Tag Archives: July

Jul 31

Life and Death are Sneaky Creatures: “Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God”

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Promotional image by Corrie Aune. Vikings and design by Bagels N Pretzels Illustration

Presented by Flapjack Theatrics
Written, directed and designed by Tia Shearer Bassett
Music: “I Promise” by Alex Kozobolis
Promotional image by Corrie Aune
Vikings and design by Bagels N Pretzels Illustration

July 27 & Aug 3, 2025 at 2 PM
Aug. 1, 2025 at 7 PM
Zoom (tickets)
Flapjack Theatrics on IG
Approximately 30 minutes. Recommended for adults.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM — The epically named Zoom show Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God by multi-hyphenate performer Tia Shearer Bassett was created in honor of the artist’s heroic year of cancer treatments. It is short, sweet, and jam-packed with enthusiastic energy. Its July 27th show was performed in honor of Sarcoma Month. Bassett performs Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God again on August 1st and 3rd.

Bassett says Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God is an experimental adventure show based on her experiences getting chemo treatments for cancer. She tells us that, as she received treatment, Bassett overheard a man in a separate treatment area reading the tales of ancient Vikings aloud to his mother. These stories kept this anonymous man’s mother calm. The stories also cheered up Bassett (and I’m sure, many others).

These tales inspired Bassett to create a new Viking adventure with her Zoom audiences. To do this, she incorporates audience-inspired idea gathering, on-camera audience participation, speaking and singing together while one’s camera is muted, and a dash of sparkly makeup. Audience members are welcome to participate as much or as little as they’d like, but it’s more fun when everyone participates together. 

After an introduction, Bassett began the show by asking us to give ourselves a Viking group name and a personal Viking name. For example, I was Pedicurevi of the Screaming Death Defying Squiggle Bards. A more heroic name there never existed, I’m sure. 

From there, Bassett took us through her experiences of receiving her diagnosis, finding hope despite the deep well of hopelessness that is cancer, and eventually, her successful treatment. She used simple but effective paper puppets and title-cards to tell her story. Sometimes she was quiet and let her production music speak for her. Other times, Bassett wove her story with high energy and poetic words. Our 30 minutes together passed quickly. 

Tia Shearer Bassett is a natural fit for children’s theatre, although Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God is intended for adults. Her exuberant energy is warm and kind. As a performer, she wants the best for her audience, even if it means leaving the show to return when we are ready. 

Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God has a lot of heart. Currently, at its condensed core, it has more heart than it has a structured story. Yes, we learn about Bassett’s Vikings and why they glitter. We hear a little about Bassett’s cancer treatment but less of her hope-fueled recovery. We surmise that hearing the tales read aloud was a treat for her and brought her hope, but Bassett doesn’t elaborate about why the stories appealed to her so much, how she decided to write a show about them, and what she thinks we should take away from that show.

No should retraumatize themselves to tell their story, but some elaboration is necessary to make a one-woman show relevant to newcomers. We want to know in Bassett’s own words why the Viking stories appealed to her so much or how hearing them caused her to change her life. By hearing Bassett’s specific story, we can apply its lessons to our own. Instead, her audience is left to assume details, and we all know what happens when we assume things. Also, who is the wolfish god? Does he have an altar on the Viking trade route? Inquiring minds need to know! 

Glitter Vikings of a Wolfish God has potential to be an awesome Zoom adventure. Not many adult theatre productions ask their audiences to gather energy like a Tai Chi practitioner, to detangle themselves from an invisible sweater, or to put themselves in the aching bones of a cancer survivor on calcium supplements. The world needs more empathy; Tia Shearer Bassett is doing important work by asking her audience to cultivate it.    

About Flapjack Theatrics:
Flapjack Theatrics is a one-ADHD-woman company dedicated to playful, welcoming and unconventional theatre in all kinds of spaces, with a focus on the beauty and delight of physical objects. Find more information about FJT and Tia Shearer Bassett on the website, https://flapjacktheatrics.com/.

Jul 13

Uneven Grandeur: “Evita”

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The cast of “Evita.”

Presented by Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston
Lyrics by Tim Rice 
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Direction and choreography – Rachel Bertone
Musical Direction – Dan Rodriguez
Scenic Design – Cameron McEachearn
Lighting Design and Production Design –  Baron Pugh
Costume and Wig Design – Ellie De Lucia
Sound Design – Sebastian Nixon

Online Playbill

July 11 – 20, 2025
Robinson Theatre
617 Lexington Street
Waltham, MA 02452

Critique by Craig Idlebrook

2 hours, 15 minutes with a 15-minute intermission

WALTHAM, Mass. — The musical Evita is having a moment. It is an interesting time for a resurgence of a play about a populist Argentine icon, when the world appears buffeted by the populist and authoritarian actions of some world leaders. 

The play, which started its Broadway run in 1979, is seeing a viral resurgence, thanks to a Rachel Zegler-led production in London that has taken some of its act outside the theater for the masses to enjoy. One would think that Eva Perón, the titular Argentine historical figure, would have appreciated the streetside stagecraft.  Continue reading →

Jul 15

Gold, Acrylic, Altar Work, Prayer, Selena & Janelle Monáe: “HOOPS”

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Presented by Company One Theatre in partnership with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the City of Boston’s Office of Arts and Culture
By Eliana Pipes
Adapted from The HOOPS Project by Nicole Acosta 
Directed by Tonasia Jones
Dramaturgy by afrikah selah
Compositions by Brandie Blaze
Choreography by Jenny Oliver 
Featuring: Brandie Blaze, Elijah Brown, Albamarina Nahar, Tiffany Santiago, Kaili Y Turner, Karimah Williams, Beyonce Martinez (swing)

July 12 – August 10, 2024
The Strand Theatre
543 Columbia Road
Dorchester, MA

Approximate run time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
This production includes explicit language.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

DORCHESTER, Mass. — Hoops is adapted from The HOOPS Project by Nicole Acosta in 2019. It was created when Acosta asked fellow members of the art collective LUNA, “What do hoop earrings mean to you?” Their answers were accompanied by photos of the members wearing their own hoop earrings. 

Playwright Eliana Pipes adapted stories from The HOOPS Project for the stage. Company One presents HOOPS at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester through August 10. It has also played in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Continue reading →

Aug 18

Mockumentary, not Mockery? Or, The Kids are Alright?: “Theater Camp”

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Theater Camp the film
Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman
Written by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt
Featuring Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Jimmy Tratto, Nathan Lee Graham, Amy Sedaris

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Find Your Local Listing — Like virtually every movie-about-theater that has come before it, Theater Camp features an audition montage. The young performers have barely unpacked for their summer at AdirondACTS (a rundown summer camp in upstate New York) when, one by one, they file onstage to determine their fates for the next three weeks. Stage lights in their eyes and Broadway dreams in their hearts, they begin to belt.

Watching the movie last week, I braced myself for secondhand embarrassment.

And yet, against every precedent set by other films in the mockumentary genre, no embarrassment came. Instead, I found myself beaming with joy. These kids are good, I thought. Nerdy and not great at choosing audition songs, but good. I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was this early audition montage that convinced me that Theater Camp is unique. Theater Camp plays with the expected mockumentary tropes, particularly in its characterizations: everyone at AdirondACTS is a caricature of a theater person, from Rebecca-Diane and Amos (Molly Gordon and Ben Platt), the overly serious co-writers of the summer’s original musical, to Glenn, the thankless stagehand with a secret dream to be in the spotlight (Noah Galvin). Continue reading →

Jul 23

Application Opens for the 2023 Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism

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NEW YORK: On July 10, the American Theatre Critics Association opened applications for the second annual 2023 Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism on its website, https://americantheatrecritics.org/edward-medina-prize/. The application will close on August 11, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

APPLY HERE

All applicants will be notified of their application status by October 1, 2023. The Medina Prize will be presented in November 2023.

Edward Medina

The ATCA website says the Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism is an award for reviewers, critics, and journalists in the U.S. from under-represented groups (women, people of the global majority, trans, and non-binary) who write about theater and its role in highlighting people from various cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.

The prize is meant to cultivate relationships between ATCA and diverse critics, to increase readership of cultural criticism by diverse writers, and to financially support critics from under-represented groups. Continue reading →

Jul 17

Every Story is a Galaxy of Stars: “The Boy Who Kissed The Sky”

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Presented by Company One Theatre in partnership with the City of Boston’s Office of Arts and Culture
By Idris Goodwin
Music by Divinity Roxx and Eugene H. Russell IV
Directed by Summer L. Williams
Music directed by David Freeman Coleman
Choreography by Victoria Lynn Awkward
Dramaturgy by afrikah selah

The Strand Theatre
543 Columbia Rd
Boston, MA 02125

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON, Mass. — The cast of The Boy Who Kissed the Sky performed admirably on Saturday evening despite technical difficulties and intense heat. The beloved Strand Theatre is old and, despite its renovations, failed under the extreme heat. The actors and band met the moment with indomitable will and aplomb. 

Idris Goodwin’s The Boy Who Kissed the Sky is a fantasy on the childhood of Jimi Hendrix in music, dance, and color. A Boy (Errol Service Jr.) lives with his father (Cedric Lilly) in Seattle. The Boy imagines universes across a history of rock music with pencil set to paper as he strums a broom that bleeds corn bristles.

His multidimensional, intergenerational guide and musical conscience is J. Sonic (Martinez Napoleon). Together with the groovy Feedbacks (Yasmeen Duncan, Kiera “Kee” Prusmack, James Turner, and Adriana Alvarez) they witness a world of experiences so the Boy can find his own rock n roll voice.  Continue reading →

Jul 03

Beyond Brotherly Bickering to Mutual Respect: “619 Hendricks”

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Victor Hugo Hart, Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia, and Juan Carlos Pinedo Rivera in “619 Hendricks.” Photo from Teatro Chelsea’s Facebook page.

Presented by Teatro Chelsea
Written by Josie Nericcio
Directed by Armando Rivera
Fight choreography by Matthew Dray

June 15-July 1, 2023
Chelsea Theatre Works
181 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA 02150

This play was a finalist in Teatro’s 3rd Annual A-Tipico Latinx New Play Festival.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CHELSEA, Mass. — Teatro Chelsea’s production of Josie Nericcio’s 619 Hendricks ran at Chelsea Theatre Works through July 1. The run is over but maybe, if we ask nicely, it will play somewhere else soon. Massachusetts needs to celebrate more quality theatre like 619 Hendricks.

The general rule, when it comes to family or friends and money, is don’t lend. Give. That money is already gone and will never be paid back once it changes hands. Humans have a short memory for gratitude.  

In Laredo, Texas, two brothers mourn the death of their mother. Mama has left them her house in her will. The eldest, Nesto (Juan Carlos Pinedo Rivera), wants to sell right away to a big developer in town. Richie, a fancy Hollywood writer, (Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia) wants to wait. They stubbornly refuse to discuss why they feel this way. Their inability to talk leads to a war for the house and for their pride.  Continue reading →

Jun 30

Breadth without Depth: “The Lehman Trilogy”

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Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

Presented by The Huntington
By Stefano Massini
Adapted by Ben Power
Directed by Carey Perloff
Featuring Joshua David Robinson, Steven Skybell, Mayer Lehman
Music performed by Joe LaRocca
Dramaturgy by Julie Felise Dubiner

June 29 – July 23, 2023
264 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Update: This article previously credited Carey Perloff as the former artistic director of the incorrect institution. Perloff was the AD of American Conservatory Theater.

BOSTON, Mass. — If the playbill for The Lehman Trilogy is any indication, The Huntington artistic team knows that are dealing with a flawed, if renowned, play. The three-and-a-half-hour epic has a developmental history of international proportions: Italian playwright Stefano Massini’s play about Jewish-American bankers was adapted by British playwright Ben Power, then enjoyed critical acclaim on the West End before transferring to Broadway and winning the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play.

The production was a critical darling, but never without its skeptics. Think-pieces abound have accused the play of a) pandering in antisemitic tropes and b) sidestepping the centrality of slavery in the Lehman brothers’ (and more broadly, capitalism’s) rise to power. Continue reading →

Oct 17

A Season of Farewells in Western MA: KO Festival of Performance and the Royal Frog Ballet

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“The Surrealist Cabaret” by The Royal Frog Ballet. Image from Frog Ballet/Facebook

The KO Festival of Performance
FLUSHING: Make Room for Someone Else
Presented by Sandglass Theater and Parris-Bailey Arts
Written and Performed by Linda Parris-Bailey and Eric Bass
Directed by Kathie deNobriga
Puppets by Ines Zeller Bass
Hampshire College
July 22 – 24, 2022

EZELL: Ballad of a Land Man
Presented by Clear Creek Creative
Written and Performed by Bob Martin
Directed by Nick Silie
Hampshire College, Amherst MA
July 29 – 31, 2022

The Royal Frog Ballet
Surrealist Cabaret
Park Hill Orchard, Easthampton, MA
October 7 – 8, 2022

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Western Mass — Theatre artists should be experts in grief: we build sets with the knowledge that we will strike them in a few brief months; we play trust games and cultivate micro-communities, only to part ways once our contracts end; we witness our art fade from memory as quickly as it’s brought to life. We are peddlers in ephemera. And yet, when it comes time to bid farewell to a process or project, it is sometimes nigh-impossible to release our white-knuckled hold on what-was.

This year, two long-standing Western Massachusetts theatre companies – both dedicated to producing work that is fresh, surprising, and even strange – reckoned with their own relationships to endings, grief, and release.

The KO Festival of Performance staged its 31st and final season this summer around the theme of “Stepping Up / Stepping Back.” KO has a storied history of producing original work, supporting local and visiting artists, and cultivating a sense of community through post-show discussions and workshops. Continue reading →

Jul 29

Ritual, Community and Baring Your Soul with Strangers: “(Tr)auma Queen: Feeling Spilt Milk, OR a series of experimental poetry to escape the shape of doorframes, also known as, a ritual of lemons”

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production poster found on FringePVD website. this poster is badass.

Presented by FringePVD and The Wilbury Theatre Group
By and Featuring Teddy Lytle and Bay McCulloch

July 21 – 23, 2022
The Waterfire Arts Center Back Lot
475 Valley St,
Providence, RI

45 minutes without intermission

Review by Nicole LaBresh

PROVIDENCE, RI – When I think of Fringe, at the forefront of the word salad it conjures is “vulnerability.” Fringe in particular brings out the most intensely personal, soul-baring works. It does so largely by allowing artists free reign to put on whatever show they want. It is, among other things, a festival of works from the heart.

For the uninitiated, the Fringe Festival is a theatre festival devoted to experimental or fringe theatre works. It got its start in Edinburgh, but now has chapters all over the world, including one in Providence presented by The Wilbury Theatre Group, now in its ninth year. At a Fringe, you will see works the likes of which you probably have never seen before and that you may never see again. The performances range from poetry to music, dance to clownery, and things that defy any categorization. After two years without a live Fringe Festival because of COVID-19, local artists have a ton of pent up expression ready to be unleashed. Continue reading →