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 17

“No Room for Wishing” Makes Room for All

No Room for Wishing
Performed and written by Danny Bryck.

Photo credit: “No Room for Wishing”

Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

Co-produced by Company One and Central Square Theater, supported in part by a Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Black Box Fellowship.

Playing at the Boston Center for Arts, 9/13 – 9/22
Playing at Central Square Theater, 9/30 – 10/9

No Room for Wishing Facebook Page
No Room for Wishing Website

Review by Kitty Drexel

“But I hear the boys the boys and girls are coming up up up from the underground… You can find ‘em there, they’re all fired up in Dewey Square… you can call them what you want, you can call them what you need, you can call them what you want but there’s no room for wishing in revolution.”  – Ruby Rose Fox, “Dewey Square”

(Boston) No Room for Wishing is a compilation of interviews and live recordings from the Occupy Boston Movement. The production was written and performed by local actor, Danny Bryck. It is directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

Bryck’s tour de force performance is a must see for Occupy Movement supporters and sympathizers. It offers a personal perspective of Occupy Boston that was not captured by local media during 2011. It is also a must see for those who opposed the movement.  This bare bones production lionizes the individual reasons for protesting while disassembling the stereotypes associated with the majority of activists. Bryck’s characterizations personalize the movement and the many people that the media had neglected; the moderate and the revolutionized. Continue reading

Sep 16

Brilliance and Bravery in New Rep’s “The Kite Runner”

The Kite Runner adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler.
Novel by the same name by author Khaled Hosseini.
Directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue.

Photo by Andrew Brilliant/ Brilliant Pictures.

Photo by Andrew Brilliant/ Brilliant Pictures.

Performances, September 9-30, 2012
New Repertory Theater
Charles Mosesian Theater
Arsenal Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA 02472

New Repertory Theater Facebook Page

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Watertown) New Rep’s The Kite Runner is adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler from the novel by the same name by author Khaled Hosseini. Director, Elaine Vaan Hogue, interprets her subject with fresh perspective in our post-9/11 world with compassion and ingenuity. Continue reading

Sep 14

Bent, Not Broken

BENT
Presented by Theatre@First
A Play by Martin Sherman
Directed by Nick Bennett-Zendzian

Theatre@First Facebook Page

Performances: Friday, September 14 – Saturday, September 22
Unity Somerville, 6 William Street at College Ave.
TICKETS – $15 for adults, $12 for students/seniors. Group discounts available.

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Somerville) When the stakes grow to dizzying heights, Theatre@First’s production of Bent has the power to draw its audience as tightly as a bowstring. The air crackles expectantly as viewers wait for the other shoe to drop.  As its characters are fenced in with barbed wire and SS guards, they are left with nothing but the hope that things can’t get any worse.  It certainly will, especially when that backdrop is the Holocaust and the principal characters are homosexual. 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

Sep 13

Election-Year Escapism: THE MIKADO

Erica Spyres (Yum-Yum) and cast of The Mikado at The Lyric Stage. Photo by Mark S. Howard

The Mikado, music by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W.S. Gilbert
Directed by Spiro Veloudos

Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA
September 9 – October 13

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

It is rare to see good actors overacting, over-annunciating and mugging the audience to ring out every laugh. It is even rarer to enjoy every minute of it. In the Lyric Stage Company’s staging of Gilbert and Sullivan’s the Mikado, you get the delicious treat of both.

If you have never seen a Gilbert and Sullivan play, then now’s the time to get initiated with this production. Continue reading

Sep 13

An Ambitious Tragicomedy: MARIE ANTOINETTE

photo by Joan Marcus

Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi
Directed by Rebecca Taichman

American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center
September 1 – September 29

Reviewed by Kate Longberg-Lew

You are likely already familiar with the tale of Marie Antoinette, the young queen who eventually losses her head at the bequest of her constituency, but you’ve never seen it presented this way. The ART’s production is, in a word, ambitious. This self-described tragicomedy is part Sex in the City, part Moulin Rouge, part modern, part historical, part drama, and part comedy.   Continue reading

Sep 02

The Better to Allure You With, My Dear

Photo Credit: Wax Wings Productions

Grandma’s House
Directed by Jennifer Reddish, Script by Kevin Kordis

Factory Theater (791 Tremont Street Boston, MA) from August 22-September 2

Wax Wings Productions
Wax Wings Facebook Page

Review by Kitty M Drexel

(Boston) Grandma’s House is a dramatic re-envisioning of the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” tale. Playwright, Kevin Kordis, brings the relationship between the Wolf and Little Red into the 22nd century as he explores the many definitions of the term “Wolf.” In this cautionary tale about cautionary tales, the cast and crew invite their audience to enjoy the fable of their youth and manipulate them into challenging their understanding of what a wolf is and can be. Continue reading

Sep 02

One Performance Left! Luminarium Dance Company’s Mythos/Pathos

Luminarium Dance Company presents
Mythos:Pathos
August 31 @ 8pm
September 1 @ 8pm
September 2 @ 4pm
in Black Box Theater
at Arsenal Center for the Arts

Watertown, MA

Purchase tickets at http://www.LuminariumDance.org/buy-tickets or call 617-477-4494 to reserve

(copy from Arsenal Center for the Arts)

Luminarium Dance will debut its new full-length performance Mythos:Pathos throughout August. The work will explore lesser-known characters and under-examined storylines of Greek mythology from a contemporary viewpoint. Artistic Directors Merli V. Guerra and Kimberleigh A. Holman are proud to weave these familiar myths into a cohesive saga, while coloring the production with innovative choreography. Mythos:Pathos also features nontraditional lighting design by Matthew Breton, that manifests in unique ways onstage, from wearable to handheld lighting. This new work will incorporate materials donated by the communities of Somerville and Watertown that will be used to construct installations on and offstage.

Luminarium plans to preview the project in Somerville. In late August, Luminarium will bring an evolved form of the project to the Arsenal Center for the Arts, for a one-week residency, including a gallery exhibit in the lobby. This performance at the Arsenal Center for the Arts offers a pre-show installation performance art series, followed by a full dance performance in the Black Box Theater.

Sep 01

Two Hours of Sweet Traffic: ROMEO AND JULIET

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Still Harbor, Dorchester 8/31/12-9/2/12
As well as other performances along the Eastern Shore through 9/14/12

Brown Box Theatre Project
Brown Box Theatre Project Facebook Page

Directed by Kyler Tausten
Fight Choreographer: Conor Olmstead

Review by Craig Idlebrook

What are your evening plans this weekend?  Cancel them.  I’ve got a Shakespeare play for you.

Wait, no, I’m serious.  I can hear the arguments now from the Bard-haters: long-winded speeches, posturing on stage, something fit for academic halls.  But that’s why you’ve got to drop what you’re doing and see the Brown Box Theatre breathe some life into the dusty folios with a no-frills, fast-paced production of Romeo and JulietContinue reading