Jul 14

Gubernatorial Forum on Arts, Culture, and Creativity

MASSCreative

Create the Vote, a coalition of artists and arts, cultural, and creative institutions based throughout Massachusetts, will host the Gubernatorial Forum on Arts, Culture, and Creativity.

Moderated by arts critic Joyce Kulhawik, the forum will foster discussion of the gubernatorial candidates’ vision for the arts and culture in Massachusetts. Please join us at 4:30 for the reception preceding the forum.

Plan your trip with our transportation page.

*We’re securing rental buses to bring folks to the event from Boston and Somerville. If you’re interested in taking a bus, let us know by filling out this form and reserving your seat!

WHEN
July 15, 2014 at 6pm – 7:30pm

WHERE
The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
2 Southbridge St
Worcester, MA 01608
United States
Google map and directions

Jun 23

2014/2015 Schedule of Admiral Kittypants Events

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

For Immediate Release – June 23, 2014

Cambridge, MA – New England Theatre Geek announces the next events for Admiral Kittypants: A Creative Coterie.

For more information, please contact: Kitty Drexel, Queen Geek at blognetheatregeek at gmail.com

 

Performers are encouraged to submit their monologues, sets, songs, solo, performance piece, etc. to blognetheatregeek@gmail.com for consideration. Kittypants is a creative community experiment that promises performers of all stripes and polka dots the opportunity to play with their art in a relaxed, safe space before performing it on the stage. Dramaturges, Directors, Music Directors, Composers, Choreographers, Stage Managers and the ilk interested in more information or in hosting an event should do the same.

Event dates:
July 20th, 2014, 11am-1pm – Including a reading of Trifles by Susan Glaspell (1916)
August 24th, 2014, 2pm – 4pm
Sept 21th, 2014, 1pm – 3pm
Oct. 19th, 2014 1pm – 3pm
Nov 23rd, 2014, 1pm – 3pm
Dec. 21nd, 2014, 1pm – 3pm
Jan. 25th, 2015, 1pm – 3pm
Feb. 22nd, 2015, 1pm – 3pm
March 22nd, 2015, 1pm – 3pm
April 26th, 2015, 1pm – 3pm
May 24th, 2015, 1pm – 3pm

All events held at the Democracy Center, Cambridge, MA
Suggested $5 donation to benefit The Democracy Center

Kittypants events will be held monthly and announced on www.newenglandtheatregeek.com and on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/AdmiralKittypantsFFA

Admiral Kittypants: A Creative Coterie is a creative community experiment that gives performers the opportunity to play with their art in a safe space before performing it on the stage. If it’s in moderate taste* and you want feedback, we can provide a constructive audience.

*Moderate Taste: Some, but not full, nudity; light cursing; stage combat and references to violence are acceptable; sexism, racism, and other -isms without warrant are strongly discouraged.

Jun 17

The Future is the Present and It’s Dystopian: READER

Photo found on the Flat Earth Facebook page.

Photo found on the Flat Earth Facebook page.

Presented by Flat Earth Theatre
By Ariel Dorfman
Directed by Jake Scaltreto

June 13 – 21, 2014
Arsenal Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA
Flat Earth on Facebook

Trigger Warning: Some light cursing, conservative politics, implied torture

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Watertown) If dystopian science fiction is any indication, our future is bleak. In the future, rich people are very rich and the poor are very poor. The politicians are corrupted,  we have no global resources, and the ecosystem has gone to pot. The good news is that there is always an hero to save us… eventually. The future sounds a lot like the present.

Not unlike Terry Gilliam’s 1985 film Brazil, Dorfman’s Reader is a story within a story set in a future where all potentially unpleasant emotional elements of life have been stripped away. Violence and sexiness are routinely scrubbed from all media sources. The government occupies all spaces. There is no true freedom of expression. Daniel (the handsome Robin Gabrielli) is a suave yet dirty government censor who discovers that the most recent novel to cross his desk parallels his own life. In this novel, Daniel is Don Alfonso an unscrupulous censor working on film scripts. He is rightly paranoid and begins a short-lived journey towards redemption. Continue reading

Jun 06

Geek Comedy Night Presents “A PRISONER”

Previously on Geek Comedy Night
Friend (and former manager) Demando Managerissian (aka THE MANAGER) froze Kevin Harrington™ in carbonite for refusing to turn over Geek Comedy Night and his intellectual property.

Now Kevin Harrington™ awakes on a mysterious island in what looks like an idyllic comic book shop–but is really a bizarre prison! He encounters the shops inhabitants, people without names–just numbers, which give no clue to their status as prisoner or warder. WHO CAN BE TRUSTED? Kevin Harrington™ is assigned the Number Six 3/4, but refuses to comply with this identity.

The Manager and his warders demand INFORMATION. Kevin Harrington™gives them nothing. Now he and fellow numbers are forced to present a show–but could this be their chance to escape? Find out THIS SATURDAY June 7th at 8pm at Comicazi!

BEWARE THE ROVER.

STARRING
Rick Canavan, Chris Coxen. Matt Chaves, Mark Gallagher, Wes Hazard – Comedian, Nick Ortolani, Anthony Scibelli

FEATURING
Tom Majkut as THE MANAGER

Hosted By Kevin Harrington™

Geek Comedy Night Presents “A PRISONER”
SATURDAY, June 7th 8pm
Comicazi 407 Highland Ave Somerville, MA 02144
Price: $8 advance and online $10 at the door
Website: geekweekcomedy.com and comicazi.com

May 20

Blood, Gore and Mediocrity: CARRIE THE MUSICAL

Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company
Music by Michael Gore
Lyrics by Dean Pitchford
Book by Lawrence D. Cohen
Based on the novel by Stephen King
Directed by Paul Melone
Music directed by Nicholaus James Connell
Choreographed by Larry Sousa

Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Speakeasy on Facebook
Stephen King on Facebook
This awesome goat on Facebook

Trigger Warning: Fanatical Christianity, Gore, Attractive Youths Kissing, Depictions of High School  

Review by Kitty Drexel mediocrity

(Boston) The story of Carrietta White is supposed in invoke sympathy from its reader. Stephen King wrote a story about a young woman so hopelessly naïve and sheltered from the world that she has no tactics to cope with common life stressors. It’s easy enough to relate to her story, to put ourselves in her shoes because everyone feels like an outsider at one time or another. Unfortunately, Carrie is not actually a relatable character. Her life is in no way comparable to another’s. The impossible fantasy of Carrie is what makes the novel/movie/musical. Attempting to make her relatable or identifiable is a stretch that is in no way feasible. And yet, as long as there are outsiders who wish they had super powers, the comparison will be made anyway. Continue reading

May 15

A Lovely Evening of Music and Poetry: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SEAMUS HEANEY

The Queen went on vacation. This was one of the shows she saw in NYC.

Happy Birthday, Seamus Heaney image

Heaney was fancy.

Seamus Heaney Birthday Celebration: A celebration of Heaney’s works with songs by Ellen Mandel to his poems.

May 12, 2014 at 6 PM
Cornelia St Cafe
New York City, New York

Kim Sykes,Paul Hecht, Lizbeth Mackay, actors
Eleanor Taylor, vocals
Ellen Mandel, composer/piano

Review by Kitty Drexel

(New York, NY) Upstairs at the Cornelia St. Cafe is a posh restaurant with food that looks as delicious as it tastes. Downstairs is a performance nook with just enough space for a piano and a few actors to huddle together in performance. It isn’t glamorous but there is a full bar. This was a cozy setting to belatedly celebrate the birthday of Irish poet and scholar Seamus Heaney through song and poetry. Continue reading

Apr 29

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts PRESENTS: JOHNNY HALLYDAY

WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts PRESENTS

the Boston debut of France¹s legendary
JOHNNY HALLYDAY

Saturday, May 10, 8pm
Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston
BOSTON, MA —World Music/CRASHarts presents the Boston debut of Johnny Hallyday on Saturday, May 10, 8pm at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA. Tickets range from $79-$30. For tickets and information call World Music/CRASHarts (617) 876-4275 or buy online at www.WorldMusic.org.

French rocker Johnny Hallyday has often been compared to Elvis Presley, bringing a French interpretation of American rock¹n roll to France. Born Jean-Philippe Smet in 1943, his first album entitled Hello Johnny was released in 1960 and kick-started his five-decade long career. His cover of Let¹s Twist Again sold over one million copies, and was even awarded a gold disc, topping nearly every European chart. His numerous historic collaborations have included Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton, Taj Mahal, Bono, and more. He has also appeared or starred in more than 20 major feature films.  But, in spite of his fame both in France and Quebec, he has never cracked either the American or British market, thereby earning the nickname among English-speaking countries: ³the biggest rock star you¹ve never heard of.² Continue reading

Apr 14

Three Days of (Bittersweet) Rain

Inline image 3

Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
By Richard Greenberg
Directed by Daniel Bourque

April 4-19, 2014
First Church in Boston
66 Marlborough Street
Boston, MA 02116
Hub Theatre Co on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Boston) In Hub Theatre’s production of Three Days of Rain, audiences are gently tricked.  We are initially introduced to a family melodrama that takes place in 1995. Walker (John Geoffrion) comes to terms with his father’s death in the rundown apartment the man shared with his business partner during the sixties.  Stubborn and volatile, Walker doesn’t appear to have a great relationship with his sister, the “sane” Nan (Marty Seeger Mason), who takes him to the reading of their famous architect father’s will. They are joined by the son of his late business partner, Pip (Tim Hoover), a kind but not terribly bright soap opera actor.  With the reading of the will, the peace between the three of them deteriorates and their complex bond reforms.  So far, this is a story of despair, but it’s also just its maudlin surface. Continue reading

Apr 10

“Far Away” is Close to Home

Presented by Whistler in the Dark
by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Meg Taintor

April 3-19, 2014
The Charlestown Working Theatre
Charlestown, MA
Whistler on Facebook

Review by Gillian Daniels

One of the most terrifying things about dictatorships, dystopias, and police states are how they turn what is savage and ridiculous into what is mundane and even acceptable.  Blood doesn’t flow on stage at any point during Whistler in the Dark’s production of Far Away.  No one pulls out a gun or stabs another character to prove a point.  With the power of playwright Caryl Churchill’s words and Meg Taintor’s direction, they don’t need to. Fear  lay heavily over the show already; we don’t need any clearer sign things are uncertain and wrong. Continue reading

Apr 01

Admiral Kittypants Presents: The Cast of “Princess Ida; Or, Castle Adamant”

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

Mascot, Admiral Dudley T. Kittypants

Admiral Kittypants Presents: A Cast!

The cast for Princess Ida; Or, Castle Adamant

Prince Hilarion – Kamela Dolinova
King Hildebrand – Matthew Zahnzinger
King Gama – Ray O’Hare
Florian – Nicole Orr
Cyril – Katie Lafaw
Arac – Jessica Rossi
Guron – Daffyd Mac an Leigh
Scynthius – Chris Mason

Princess Ida – Kitty Drexel
Lady Psyche- Sara Haugland
Lady Blanche – Letitia Stevens
Melissa – Lawren Hill
Sacharissa – Meg Di Maggio
Chloe – Ginger Lazarus

Featured Singers and Section Leaders
Soprano – Rebecca Hayden
Alto – Micha Goolsby
Tenor – Chris Mason
Bass – Daffyd Mac an Leigh

 

Kittypants_Ida_rosie poster_2014

Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant
A Staged Reading with piano; and, A Fundraising Sing-a-Long Event*

*Donations received will benefit the Admiral Kittypants upcoming season to include a production of The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay.

By Gilbert and Sullivan
Directed by Liz Adams
Music direction by TBA

May 30, 2014 at 8pm
May 31, 2014 at 2pm
Responsible Grace Church of the Nazarene,
Davis Square, Somerville, MA
Admiral Kittypants on Facebook

 

More show info can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Ida