Moving Forward: Too Soon to Talk About Post-Pandemic Life? Presented by The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, February 9, 2022 ONLINE — YOUTUBE RECORDING Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Facebook
Article by Afrikah Smith
ONLINE – With recent news of post-pandemic plans and mask mandates being lifted as early as April 2022 in California and New York, is it too soon to talk about a post-pandemic life in the Greater Boston area? With the trajectory of where we are heading, no. In fact, there is optimism that 2022 will be better.
Hosted by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, GBCC President & CEO James Rooney moderated Moving Forward: Too Soon to Talk About Post-Pandemic Life?. Theone-hour panel featured guest speakers Dr. Kevin Churchwell, Dr. Anne Klibanski, and Dr. Kevin Tabb, from Boston’s leading healthcare institutions, on what we can possibly expect in the very near future. Continue reading →
The cast in The Huntington’s production of The Bluest Eye by Lydia R. Diamond; Photo by T Charles Erickson.
Presented by The Huntington Based on the American classic novel by Toni Morrison Written by Lydia R. Diamond Directed by Awoye Timpo Choreography by Kurt Douglas Music direction by David Freeman Coleman Original music by Justin Ellington Dramaturgy by Sandy Alexandre Intimacy direction by Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson
January 28 – March 13, 2022 Digital access available through March 27, 2022 ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: Friday, February 11 at 8pm. OPEN CAPTIONED PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, February 15 at 7:30pm. AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE: Saturday, February 26 at 2pm Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Boston, MA The Huntington on Facebook
The Bluest Eye plays in approximately one hour and 40 minutes with no intermission.
Content warning: every kind of violence amidst a Black community
Critique by Kitty Drexel
“Coming together in a circle to tell a story is essential to our humanity. That’s what we’re inviting the community into with The Bluest Eye.” – Director Awoye Timpo
Boston, MA — The synopsis for The Bluest Eye would have a newcomer believe that the play is about unattainable, western i.e. colonialist beauty standards. It is, but The Bluest Eye is about much more.
Pecola Breedlove (Hadar Busia-Singleton) has come to stay with Claudia (Brittany-Laurelle) and Freida (Alexandria King). We learn through Claudia’s narration all about the Breedloves. Mrs. Breedlove (McKenzie Frye, who tears the roof off in her role) and Mr. Cholly Breedlove (Greg Alverez Reid) are scarred from growing up in the Midwest.
Through an examination of their stories, we come to understand Pecola and why she dreams of having blue eyes. Ramona Lisa Alexander, Brian D. Coats and Lindsley Howard round out the cast. The cast is excellent together and individually in their own right. Continue reading →
BOSTON — Theatreworks Hartford streamed a version of Mr. Parent in March 2021. The Lyric’s live, in-person production is a different beast from TheatreWorks Hartford. While both versions tell the same story, the current production of Mr. Parent at The Lyric evolved for the stage.
Maurice Emmanuel Parent is compassionate, generous, kind, and funny as Hell in Mr. Parent. The play’s story begins in New York City. Parent is a wide-eyed theatre professional seeking his fortune on Broadway and beyond when his agent sends him to Boston to audition for Angels in America. He gets the gig.
A miserable union salary and 2006 Boston rent prices force Parent to find a second job. He becomes a cluster substitute teacher in a Boston public school. His cluster-job was a clusterfuck of joys and frustrations. Continue reading →
December 21, 2021 to March 19, 2022. December 2021 – March 2022 Open Daily 10 am – 9 pm SoWa Power Station 550 Harrison Ave Boston, MA Info for Boston Attendees
Review by Kitty Drexel
BOSTON — I tried not to have expectations entering Imagine Van Gogh.
Without intending to, I expected Imagine Van Gogh to be like Yayoi Kusama’s “Love Is Calling” which ran at the ICA. Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms is immersive and kaleidoscopic. Imagine Van Gogh is also immersive. Van Gogh’s paintings are magnified and set to the music of classical artists Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Bach, Delibes and Satie. It makes Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings accessible to an audience that can pay the ticket price.Continue reading →
The cast getting down. Photo Credit: Nikolai Alexander
Presented by Moonbox Productions Written by Stew with collaborator Heidi Rodewald Orchestrations by Heidi Rodewald Directed by Arthur Gomez Music direction by Julius LaFlamme Choreography by Elmer Martinez Intimacy consulting by Olivia Dumain Band: Miles Ahlstrom, Hector Saint-Hilaire, Sahil Warsi
12/10/21 – 1/1/22 South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Boston, MA Moonbox on Facebook
Critique by Kitty Drexel
BOSTON – I was today years old when I realized that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is an bacronym for LSD, the psychedelic drug made famous by Harvard Professor Timothy Leary. It took watching Moonbox Productions’ Passing Strange on Saturday afternoon to figure it out. Several hours and a weak tea later, I realized I was a total square.Continue reading →
Presented by The Huntington Produced in association with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse Written by Mike Lew Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Assistant direction and movement coordination by Ashleigh King Choreography by Jennifer Weber Fight choreography by Robb Hunter
Content warning: Disabled people exist everywhere 24/7. If this play “expands your world,” you should know that’s ableist, and it’s really not about you.
BOSTON — This one time, in the Before Times, I was taking an ashtanga-style yoga class, and a random woman told me I was “inspirational.” I was dripping in sweat after having performed 60-minutes of intermediate poses with only one arm, and a brunette Karen in Athleta and Lululemon compression wear decided it was super important to tell me that I inspired her. She didn’t say what I inspired her to do, just that I was “inspirational.”
I wish I could say that I told the Karing Karen she inspired me to vomit a little in my mouth, but I was too shocked to say much of anything. I picked up my mat, and I skedaddled out of the studio to fume inspirationally in peace.
This horse can’t even do yoga.
I live with brachial plexus palsy, a permanent paralysis of my left arm from my shoulder through my fingers. (Coincidentally, it’s also the sexiest of the palsies.) Sometimes complete strangers find my ability to do completely normal, everyday things Inspirational. Showing up to yoga is difficult for everyone, Karen.
Abled people have a nasty habit of deriving inspiration from the inabilities of disabled people. We aren’t inspirational just because you find relief from not being disabled. Your inability to see us as people with lives is a You problem. As Buck says in Teenage Dick now at The Huntington, “Please don’t involve me.”Continue reading →
Photo by Stratton McCrady: Matthew Swain, Julien Tornelli, Fady Demian.
Presented byBoston Playwrights’ Theatre Written By Ally Sass Directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo A BU New Play initiative production Produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre
BOSTON — Incels and Other Myths invites the audience into the world of massive multiplayer online gaming and the Lord of the Flies corners of the internet, where misogyny has even less consequences than in the physical world. Elaine (Allison Blaize), a mythology teacher at an all-girls high school, and her precocious but awkward son Avery (Aidan Close) play the historical fantasy game, “Oracle.” In “Oracle,” they try on highly gendered, performative personas and encounter friends and monsters that help them get in touch with integral parts of themselves they couldn’t face in real life.Continue reading →
Produced by The Nora@Central Square Theater A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production Written by Lauren Gunderson Directed by Bryn Boice Dramaturgy by Julie-Anne Whitney Voice & text direction by Christine Hamel Starring Lee Mikeska Gardner & Debra Wise
November 11 – December 12, 2021 Central Square Theater 450 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 CST on Facebook
Digital streaming: The digital stream of The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available from November 28 to December 26, 2021.
Review by Kitty Drexel
Cambridge, Mass. — The Half-Life of Marie Curie presented by The Nora Theatre Company is a platonic love story between two adult scientists separated by distance and their fields. It’s a show to see with your best friend. It is warmly written and bravely acted.
In the summer of 1912, two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie (Lee Mikeska Gardner) hermited herself with friend and confidant Hertha Aryton (Debra Wise who entered wig first), renowned mechanical engineer. Curie was hounded by pigeonous journalists for daring to love in her widowhood. Aryton opened her seaside home to Curie and her daughters. They spoke of science, nature, womanhood, and many other things. Continue reading →
Chelsea, Mass. — TLP’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a forthright production. It takes no risks, but it lacks pretension. The staging is simple but the vocals are strong. The orchestra performs mightily. It is exactly what a good Sweeney Todd should be at a community level. Continue reading →
Steven Cuevas at the piano with Kira Helper, Charlie Thurston, Reggie D. White, and Whitney White in rehearsal for Macbeth In Stride. Photo: Lauren Miller
Presented by American Repertory Theatre Created and performed by Whitney White Orchestrations Steven Cuevas and Whitney White Music Director Steven Cuevas Choreography Raja Feather Kelly Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky and Taibi Magar
October 23 – November 14, 2021 Audio Described Performances: Friday, November 12 at 7:30PM and Saturday, November 13 at 2PM Open Captioned Performances: Thursday, November 11 at 7:30PM and Saturday, November 13 at 2PM Loeb Drama Center Cambridge, MA ART on Facebook
Review by Diana Lu
Macbeth in Stride is a lush pop, rock, gospel, and R&B musical theater event that can only be described as An Experience. It is the first of a five-part series by Obie Award-winning artist Whitney White examining the women of Shakespeare through a black, queer, feminine lens. I’m often skeptical of shows with stated agendas like this, but Macbeth in Stride delivered far more than what was promised, in more ways than I expected.Continue reading →
