school’s code of operation.

Foot’s philosophical conundrum doesn’t take into account the individuals tied to the track, the engineer steering the trolley, nor the real-life violence represented by the trolley. The Trolley Problem, taken at face value, is relatively simple. Human beings are complicated. When you combine complications such as parenting culture, offensively open-minded liberalism, and antivaxxer pseudoscience with the Trolley Problem, you get the backbone of Eureka Day. Continue reading →

Jun 03

Laughing at the Horror of it All: “The Mystery of Irma Vep”

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Paul Melendy & Gabriel Graetz. Photo: Maggie Hall Photography.

Presented by Central Square Theater
By Charles Ludlam
Directed by David R. Gammons
Cast: Gabriel Graetz (Jane Twisden, Lord Edgar Hillcrest, et al), Paul Melendy (Nicodemus Underwood, Lady Enid Hillcrest, Alcazar, et al)

May 28 – June 21, 2026
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139

Review by Craig Idlebrook

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Theater is full of silly mashup plays that provide ample opportunity for cartoonish violence and rapid costume changes, but few, I would argue, can help us laugh at the terror of our times as well as the 1984 comedy of The Mystery of Irma Vep, expertly staged at Central Square Theater in Cambridge. The play bear-hugs the penny dreadful genre, with homages to creature features of Victorian vampires, mummies, werewolves, departed former wives and more. Nods to Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde (and probably 15 other references I didn’t catch) are thrown in for good measure. Continue reading →

May 28

The Algorithm is Smarter than the Heart but Not the Stomach: “My Home on the Moon”

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Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.

East Coast Premiere presented by Chuang Stage
By Minna Lee
Directed by cara hinh

May 23 – June 13, 2026
Boston Center for the Arts
Plaza Theatre

Article by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Gentrification murders culture in the name of progress. Gentrification isn’t the same as healthy renovation of and fiscal investment in an historically underserved neighborhood (say, Dorchester and Chelsea, MA). Rather, gentrification steals political and fiscal autonomy from longtime residents and bestows it upon rich people. If you can pay the rent, you can remove the people who’ve lived in and loved in an area for generations without a second thought for where The Poors will go once they’re kicked out. 

Chuang Stage’s My Home on the Moon by Minna Lee packages the horrors of gentrification-in-the-name-of-progress with a heaping dose of aptly uncanny A.I. It is a timely science fiction morality tale cum fever dream told through bowls of pho and other Vietnamese dishes. Mai (strong but grouchy Belle Le) wants to feed people well. She’s ready to serve pho to her community at Pho Lan, her boss Lan’s (Christina R Chan, perky and resilient) restaurant. Continue reading →

May 16

Always and Forever, Each Moment with You: “Oedipus El Rey”

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L to R: Victor Almanzar, Javier David, Juan Arturo,Gabe Martínez in Oedipus El Rey; directed by Loretta Greco; photo by Marc J. Franklin

Presented by The Huntington
By Luis Alfaro
Directed by Loretta Greco
Dramaturgy by Sonia Fernandez and Ynika Yuagg
Fight direction and intimacy coaching by Jesse Hinson 
Voice and dialect coaching by Adi Cabral

May 7 – Sunday, June 14, 2026
The Roberts Studio
Calderwood Pavilion 
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02116

Online Playbill

The show contains full but brief nudity. Do with that information what you will. Check out the warnings HERE. 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Audience members were activated on Wednesday night’s performance of Oedipus El Rey (now extended through June 14!) in the Calderwood Pavilion. The room buzzed with the conversation of friends greeting friends, ushers finding seats, Latin music played; it was the general hubbub of pre-performance excitement. No matter what happened on the stage, the atmosphere welcomed a good time for most of us.

I say most, because The Huntington’s Oedipus El Rey was written with the LA Chicano community in mind. Alfaro’s play borrows heavily from Chicano stereotypes, such as illiterate criminals and hypersexualized women. Alfaro’s work then grants personhood to some of them.  Continue reading →

May 06

Brevity is the Soul of Wit: “Jeeves & Wooster: Hijinks and Shenanigans”

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Presented by The Post-Meridian Radio Players
From stories by P.G. Wodehouse
“Aunt Agatha Speaks Her Mind,” Adapted by Jeremy Branton Holstein and Phoebe Roberts. Directed by Jeremy Branton Holstein.
“Right Ho, Jeeves,” Adapted and directed by Jaimie Carlson.
“Jeeves Takes Charge,” Adapted and directed by Phoebe Roberts.
Producer: Karen Sarao
Stage Manager: Jaclyn Wilson
Foley Coordinator: Meg Wickham
Board Op: Ray Zaslow
Sound Engineer: Chris Cebelenski

Performed at two locations:
April 16-18, 2026
204 Elm St
Davis Square, Somerville, MA
April 24 – 25, 2026
The Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA

Review by Craig Idlebrook

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — At some point, someone studying 20th century comedy will make a case that the sitcom Seinfeld was a meanspirited rip-off of the effervescent short stories and book series about the unflappable and omniscient valet Reginald Jeeves.

Jeeves first appeared in publication at the tail end of WWI and his service to the daft, irresponsible, and well-off Bertie Wooster lasted until 1975, with every one of the pair’s misadventures written by British humorist P.G. Wodehouse. Continue reading →

Apr 27

Absurdism, Profundity, Religiosity: “Church”

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The cast. Photo by Jason Grow.

Presented by Lanes Coven Theater Company
By Young Jean Lee
Directed by Justin Genna
Featuring: Alex Highsmith, Lily Narbonne, Cheryl D. Singleton, Hannah Young

April 24 – May 10
American Legion Post 3
8 Washington Street
Gloucester, MA 01930

Review by Maegan Clearwood

GLOUCESTER, Mass. – Church opens in emptiness: a lone voice carries over the audiences’ heads from behind, a familiar diatribe about ego and earthly trivialities. The American Legion hall is dark, a lectern ironically unoccupied as the disembodied sermon goes on and on and on. But Church ends in light, sound, frenetic movement – a smorgasbord for the senses, worlds apart from the solemnity of its beginning. Continue reading →

Apr 22

Influence is No Government: “What the Constitution Means to Me”

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Compilation by Maggie Hall Photography

Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company
By Heidi Schreck
Directed by A. Nora Long
Cast on April 19, 2026 featured: Janis Hudson, Joseph Marrella, and Ayannah Joseph as the teen debater

April 10-26, 2026
GBSC Main Stage
395 Main Street
Stoneham, MA 02180

Digital playbill

Critique by Kitty Drexel

STONEHAM, Mass. — One of my favorite movie quotes is from 1994’s semi-feminist western Bad Girls. It stars Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell, and Drew Barrymore as four former sex workers on the run after escaping prison. Masteron’s character Anita Crown inherited a land claim in Oregon when he died. She attempts to validate the claim with a male lawyer. He tells her that only her (dead) husband can claim the land. The law doesn’t acknowledge a woman’s inheritance. 

Famously, Anita replies, “If your laws don’t include me, well then, they just don’t apply to me either.” It’s a quote I wish more women would incorporate into their lives. For the majority of Western and world history, legal documents have excluded women. Embracing intersectional feminism means embracing women’s rights… And wrongs.  Continue reading →

Apr 21

Woman on the edge of a tragedy: “Dido of Idaho”

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Inside you, these two wolves fight for dominance. Ashley Lyon as Crystal and Parker Jennings as Nora. Photo by Apollinaire Theatre Co.

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company
By Abby Rosebrock
Directed by Brooks Reeves and Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Scenic and sound design by Joseph Lark-Riley
Featuring: Parker Jennings, Mauro Canepa, Mariela Lopez-Ponce, Paola Ferrer, Ashly Lyon

April 17 – May 10
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA 02150

Review by Maegan Clearwood

Content advisory: this play discusses and depicts many sensitive topics. To avoid spoilers, I am linking the production information page here, where prospective audience members can find more information.

CHELSEA – Abby Rosebrock’s play Dido of Idaho fits seamlessly into one of my favorite, hyper-specific storytelling subgenres: the redemptive, darkly hilarious portrayal of a mentally unwell heterosexual woman hitting ultimate rock bottom. Think Fleabag, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bridesmaids – comedies that don’t shy away from the muck, despair, violence, sexual depravity, and absurdism that 21st century womanhood frequently encompasses.

Dido of Idaho, now playing at Apollinaire Theatre Company, has this messiness in spades: bodily fluids, profanity, internalized misogyny, and cat fights galore. It’s a series of tonal ricochets, swinging from disgust to hope to grief and back again in a matter of seconds. It’s relentlessly honest, laughing in the face of feminine acceptability, daring the audience to look away. Continue reading →

Mar 30

Feminist Bark Without Feminist Bite: “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous”

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Ines de la Cruz and Patrice Jean-Baptiste; Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by The Lyric Stage
By Pearl Cleage
Directed by Jacqui Parker
Featuring: Patrice Jean Baptiste, Deannah “Dripp” Blemur, Inés de la Cruz, Yasmeen Duncan

March 20-April 12, 2026
The Lyric Stage
140 Clarendon St
Boston, MA

Online Playbill 

Review by Maegan Clearwood

BOSTON — Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous poses one intriguing question after another. How can Black women make space for themselves within the canon of glorified, seemingly untouchable playwrights? What is the line between performance and exploitation? How can we forge connection across intergenerational feminist divides?

It also conjures up a potent image: a Black woman standing onstage, entirely nude, delivering monologues from the work of August Wilson, the most sanctified Black playwright in the American canon.

Unfortunately, these questions go largely uninterrogated, and the imagery takes shape entirely offstage. Continue reading →

Mar 18

Clowning, Catastrophe, and Communal Resistance: “The End is Nigh”

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Presented by Liars and Believers
Directed by Jason Slavick
Featuring Enrique Babilonia, Jesse Garlick, Ben Heath, Karina Ithier, Glen Moore, Hampton Richards

March 12-22, 2026
The Foundry
101 Rogers Street,
Cambridge MA

Review by Maegan Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mas. — For centuries, the character of The Fool has used laughter to shed light on ugly existential truths. The End is Nigh walks in the clown-sized footsteps of Samuel Beckett and adds a dash of modern-day dystopian gameshow literature (think Squid Games or The Running Man), resulting in a theatrical collage that is brutally honest and surprisingly heartfelt.

The play, created by the Liars & Believers ensemble (with direction by Jason Slavick), invites audiences to cheer for the filming of “The End is Nigh,” the last television show to survive the apocalypse. Cutthroat host Consuela Hobbs (Hampton Richards) and her musical assistants (Jesse Garlick and Enrique Babilonia) drag three clown contestants onto the set, hoping that all three die gruesome, TV-worthy deaths. Continue reading →