Oct 26

A Look at Truth: “A Woman Ain’t I, A Depiction of Sojourner Truth”

Kathryn Woods as Truth in a prepandemic photo.

Directed and Performed by Historical Interpreter Kathryn Woods
October 9, 2020
Presented by History At Play, LLC
Pay-Per-HAP via Facebook Livestream

Review by Shiyanbade Animashaun

(Boston, MA) A Woman Ain’t I, A Depiction of Sojourner Truth is a One-Woman show about select moments in the life of Sojourner Truth. Creator Kathryn Woods has played this role since the 90s, though perhaps this was the first time it was broadcast into people’s homes via a Facebook Live stream. Continue reading

Aug 25

Make the World Better: “I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone”

Image via http://www.judithkalaora.com/i-now-pronounce-you-lucy-stone.html. Kalaora looked as luminous during the performance as she does here. 

Presented by History at Play’s Pay-Per-Hap program
Researched, written, produced and performed by Judith Kalaora
Music by Deborah Goss
Friday, August 21, 7:30 – 9 PM

Livestreamed on Facebook
History At Play on Facebook
An Upcoming Schedule of Performances

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Apologies to Judith Kalaora and the History At Play team for the tardiness of this post – we were without internet for five days and unable to post this review. 

FACEBOOK LIVE — The one-woman show, I Now Pronounce You Lucy Stone, began with a light, off-camera folk song performance minutes before 7:30 PM on August 21. Stone’s (Judith Kalaora) vibrant, full-bodied voice was heard as she puttered just offstage. As we learned, she had a lot to prepare for. MA native Lucy Stone fought for women’s right to vote in the 1840s. She nearly did it too. Unfortunately for all female-identifying individuals, women would have to wait another 80 years before wringing the privilege from men’s totalitarian grasp.  Continue reading

Jun 01

Streamed Content to Prevent COVID-19 Brain Drain: June is Bursting… Fuck the Police

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter – https://blacklivesmatter.com
Mass ACLU – https://www.aclum.org/en
Showing Up for Racial Justice – http://www.surjboston.org/
Mass Bail Fund –  https://www.massbailfund.org/
Violence in Boston https://www.violenceinboston.org/
M4BL – https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/
Pen Americahttps://pen.org/

Black Lives Matter to the New England Theatre Geeks. They matter to us through violent protests and during times of relative peace.

We Geeks are unapologetically supportive of the BLM Movement’s need to resist in the ways they deem best. Even the “problematic’ ways. We will continue to show up and shut up for the movement.

We ask all readers to remember that Black Lives will still Matter after the riots are cleared and your local government begins repairing the damage its police have wrought in its communities. Fuck the police.

No one is saying that white lives don’t matter. But, there sure are a lot of white people saying that Black Lives don’t Matter with their words, actions and hashtags. Police are the ones showing up with guns, tasers and pepper spray to nonviolent protests and inciting violence.(I’m not linking to that filth. Find it your damn self.)

June is Pride Month. As we step into this month of celebration, never forget that Black transwoman Marsha P. Johnson and Latina drag queen Sylvia Rivera started the Stonewall Riots. Pride is for everyone, not just the rich, white corporations that can sell it today and hypocritically pander to homophobic interest groups the next.

The New England Theatre Geek platform is available to the resistance to spread messages of justice and equity. Our resistance will stop when the bigotry stops.

Black Lives Matter
Trans Lives Matter
Native Lives Matter
Brown Lives Matter
LGBTQIA+ Lives Matter
Immigrant Lives Matter
Fuck the Police

Resist. Resist. Resist.
All my love,
Kitty
Queen of the New England Theatre Geeks

/////

Fresh Ink Theatre — All aboard for a digital staged reading of MAIDEN VOYAGE by Cayenne Douglass, streaming June 8-14! http://freshinktheatre.org/maiden-voyage
For a limited time only, we are bringing a digital staged reading of Maiden Voyage by Cayenne Douglass from the depths of the ocean straight to your computer screens! Don’t miss this maritime new play following the exploits and adventures of the first all-female patrol aboard a U.S. submarine.

Emmanuel Music — During this time of high anxiety and uncertainty, we hope that you will find solace, meaning, and beauty through the music of J.S. Bach. Over the coming weeks and months, our staff looks forward to engaging you further through complementary online resources, including video interviews, written reflections, program notes, and translations. We hope that we will see you as soon as restrictions are lifted and we can resume presenting live programs.

History At Play — In this presentation of Victorian Gossip Girl: Annie Adams Fields, History At PlayTM, LLC Founder and Artistic Director Judith Kalaora is Annie Fields, the Boston literary scout, author, and philanthropist. Mrs. Fields had an incredible influence on literary decisions at her husband’s Tremont Street publishing house – Ticknor and Fields (the forerunner to Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company) – and had a great ear for gossip!
A LIVE LIVE-STREAMED PERFORMANCE DIRECT TO YOUR HOME!
FRIDAY, JUNE 5 – 7:30 PM ET (GMT-5)
VIA PAY-PER-HAP FACEBOOK VIP WATCH GROUP
$5-$25 (Pay-What-You-Can) or $100 for a 2020 Season Pass
Schedule: June 5: Victorian Gossip Girl: Annie Adams Fields/ June 12: Tinseltown Inventor: The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, Hedy Lamarr/ June 19: CHALLENGER: Soaring with Christa McAuliffe/ June 26: Chit Chat with Dolley Madison / July 3: [No program]
July 10: World War Women: The Unsung Heroines of WWII / July 17: Rendezvous with Rachel Revere with Special Guest!/ July 24: Educational Lecture: Building a Business out of History/ July 31: A Revolution of Her Own! Deborah Sampson

Improv Boston — Starting at 8pm on June 5th, ImprovBoston will be hosting The ImprovBoston Virtual Marathon. 40 hours of live art and comedy to support the arts and save a theater. The event will be a telethon-style fundraising broadcast, live-streamed for free in its entirety at ImprovBoston.com/virtualmarathon. The event will conclude at 12pm on June 7th. DONATE HERE.

Goals for the event…

  1. Perform 40 hours in honor of our performers and stages at 40 Prospect Street;
  2. Collect 620+ donations in honor of our students and teachers at 620 Massachusetts Avenue; and
  3. Raise $114,000 in honor of our staff at 114 Bishop Allen Drive.

Liars & Believers — Introducing the next Pandemic Play, Entitled.
This dark little morsel is from our friend Peter Snoad (who also wrote The Greening of Bridget Kelley).
Entitled, Written by Peter Snoad. Directed by Lindsay Eagle.
Dobbin – Meredith Saran
Mr. Gross – Bob Mussett
with Sarah Gazdowicz as Linda

Newton Theatre Company — Join us for their next Zoom Radio Hour! Rebecca, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier.
Thursday, June 4th at 8 PM
Log on at 7:45 PM for Piano Entertainment by local musician Neil Miller
Register to view the production here– it’s free!

Let us know if we missed something! Email us at blognetheatregeek@gmail.com or find us on our social media pages.
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