Tag Archives: Boston

May 18

Fame Puts You There Where Things Are Hollow: “As Bees in Honey Drown”

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The cast: photo by Gary Ng. Spot on costumes by Anna Silva. 

Presented by Theater UnCorked
By Douglas Carter Beane
Directed by David Miller
Fight Choreography & Intimacy Direction by Allison Olivia Choat

May 15 – May 18, 2025
BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” – Attributed to Andy Warhol. (The Smithsonian Magazine contests this attribution.)

BOSTON — There are days when life in the theatre feels like the lowest level in a multilevel marketing scheme. Famous artists and producers at the top of the pyramid (on Broadway and the West End) make the most money; their flashy success entices others to buy into the business: drama school, dance, voice, acting classes, accent coaches, pay-to-plays and voice-over camp. Semi-famous, professional artists and administrators who hustle like they’ve been conditioning since the womb make ends meet; they can afford niceties like starting a family without going into serious debt. The rest of us schmucks, to borrow a term from Theater Uncorked’s As Bees in Honey Drown, must work at least one (or three, if you’re a stage manager) side hustle to afford the theatre lifestyle. Continue reading →

May 13

Dark and Violent/Full of Butterflies: “The Head Is Not the Star of the Body”

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The ensemble of “The Head Is Not the Star of the Body;” Photo by Olivia Moon Photography.

Presented by Boston Dancemakers Residency Showcase
Directed and choreographed by Cassie Wang
Movement Collaborators and Past Contributors: Leah Misano, Juliet Paramor
Projection Artist by Genevieve Temple, Cassie Wang
Dramaturgy by Ilya Vidrin
Rehearsal Direction by Dara Nicole Capley
Lighting Design by Andrea Sala
Technical Direction by Anne Dresbach
Music by Big Thief
Performers: Gabriela Amy-Moreno, Hannah Franz, Sasha Peterson, Noli Rosen, Cassie Wang, Maude Warshaw

May 8 – 11, 2025 – in person
May 26–June 30, 2025 – virtual performance 
Boston Center for the Arts
Calderwood Pavilion
Martin Rehearsal Hall
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Article by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Director and choreographer Cassie Wang’s choreopoem The Head is not the Star of the Body asked her audiences to consider longing in its purist form: raw emotion. Wang asked us, “How does longing reveal identity? How do we sit with someone else’s longing? How do we measure the distance between subjects of longing?” In the playbill’s Note From the Director, Wang leaned into her ask. She told her audience to prioritize feeling over thinking and to savor their responses. It’s a big ask; New England audiences are famously self-controlled.  It’s how we show respect. Continue reading →

May 08

Naïve innocence to Vindictive corruption: “Mean Girls”

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Pictured (L-R): Katie Yeomans (Cady Heron), Kristen Amanda Smith (Gretchen Wieners), Maya Petropoulos (Regina George), and MaryRose Brendel (Karen Smith). Photo by Jeremy Daniel, 2025

Presented by Emerson Colonial Theater
Book by Tina Fey
Music by Jeff Richmond
Lyrics by Nell Bejnamin
Directed by Casey Hushion
Choreographed by John MacInnis

April 29th – May 4th, 2025
Emerson Colonial Theater
106 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116

2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission

Review by Helen Ganley

BOSTON — Cliques endure throughout life, beginning as early as elementary school and continuing into adulthood. You might find them at work, with the crew that always goes to Happy Hour (with no extended invite), among couples who only hang out with other couples, or with PTA Power Parents who plan events without outside input. The most common place to find them, however, is in high school. Emerson Colonial Theater’s production of Mean Girls explores the dangers of cliques while emphasizing the importance of authenticity and kindness throughout life. Continue reading →

May 06

A Cosmic Meditation on Hope: “Utopian Hotline”

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Theater Mitu; Utopian Hotline.

Presented by ArtsEmerson & Museum of Science
Conceived and developed by Theater Mitu
Produced in association with Octopus Theatricals
In partnership with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative, and Brooklyn Independent Middle School
Directed by Ruben Polendo
Featuring Kayla Asbell, Denis Butkus, Michael Littig, Monica Sanborn

May 01, 2025 – May 18, 2025
Museum of Science, Planetarium
1 Museum of Science Driveway, Boston, MA 02114

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON — Theater Mitu squeezes a myriad of existential questions into its 45-minute Boston planetarium experience, Utopian Hotline: Is utopia possible? Do we exist alongside an infinite number of parallel universes? Is there life beyond our tiny speck of a planet? Is time linear, a social construct, or flat circle? What is the point of love and art when our lives are so cosmically insignificant?

Theater Mitu never fully grapples with any of these questions. Instead, it gently poses them, invites the audience to meditate on our internal responses, and lets them drift away into the ephemerality of human memory.

This experience parallels the NASA Voyager mission that inspired the piece. In 1977, scientists launched a golden record into space, offering a sonic glimpse into the human experience for whomever might discover them. There is no surety of these messages being heard again, but the act of creating them is an exercise in hope for our little green planet. Continue reading →

May 02

Wait & Let the Daddies Come to You: “Sugar”

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(from left to right): Tiffany Santiago and Chingwe Padraig Sullivan; Photo credit: Erin Solomon.

Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre
Written by Tara Moses
Directed by Audrey Seraphin
Dramaturgy by Quita Sullivan
Dialect Coaching by Allison Olivia Choat
Intimacy direction by Olivia Dumaine

April 18 – May 3, 2025
Plaza Black Box Theatre
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Content advisories: Sexual Content, Racism, Fatphobia, some hateful language.

2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Sugar is about cis het sex work. So, we’re talking about cis heteros today. Somebody plan them a parade.  

Sugar by Tara Moses is the intersectional feminism leftists want to see in the world. It is about a young, plus-sized woman of color, Brooke (a heroic Tiffany Santiago), who lives the dream by capitalizing on the unpaid labor she once provided for free to her whiny, white, affluent “friends.” Artist and gig-worker Brooke is besties with Holly (Katherine Callaway, with a discomfortingly accurate portrayal), and the two couldn’t be more different. Holly is slim, blonde, and enjoys all the privileges her moneyed Caucasian looks provide her, such as her rich christian fiancé Will (Matthew Feldman-Campbell, as a himbo who only punches down), a job in an arts-related career, and a hefty family allowance that allows her to keep that arts job. 

Whereas, Brooke lives in an apartment from Hell, works multiple jobs that won’t provide healthcare, and is collapsing under student loan and credit card debt. She dates to supplement her meals, not to find love. Without her neighbor and chosen sister Nina (Tanya Avendaño Stockler, a spark of joy and the shimmering energy boost this production’s pacing needed), Brooke would be homeless and starving. A bestie who wants your labor without reciprocating is not your bestie.  Continue reading →

Apr 15

Hell Hath No Fury: “Don’t Eat the Mangos”

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Left to right: Evelyn Howe, Jessica Pimentel, Yesenia Iglesias; photo by Marc J. Franklin.

Written by Ricardo Pérez González
Directed by David Mendizábal
Featuring: Jessica Pimentel, Yesenia Iglesias, Evelyn Howe, Susanna Guzmán, José Ramón Rosario
Voice of Radio: José C. Massó III
Fight Director and Intimacy Coach: Ted Hewlett

March 26 – April 27, 2025
The Huntington Calderwood
527 Tremont Street. Boston, MA 02116

Content warnings: Don’t Eat the Mangos includes frank discussion of past sexual assault, incest, and traumatic forced abortion. The play includes depictions of patriarchal control in a family setting, at-home end-of-life care, and violent suffocation. There is a brief discussion of suicide and the inclusion of homophobic and sexist slurs.

This play is performed in English and Spanish. 

BOSTON — After the first seeing the striking mango tree (designed by Tanya Orellana with rising sunlight designed by Cha See) burdened with tangibly ripe fruit next to a cozily busy cottage, the audience hears the silence-splitting call of the Puerto Rican coquí frog. (I’ve never been to P.R., but I’ve heard the coquí’s invasive rant from inside my family’s home on Big Island, Hawai’i enough times to recognize the frog’s plaintive call for nonrecreational booty even in my nightmares.) 

The sound design by Jake Rodriguez layers the persistent morning call of coquís under the clanging of daily housework in Don’t Eat the Mangos’ first moments. Shortly after the first lines of dialogue, a ringing bell joins the coquís call. These sounds, with director David Mendizábal’s staging, plus the tense character work between the actors, indicate that something is not right in this house.  Continue reading →

Apr 09

Being Polite is the American Way of Lying: “Her Portmanteau”

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In Photo: Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Patrice Jean-Baptiste Photo by: Maggie Hall Photography

Presented by Central Square Theater with the Front Porch Arts Collective
By Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Tasia A. Jones
Dramaturgy by Elijah Estolano Punzal
Original music and sound design by Eduardo M Ramirez
Dialect coaching by Bibi Mama
Featuring Patrice Jean-Baptiste, Jade A Guerra, Lorraine Victoria Kanyike

March 27 – April 20, 2025
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

Online playbill

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Central Square Theater and The Front Porch Arts Collective present the fourth play in Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle, Her Portmanteau by Mfoniso Udofia. Many elements recommend this play, including great acting and moving storytelling. Additionally, while it is part of the Ufot Cycle, it stands alone as a tribute to a Massachusetts family trying to love each other despite intergenerational trauma, betrayal, and culture shock. 

In Her Portmanteau, the American Ufot family reconnects with the Nigerian Ekpoyong family. Adiaha Ufot (Lorraine Victoria Kanyike) welcomes half-sister Iniabasi Ekpeyong (Jade A Guerra) to her New York apartment. It is winter, and Iniabasi has neither the coat nor footwear for the frigid weather. Adiaga offers Iniabasi a sweater and woollen socks, but Iniabasi refuses them. Iniabasi had to wait over an hour at JFK Airport. She was supposed to land in Boston. Their mother, Abasiama (Patrice Jean-Baptiste), was supposed to pick Iniabasi up so they could stay at the family house in Worcester. No one looks like their photos. Iniabasi doesn’t know why things have changed or who to trust.  Continue reading →

Apr 04

Not your average Karen’s brave play about disability: “It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure”

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The Cast; Photo Credit: Alex Brenner.

Presented by ArtsEmerson 
FlawBored from UK
Director/dramaturg – Josh Roche
Created by Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani, and Chloe Palmer

April 2 – 13, 2025
Emerson Paramount Center 
Jackie Liebergott Black Box 
Boston, MA

Recommended for Ages 16+
Content warning: Strong Language, Ableism, Graphic Spoken Descriptions of Injury
Running Time: 60-ish minutes, no intermission

BOSTON — Sitting in the audience for FlawBored’s It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure in Emerson’s Jackie Liebergott Black Box, I felt unhindered joy watching the cast members Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani, and Chloe Palmer toss disability anxiety back into the faces of theoretical ableds whose anal accessibility pedantry makes our lives more work than it already is. My friends, it truly was a motherfucking pleasure.  Continue reading →

Mar 27

An Umbrella of Representation: “Queer Voices Festival”

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The Queer Voices Festival
Presented by Boston Theater Company
The Balcony or The Last Night by Pascale Florestal, she/her/hers
Halftime v. Intermission by Michael J. Bobbitt, he/him
Left Overs by Roni Ragone, they/them
Limpia by Leonard P. Madrid, he/him
Oop, Can’t Say That by Tom Zhang, they/them
Seance by Dylan Horowitz, He/Him & She/Her
Zelda by Haz Cady, he/him

March 21 -23, 2025
Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

2 Hrs 15 Minutes with 1 intermission

Review by Helen Ganley

BOSTON — This past weekend, the Boston Theater Company hosted its 2nd annual Queer Voices Festival at the Boston Center for the Arts. We are caught in an onslaught of voices, opinions, and legislation—the whipping wind of oppression slapping us in the face, the ice of hatred hardening on the sidewalk, daring us to fall. This event gathers a community under the umbrella of representation, shielding them—if only for an hour and a half—from the deluge outside.
Continue reading →

Mar 27

Chaos & Dark Secrets in “The Addams Family musical”

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Big League Productions, Inc. production presented at The Boch Centre Wang Theatre
Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Directed and choreographed by Antoinette Dipietropolo
Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

U.S. Tour Website

March 21 – 23, 2025
Boch Centre Wang Theatre
270 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116

2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission
Virtual Playbill

Review by Helen Ganley

BOSTON — Dr. Frankenstein huddles in his laboratory, taking pieces of a life once passed and intricately stitching them together. He huddles in the dark, throws the switch, and braces for the spark, birthing a new life out of what once passed. Some audiences might see a banner for The Addams Family and think it’s a musical adaption of the 2022 miniseries Wednesday. However, the creature Dr. Frankenstein is adapting isn’t from 2022 at all, but rather the iconic 1964 TV show that predated it. The Boch Center Wang Theatre’s national tour production of The Addams Family breathes life into the familiar classic with entrancing sets, a lively undead ensemble, and catchy songs you just can’t help but snap your fingers to. Continue reading →