Dec 03

It’s a Weirdly Wonderful Life with ImprovBoston’s “Merry Christmas, Mister Lampost!”

Image Credit: ImprovBoston

presented by ImprovBoston

ImprovBoston
40 Prospect St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
December, Fridays at 10pm
ImprovBoston Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Cambridge) Criticized as saccharine on its initial release, It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) is probably one of the most watched Christmas movies of the era. In it, Jimmy Stuart stars as George Bailey, an unlucky small town businessman who gains a new lease on life when his guardian angel shows him how awfully the world would get on without him. Continue reading

Oct 15

The Complete Gospel of The Reduced Shakespeare Company Unabridged (sorta)

l to r (Reed Martin, Dominic Conti, and Austin Tichenor)

The Complete History of America (Abridged), on tour throughout America NOW (abridged) with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/.

the gospel according to Becca Kidwell

In The Beginning there was the word. And the word was boring. So some old dudes tried to manipulate it through tools called poetry and philosophy and it was less boring. However, people still preferred to watch people getting mocked and maimed in crazy ways such as being eaten by lions, burned at the stake, and hung upside down by their ankles over boiling vats of oil.

In the age known for its rebirth, a chap from the English countryside named Bill, who really liked the poetry

Continue reading

Oct 01

UMass Lowell, MRT to Bring Beat Authors, Kerouac Contempora​ries to ‘Beat Generation​’

BOOK-SIGNINGS AND POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS TO OCCUR AT SELECT PERFORMANCES OF JACK KEROUAC’S ‘BEAT GENERATIONContinue reading

Sep 26

“Immaterial Girl” as an Old-Fashioned Haunted House (Episode 1 of Blood Rose Rising)

Photo Credit: Honest Ghost Productions LLC

Episode 1 of Blood Rose Rising
presented by Honest Ghost Productions
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, starting September 14 – November 18
NAGA Nightclub, Central Square
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Blood Rose Rising Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Cambridge) A real gothic story isn’t about tragic romance, torture, or death, but houses. Houses with long histories and dark secrets. In the contemporary setting of Cambridge, Immaterial Girl offers the beginning to an old-fashioned gothic serial centered on the haunted Blackwood Manor. Continue reading

Sep 25

9/30 Huntington​’s Humanities Forum Features Globe Reporter Billy Baker

Image Credit: Huntington Theatre Co.

Huntington Theatre co.’s GOOD PEOPLE Humanities Forum

September 30 FEATURES Boston Globe REPORTER AND

SOUTH BOSTON NATIVE BILLY BAKER

WHAT: Huntington Theatre Company’s Good People Humanities Forum to feature Billy Baker of The Boston Globe.
WHEN: Sunday, September 30, 2012 at approximately 4pm. Immediately following the 2pm performance of Good People
WHERE:    The Huntington’s main stage on the Avenue of the Arts / Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston
TICKETS: FREE and open to the public. Tickets to Good People are sold separately at huntingtontheatre.org/goodpeople. Continue reading

Sep 22

Theater meets Chaos Theory: Jay Scheib’s “World of Wires”

Photo Credit: Jay Scheib’s “World of Wires”, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

presented by The Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston

The Institute of Art/Boston Website
Jay Scheib’s World of Wires Facebook Page
Friday + Saturday, September 21 + 22, 2012 , 7:30 pm
100 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210 – directions

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston) Jay Scheib’s World of Wires is a live-cinema presentation that utilizes the mediums of television, live theater, the internet, music and all manners of spectating. It is an exhibition that posits that human experience on the internet is both defined by and created through actual and simulated human interaction. The result is a chaotic melodrama birthed by an obsessive zeitgeist. Continue reading

Sep 18

Project: Project’s WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

This is our FIRST fundraiser for our FIRST production. A $500 pittance to assist with space rental and miscellaneous props that can’t be found in our closets.

Our current show, What are You Doing Here?, has been in the works since we first came together in November 2011. After one year of devising, improvising, writing and rewriting it is coming to fruition. Now we need your help to see it through! It’s part improvised, part scripted, and all site-specific at the Democracy Center in Cambridge, MA. Continue reading

Sep 13

All Hail The New Queen Geek!

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Katie Drexel
Email:  blognetheatregeek@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 13, 2012

So that Becca Kidwell can pursue other creative pursuits, as of 9/13/12, is stepping down from her position as chief geek of The New England Theatre Geek blog.  Mrs. Kidwell will remain as a part-time staff writer and advisor as needed, but all managerial and administrative duties will be held by the new queen geek, Katie Drexel.  Continue reading

Aug 14

ANNOUNCEMENT-NO ROOM FOR WISHING Kickstarter Begins

No Room for Wishing

kickstarter website:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/563348135/the-world-premiere-of-no-room-for-wishing

September 13 – 22 at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theater and September 30 – October 9 at Central Square Theater’s Studio Theater

My interview with Danny Bryck from May:  https://www.netheatregeek.com/2012/05/20/geeks-nerds-and-artists-episode-7-danny-bryck/

(copy from kickstarter page)

“Hailed by Company One’s Artistic Director Shawn LaCount as, “an important and timely play by one of Boston’s most dynamic young theatre makers,” No Room for Wishing is comprised only of exact words compiled from interviews and live recordings at the occupation of Dewey Square from October to December of 2011.  Both personal and political, the show pieces together the voices and experiences of a diverse range of individuals into the larger story of the Occupy movement, both in Boston and as a whole.

No Room for Wishing follows Occupy Boston from its formation, through clashes with the police, infighting among the activists, legal battles and collective victories, to its eviction by the City of Boston. The play’s real-life characters, played by a single actor, represent a diversity of age, race, occupation, opinion and background, from college students to bankers to lifelong activists to the homeless. Their stories shed light on the complex identities and contradictions of Occupy, and of contemporary America.

The play has been in development for the past ten months, and has been presented in readings and workshop productions at Apollinaire Theatre Company, the Wall Street to Main Street Festival in Catskill, NY, Central Square Theater, and Boston University. The show has had a powerful impact on those who have seen it so far, and we want to bring it to a wider audience.

The World Premiere

In honor of the one-year anniversaries of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Boston, No Room for Wishing will have its world premiere this fall. Company One and Central Square Theater, two of Boston’s most vibrant theatre companies, will co-produce the play, with support from Boston Playwright’s Theatre. The production is still dependent largely upon independent fundraising. With your help, the play will run September 13 – 22 at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theater and September 30 – October 9 at Central Square Theater’s Studio Theater. We also hope to bring the show to other venues, including local schools and universities, and to tour the show beyond Boston. Your donation will go towards materials needed for this production, stipends for the actor, director, designers, and post-show discussion facilitators, the accrued costs of developing and touring the play, and more.

The Story

[Danny[ started working on No Room for Wishing in early October 2011, about a week into Occupy Boston’s occupation of Dewey Square. He had been interested for some time in documentary theatre in the style of Anna Deveare Smith, the Tectonic Theater Project, etc., and was feeling more and more of a need to unite his artistic pursuits with my political ideals. He began interviewing people on site, and the project continued to evolve from there as my understanding of the movement deepened, events unfolded, and stories he collected from people began to shape the direction of the piece. On the one hand, he wanted this play to serve as a deeper and more meaningful account of Occupy than Americans were getting from the news, and to challenge preconceived notions of why someone might decide to Occupy and what Occupy sought to and could achieve. On the other hand, he knew it was important for the play not to have a singular agenda, but rather be a genuine attempt at capturing all the rich complexity and contradiction of these people, this time, and this place, without apology.

Bryck wanted the play to ask – not necessarily answer – how do we relate to each other as individuals and as perceived groups in our society, what do we value, and what happens when we try to actively break down and reinvent those structures, those relationships, and those values? And he wanted to pose those questions indirectly, by letting the individuals and the events speak for themselves, forcing the audience to draw their own, hopefully new and more informed, conclusions. He believes this sort of true investigative process is sorely lacking in our society. Perhaps the main purpose of this play is to address that need.

To find out more, visit dannybryck.com/noroomforwishing. You can also listen to an interview about the project on The Bridge – Arts for the 99%, and watch a performance of an excerpt from No Room for Wishing on The Civilians’Occupy Your Mind.

Please be a part of this exciting and important labor of love. They have an ambitious goal of $10,000, but they’re confident thy can get there with your help. If they don’t reach our goal, they get nothing, so please pitch in and give what you can. In return for your generosity, they have a number of awesome rewards including complimentary tickets to the show, your own piece of the set, a remix of the sounds of Occupy Boston, an original song by Ruby Rose Fox featured in the show, the chance to be a part of your own documentary project, and a command performance of the play. Thank you so much, and he hopes to see you at the show!”

Aug 10

Acoustica Electronica at OBERON: August 3, 10, 17, 24

Photo Credit: Acoustica Electronica at Club Oberon

After their sold-out performances in February, they are back by popular demand bringing a new level of spectacle and excitement to Boston’s nightlife. They have added new members to our fold and created new improvements that will be sure to blow your mind.

They could not be more excited about our run of shows at 10:30pm on Fridays Aug. 3, 10, 17 and 24! They can’t wait to see you there for their craziest blend of classical music, electronic dance music, dance, immersive theatre, aerial silks and DJ’s :The WIG, David Day, Mike Swells, Randy Deshaies, Will Monotone, Joe Bermudez and John Barera.

Photo Credit: Acoustica Electronica

For more information: http://touchperformanceart.com/