Tag Archives: Cambridge

Oct 08

Using His Powers for Good: “300 Paintings”

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Sam Kissajukian in performance of 300 Paintings. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva

Presented by American Repertory Theater
Written and Performed by Sam Kissajukian
Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals

Now – Oct. 25, 2025
Farkas Hall
12 Holyoke Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Critique by Diana Lu

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Watching 300 Paintings feels a bit like being dropped straight into the mind of Sam Kissajukian, mid-manic episode—but with comfy seats, visual aids, and killer comedic timing. For 80 minutes straight, the comedian-turned-painter commands the stage with no script; his first 300 paintings flash on the black screen behind him. The result is a hilarious, high-energy, and surprisingly insightful comedic monologue that explores the fine line between genius and madness, connection and isolation, and what gets assigned as worthy in this late-stage capitalist world of unprecedented wealth disparity—a world obsessed with packaging everything, including ourselves, into “brands,” “content,” “product.” Continue reading →

Sep 16

Two Turn-of-the-Century Trailblazers: “The Kittie Knox Plays” & “Silent Sky”

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The Kittie Knox Plays 
Produced by Plays in Place with MassBike
Three one-act plays by Patrick Gabridge, Claire Gardener, Kirsten Greenidge
Directed by Michelle Aguillon
Music direction by Nicholas Chieffo
Choreography by Hampton Richards
Performances in Cambridge, Milton and Boston, MA
The plays are FREE, but registration is required. 

&

Silent Sky 
Produced by Central Square Theater, a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production
By Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Sarah Shin
Sound designer and composer: Kai Bohlman
Choreography by Peter DiMuro
Performances in Cambridge, MA
Playbill online

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The 2025/2026 theatre season began in earnest for this queen theatre geek with two turn-of-the-century plays about two local headstrong, heart-set trailblazers: daredevil cyclist Kittie Knox (1874 – 1900) and astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921) and her colleagues at the Harvard Observatory. I had the great fortune of watching both productions on Saturday, Sept. 13. Like a curated tasting of fine wines, the productions have their distinct differences but offer something for every playgoer.  Continue reading →

Sep 05

Pushing the boundaries of genre and form: “Passengers”

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Photo by Alexandre Galliez.

Production by The 7 Fingers
Presented by American Repertory Theater
Co-produced by TOHU (Montréal, Canada) and ArtsEmerson (Boston, États-Unis)
Written, directed, and composed by Shana Carroll
Composition and music direction by Colin Gagné
Lyrics Colin Gagné, Shana Carroll
Lighting design by Eric Champoux
Projection design by Johnny Ranger
Featuring: Victor Crépin, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Isabella Diaz, Marie-Christine Fournier, Téo Le Baut, Amanda Orozco, Michael Patterson, Basile Pucek, Santiago Rivera, Méliejade Tremblay-Bouchard

September 2 – 26, 2025
Tickets
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Review by Maegan Clearwood

This production contains haze and flashing lights. 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. –Since moving to Boston four years ago, I have been spoiled rotten by access to top-tier circus – from kitschy Halloween horrors with Boston Circus Guild’s Cirque of the Dead (now an annual tradition of mine) to a breathtaking showcase of talent from the instructors at Commonwealth Circus Center in Jamaica Plain. I am in awe of the twisty, bendy, flippy talent that’s on regular display here in my own backyard.  

Aside from this array of homegrown talent, Boston also has an ongoing love for Montreal circus troupe The 7 Fingers. The A.R.T. presented the ensemble’s spin on Pippin in 2012, and ArtsEmerson hosted Duel Reality last season, an irreverent twist on a Shakespearean classic. This fall, the troupe is back at The A.R.T. with its production of Passengers, which first premiered in Boston in 2019. Continue reading →

Jul 06

Notes After Creation: The Theater Offensive’s Queer [Re]Public Festival

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Presented by The Theater Offensive 
In partnership with Double Edge Theatre and Think Outside the Vox
June 26-29, 2025
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Theater Offensive’s inaugural Queer [Re]Public Festival was a glorious presentation of queer, trans and BIPOC joy. At which, artists Victoria Lynn Awkward, Annalise “River” Guidry, and Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones convened and performed the fruits of their 22-month-long Emergent Artist and True Colors Residencies. By doing so, the residents transformed Arrow Street Arts into a community space where artists offered art to their audience, we received it and offered it back again. 

I was fortunate to attend Awkward’s dance composition In The Space Between in the main theater and a reading of Wyzzard-Jones’ The Messenger in the studio. My reactions to those works are below. I was unable to see Guidry’s Theater of Union or attend The Audacity of Being Yourself conversation with Durand Bernarr, Victoria Awkward and Diovanna Frazier. It is my sincere hope for the artists involved that they received everything they wanted and needed from their work.  Continue reading →

Jun 03

Bold, Brutalist Political Commentary: “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”

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In Photo: Melinda Lopez, Wesley Savick, Nael Nacer, Evan Taylor, Luz Lopez, Barlow Adamson, Photo by: Nile Scott Studios

Presented by Central Square Theater
By George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Eric Tucker
Featuring Barlow Adamson, Luz Lopez, Melinda Lopez, Nael Nacer, Wesley Savick, Evan Taylor

Central Square Theater
May 29 – June 22, 2025
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Cambridge, MA — If there is one theme that director Eric Tucker drives home with his take on George Bernard Shaw’s once-controversial drama, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, it is greed. Scenes of domestic heartbreak play out in a sleek, modern boardroom; children and parents bicker from either end of a lengthy conference table; and overhead, capitalism’s unfeeling gaze surveilles the characters in the form of frenetically changing stock market numbers.

In theory, this modern approach should illuminate aspects of the play that feel trite by 21st century standards. The mere mention of Mrs. Warren’s profession (spoiler alert: she owns a brothel.) was controversial by late-Victorian standards, but the play’s truly radical nature lies in a question that remains just as pertinent today: Can genuine human connection survive when capitalism renders everything, even the most primal of relationships, merely transactional? Continue reading →

Jun 02

With A Side of Cheese: “Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)”

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Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).
Photo: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall

Presented by American Repertory Theater
A Kiln Theatre Production
By Jim Barne and Kit Buchan
Directed and Choreographed by Tim Jackson
Music Direction by Jeffrey Campos
Featuring: Christiani Pitts, Sam Tutty 

May 20 – July 13, 2025
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Digital playbill 

This production contains haze, fog, and flashing lights. Recommended for ages 12+.
Run Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes, including one intermission

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) hit Harvard Square just before Harvard’s various commencement ceremonies. It’s a politically charged time when Harvard has spent months fighting for its freedoms as an educational organization (among which, its freedom to receive federal funding as a contractor with the federal government). The Square is flooded with awed tourists collecting memories and memorabilia as their family members graduate from Harvard’s hallowed halls. Meanwhile, pissed off locals navigate around slow-paced bodies as we rush about our work-a-day lives. Coincidentally, it’s a dichotomy captured in Two Strangers. 

As in the musical playing at the Loeb Drama Center, the U.S. has a different reputation at home than it does outside of our country: The U.S. (and by extension Harvard University), depending on who you ask, is an untamed land of permissible behavior and flashy but great industrial innovations. The international community loves us or hates us depending on their income level and political leanings. Many of our citizens feel the same. 

So, it comes to no great surprise that main character Dougal (Sam Tutty) expects New York to resemble the city he’s seen in the movies: action adventures, “I’m walkin’ here,” tourist traps, and musical montages. Robin (Christiani Pitts) quickly corrects Dougal’s expectations. New York tourism is for people with money, she says. They are broke. It turns out, they are also broken on the inside. Oh hey – just like our transportation, judicial and political systems (etc.)! Welcome, new friend. 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 →

Apr 20

A Springtime Treat for the Senses and Soul: “Crowns”

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Cast photo by Chelcy Garrett.

Presented by Moonbox Productions
Community Partner: Rosie’s Place
By Regina Taylor
Adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry
Directed by Regine Vital
Associate Directed by Davron Monroe
Music Directed by David Coleman
Music Accompaniment by David Freeman Coleman (keyboard) and Brandon Mayes (drums)
Costume Design by E Rosser
Set Design by Baron E. Pugh
Featuring: Cortlandt Barret, Janelle Grace, Kaedon Gray, Lovely Hoffman, Mirrorajah, Cheryl D. Singleton, Mildred E. Walker

April 11th – May 4th
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St., Cambridge, MA 02138.
Tickets here

Article by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — After a long, dark winter, Crowns is a musical manifestation of springtime, bursting with color, decadence, and jubilation. Regina Taylor’s musical is adapted from Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry’s photography/oral history book of the same name, and it’s been a staple of the American regional theatre scene for over two decades. Although this musical celebration of African American womanhood is in many ways timeless, Moonbox Production’s staging, directed by Regine Vital, is impeccably here-and-now, coming across as a breath of sweet, fresh air in this dire political moment.

Crowns is largely structured like a church worship service, but it is bookended by Yoruban ritual. The first sounds we hear come from Man/Elegba’s (the only male character, played by Kaedon Gray) staff during the processional prologue, a heartbeat that echoes through the play and draws a clear connection between Black church culture and African tradition. Crowns proceeds with a scant narrative: Yolanda (Mirrorajah), a young, hardened teen, is sent from Brooklyn to the South after her brother is killed. There, her grandmother (Mildred E. Walker) welcomes her into a community of Church Ladies, who regale Yolanda with stories about their most sacred, royal accessory: hats. 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 →

Mar 31

An Invitation to Sacred Vulnerability: “Night Side Songs”

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Jonathan Raviv and Brooke Ishibashi in “Night Side Songs” at Under the Radar’s “Under Construction.” Photo: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall

Presented by American Repertory Theater in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company
Words and music by Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour
Directed by Taibi Magar
Music Direction and Piano Arrangements by Alex Bechtel
Featuring: Jordan Dobson, Robi Hager, Brooke Ishibashi, Johathan Raviv, Mary Testa

March 27 – April 20
At the Cambridge Masonic Temple from March 27 – April 6
At Hibernian Hall, April 8 – 20
Tickets and information here

Content Advisory: This production contains descriptions of cancer treatments as well as discussions of grief, loss of a parent, and terminal illness. Recommended for ages 15+.

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass — Night Side Songs is not a religious story, but it is the closest I have ever come to having a spiritual experience in the theatre.

This production by the Lazour brothers, aptly described by the A.R.T. as a “communal music-theater experience,” is simultaneously concerned with the benign materiality and ineffable transcendence of human existence. In one moment, central character Yasmine (Brooke Ishibashi) discusses her love of Velveeta mac-and-cheese; in another, she contemplates the unfathomable smallness of existence – two distinct but equally holy experiences. Continue reading →