Jan 03

A Bite-Sized Wrench in the Machine: “Lunch Bunch”

(at table) Laura Hubbard as Nicole, Alex Leondedis as Greg, Parker Jennings as Tuttle, Cristhian Mancinas-García as Jacob, Michael (Shifty) Celestin as Tal, Paola Ferrer as Hannah, Julia Hertzberg at Mitra – Photos: Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company
Play by Sarah Einspanier
Direction and Sound Design by Danielle Faeuteux Jacques
Scenic and Sound Design by Joseph Lark-Riley
Featuring: Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia, Parker Jennings, Paola Ferrer, Michael (Shifty) Celestin, Alex Leondedis, Julia Hertzberg, Laura Hubbard, Dev Luthra, Katie Pickett, Brooks Reeves

December 30, 2023 – January 21, 2024
Chelsea Theatre Works
189 Winnisimmet St
Chelsea MA, 02150

Content advisory: dialogue about diet culture

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CHELSEA, Mass. — Lunch Bunch feels longer than its snappy one-hour run time, and that’s very much a positive: the lives depicted onstage are so harried, so high-stakes, so existentially draining, that I left Apollinaire Theatre Company feeling as though I’d lived an entire lifetime. Continue reading

Feb 19

Please Live Life to Its Fullest Responsibly: “People, Places & Things”


Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company 
Written by Duncan MacMillan
Directed by David R Gammons
Dramaturgy by Rulas A Muñoz

Feb. 11 – March 5, 2022
Audio Description – February 19 at 8pm and February 20 at 3pm
Open Captioning – March 3 at 2pm and 7:30pm
South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
527 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116
SpeakEasy on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CONTENT ADVISORY:  This production contains depictions of addiction and self-harm, discussions of sexual assault, an extended strobe light sequence, herbal cigarette smoke, and loud noises.

BOSTON — A friend once told me, despite the burden mental illness can present, that the brain is trying to help. The myriad painful symptoms I and many others experience as effects of mental illness are the brain’s way of facilitating, even normalizing the abnormalities of life. Sometimes, I’d rather it not. 

Just because the brain is trying to help, it doesn’t mean the brain is actually helping. It takes tremendous discipline to correct negative behaviors and toxic thoughts and to learn new ones. Failure is inevitable. If it takes a village to teach toxic patterns, it takes another village to reinforce positive ones. 

SpeakEasy Stage’s People, Places & Things running at the BCA is about addiction, mental health, the theatre, and identity. Emma (Marianna Bassham in a performance that will blow your mind) is in denial. She abuses drugs to cope with her performing career, her family, and the life that happens in-between. She’s on so many drugs when she collapses on stage during a production of The Seagull, it’s a miracle she isn’t dead already.  Continue reading