Mar 17

A Review in Which the Magic Tricks Aren’t Described: “The Conjurors’ Club”

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Geoff Kanick performs in ‘The Conjurors’ Club.’ Photo courtesy of A.R.T.

Presented by American Repertory Theatre
Created by Vinny DePonto and Geoff Kanick
Original Music by Alex Harris
Voiceover work by Artist Isuri Wijesundara
Opening Video by Gabe Jacobs
Video Voiceover by Isabela Salgado
Technical Consultancy by Joshua Samuels
Web Design by Eleanor Philips
Zoom Wizardry by Alycia Marucci and Sumner Ellsworth
Scenic/Background Consultancy by Heather Morris
Costume Consultancy by Alma Reyes Burgos
Lighting Consultancy by Joseph Lorenzen
Digital Systems Programming by Justin Paice & Michael Policare

March 12 – April 11, 2021
A virtual event
Stream HERE
Follow @TheConjurorsClub on social media

Disclaimer: This review contains minor spoilers. 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM — The Conjurors’ Club starts long before the Zoom room opens with a brown 8.5 x 11 envelope with a stamp from Jean Eugene’s Fine Watches. This envelope arrives within another envelope from the American Repertory Theatre. Don’t open it! Its contents are a surprise. Continue reading →

Mar 16

Another Day, Another Destiny: “Winter Panto 2021: The Panto Games”

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Tributes in the Arena. Photo credit imaginary beasts.

Presented by imaginary beasts 
Directed by Matthew Woods 
Written by Matthew Woods & Noah Simes 
Costumes: Cotton Talbot-Minkin 
Visual Design & Illustration: Lillian P.H. Kology 
Production Stage Management: Sophia Nora Giordano 
Video Editing & Design: Sophia Nora Giordano 
Technical Direction: Bob Mussett 
Puppet Design & Construction: Sophia Nora Giordano & Jamie Semel 
Cast: Michael Chodos, Laura Detweiler, Molly Kimmerling, Catherine Luciani, Tara Harbert,  Colin McIntire, Amy Meyer, Bob Mussett, Elizabeth Owens, Jill Rogati, Kiki Samko, Jamie  Semel, Noah Simes, Derek Smith, Jennifer Taschereau, and Matthew Woods with Sara Kenney  and Hannah Uher 

March 13, 14, 20 at 4:00 pm ET and March 19 at 7:30 pm ET on Zoom 
New show added! March 21 at 4 pm!
Tickets: imaginarybeasts.eventbrite.com 
All tickets are Pay What You Wish with a $0 minimum
imaginary beasts on Facebook 

Review by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM — The imaginary beasts yearly panto is a Massachusetts theatre institution. It doesn’t feel like wintertime without it! So thank goodness the beasties rallied and produced their February family-show in March.  Continue reading →

Mar 12

This Just In: “Home Office: Season 2” & “Mr. Parent”

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Home Office
Created & Written by John J King & Ramona Rose King
A J-RexPlays Production
Quick, Fun & Dirty, for the People
www.J-RexPlays.com
Venmo: @JRexPlays

Review by Kitty Drexel

ASTORIA , NY — Creators and Boston community members John J. King and Ramona Rose King moved to New York City! During a pandemic! Home Office: Season Two follows their adventures in their new city. They find work, new friends, and opportunities all within a two-block radius. 

A summary from YouTube: Home Office returns for a second season, following Mona and Jonathan as the couple moves to New York City mid-pandemic and struggles to get jobs, forge friendships, and take on their most collaborative project yet.

The second season is brief. It’s five episodes. The first season was was twelve. The stakes are higher but the circumstances are just as twee. Watch them navigate their relationship in a minuscule Astoria apartment without killing each other. As John says in episode three, “It’s nice!”

Also available to stream:

Mr. Parent presented by Theaterworks Hartford 
Based on stories from Maurice Parent
Playwright: Melinda Lopez
Conceived with and directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian
Video Multimedia Production Jared Mezzocchi
Associate Video Editor Katerina Vitaly
ASL Video Editor Cassandra Saulski
Audio Mix/Mastering Matt Berky, Massive Productions

Streaming On Demand
March 7— 26, 2021
Hartford, CT 
Theaterworks of Facebook

Mar 09

Ma, Look It Up: “The Pink Unicorn”

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Stacy Fischer pretty in pink as Trisha Lee in “The Pink Unicorn.”

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company
Written by Elise Forier Edie
Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara
Featuring Stacy Fischer
Video production design by Ari Herzig
Music by John-Allison Weiss
Dialect coaching by D’Arcy Dersham

Post-show Panel: “Learning the Impact of Language”
Panelists: Taj M. Smith (he/him), Katie Omberg (she/they), Mx. Chris Paige (they/them), Leo Austin-Spooner (he/they)

March 5-18, 2021
The performance is available to stream
RUN TIME: 80 minutes, followed by a post-show panel discussion exploring the themes of the play
Boston, MA
SpeakEasy on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

SpeakEasy Stage’s Content Advisory: “The Pink Unicorn follows one mother’s journey to accept her genderqueer teenager. In telling this story, this play contains multiple instances of transphobia and misgendering as well as ableist and fatphobic language.” 

VIMEO — If it takes a white person to reach a white person on issues of racial inequity (it does), then one could reason that it takes a cis-hetero person to reach a cis-hetero person on issues of gender diversity. I’m not saying that these issues are at all equal. Hardly. What I am saying is that the compassionate tactics of one righteous cause will work on another equally as valiant cause.

SpeakEasy presents The Pink Unicorn through March 18. It is about a mother, Trisha Lee (Stacy Fischer in an endearing performance), coming to terms with her teenager’s genderqueer identity. Trisha is sharing her story through the virtual family and faith summit series, Walking Together. She sits at her kitchen table, sips tea and tells the anecdotes that culminate in her acceptance of her beloved child, Jo.   Continue reading →

Mar 01

Black Spatial Relics Second Annual Convening, Day 3: A Day of Dreaming and Envisioning

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Presented by Black Spatial Relics
Facilitated by Arielle Julia Brown

February 23rd-27th 2021
ZOOM & HowlRound Livestream
Black Spatial Relics on Facebook

Review by Afrikah Smith

ZOOM — Working towards a future for Black creative spaces that foster exploration, community, and liberation, Black Spatial Relics (BSR) hosts their second annual convening in celebration of their five-year anniversary. Running February 23rd to February 27th, the Black Spatial Relics Annual Convening is free and open to the public.

At its February 25th session, Black Spatial Relics presented three workshops hosted by 2020 BSR artists-in-residence Danielle Deadwyler and Ada Pinkston, and guest artist Angel Edwards.

In the first workshop, Deadwyler shared her documentary busitopen. Exploring Black womanhood and motherhood through the lives of four Black women, Deadwyler juxtaposed the repetition of sound, movement, and various historic images of working class Black women. Through each woman’s relationship to labor and love, Deadwyler focused on the practices of recollection, ritual, and their significance. Continue reading →

Feb 24

Radical Wellness, Rooted In Movement: A Trans Boxing Series

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Presented in partnership with Trans Boxing, Company One, and Theater Offensive
Led By Shan Moten

Friday, 19 February 2021 7PM EST
Sunday, 21 February 2021 2PM EST
Via ZOOM
Company One Theatre & The Theater Offensive on Facebook

Review by Afrikah Smith

ZOOM — Rooted in Movement is a two-part trans boxing series that creates a safe space for beginners and advanced folks to explore boxing while being in community with LGBTQIA+ members and other participants. Continue reading →

Feb 24

Semaphore Flags of Tension: “Solitaire Suite”

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Presented by Hub Theatre Company of Boston
Written by Trent England 
Directed by Daniel Bourque
Stage management by  Madeline Hartrich
and Kelsey Whipple
Sound Design by Kyle Lampe
​Digital Design by Justin Lahue

Feb 20 – Feb 27 2021
Youtube Presentation
Boston, MA 02116
Hub on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

YOUTUBE — Anxiety is a feminist issue. Women are told they are too emotional, too sensitive, and too fragile. Our responses to stimuli are so criticized that we disbelieve our own experiences. We distrust our own instincts – no matter how perceptive. 

Believing women is the basis for the #MeToo movement. Trust women, we say. The message should carry a caveat to emphasize that society must grant women the benefit of the doubt in all situations. Believe us when we’ve been assaulted and at other times, too. Believe us all the time.  

Hub Theatre premiered Solitaire Suite by Trent England on February 20. Marty Mason is Celeste, a conscientious mother on a car ride with her husband Pete (Cristhian Mancinas) and their son, Tiger (Michael Lin). Celeste tells the viewer about how her family came across an unidentified flying object on their way home from retrieving Tiger from a failed sleepover. The family follows the UFO and has an unexpected engagement with the unknown.    Continue reading →

Feb 20

Letting the Days Go By: “Giver of Light”

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Presented by Guerilla Opera
Based on the life of Rumi 
music and libretto by Adam Roberts 
Stage direction by Andrew Eggert 
Electronics Composition by Anıl Çamcı
Sung in English 
75 minutes

Feb 18, 7:00 PM EST – Mar 18, 7:00 PM EDT

Sparrow Live

This production originally commissioned and performed in 2013 at the Boston Conservatory Black Box Theatre.  
GO on Facebook 
Sparrow Live on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
i have become
the giver of light”
– Excerpt from “i was dead” by Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, the Sufi mystic and poet. 

“And you may ask yourself, ‘How do I work this?’
And you may ask yourself, ‘Where is that large automobile?’
And you may tell yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful house’
And you may tell yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful wife'”
-Excerpted from “Once In A Lifetime” by The Talking Heads

SPARROW LIVE — This critique of Guerilla Opera’s 2013 performance of GIver of Light will not critique the performance. The Boston Classical Review,  Boston Musical Intelligencer, and the Boston Globe reviewed Giver of Light while it was in production.  

I am instead responding to the watch party held on February 18 on Sparrow Live. Sparrow Live’s About section on its website says, “(Our) mission is to democratize access to the arts by connecting artists with their audiences through high-quality experiences. Sparrow Live’s vision is a barrier-free relationship of equals between artists and audiences.” Continue reading →

Feb 19

There Are Other Narratives: “The Walking Plays”

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Presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Directed by Jess Meyer
Narrator: Katherine Shaver
Sound Design: Elizabeth Cahill
Audio Engineer: Katie O’Connor
Production Manager: Aja M. Jackson

The current plays as of February 14, 2021:
“On Paying Attention”
by David Valdes
Directed by Jess Meyer
Yaya: Sis K
T: Juliet Archer-Walker

“Monster in the Sky” 
by Ginger Lazarus
Directed by Jess Meyer
Yaya: Sis K
Kevin: Hector Toledo

The plays are available now! 
Free to anyone with WiFi and earbuds
Lyric Stage Co on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

Disclaimer: The Walking Plays are a recording that one listens to while walking in Boston. Please know your accessibility needs. If you cannot navigate the winter weather, please enjoy The Walking Plays from home. 

BOSTON — There aren’t many perfect days to take a nice long walk in February. It’s the coldest, shortest month of the year. But last Sunday was Valentine’s Day/Lupercalia/the anniversary of the glorious day Hawai’ian natives righteously smote Captain James Cook. Having great reasons to celebrate, my lovely wife and I took the T to Copley Square to participate in the Lyric Stage Company’s The Walking Plays.  Continue reading →

Feb 11

Protect Yourself as Needed: ArtsEmerson Presents”Julia”

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Presented by ArtsEmerson 
Director: Christiane Jatahy
Adaptation of Miss Julie by August Strindberg
Performed by: Julia Bernat and Rodrigo de Odé
Performed in the film: Tatiana Tiburcio
Music: Rodrigo Marçal
Photography: David Pacheco
Camera Live: Paulo Camacho
Video Technician: Felipe Norkus
In Portuguese with English subtitles

Virtual Event – On-Demand Viewing
Pick Your Price
Get Tickets 
ArtsEmerson on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Ages 18+, Performance contains mature content, nudity, and intense sexual situations with an implied minor. 

This is the warning under an arrow on ArtsEmerson’s Julia page: 

“We understand that certain types of content could trigger past traumatic experiences for some viewers. Please be aware that this production contains scenes depicting sexual violence, racialized verbal abuse, racial slurs, allusions to suicide, and animal cruelty.”

This warning should not be hidden to the side. It should be somewhere obvious so no one will miss it. 

ON-DEMAND  — I’ve been recovering from PTSD triggered by Julia since watching ArtsEmerson’s premiere on Tuesday. Actions in the play depict violent sexual relations between two consenting individuals. I am a survivor of sexual violence, but I’ve never been triggered by a theatrical production to a degree like this before. I thought I was okay to watch Julia. I was wrong. Survivors, please protect yourself. 

I’m not special; many women are survivors of violence. We must factor potential violence into our everyday decisions to protect ourselves from further harm. We never know if we’re being too cautious or not cautious enough. We learn from a young age – through the malevolent actions of others or by making irrevocable mistakes – that we must take special care not to be caught off guard. Julia is the visual, multimedia story of a young woman as she learns this lesson the hard way.  Continue reading →