Tag Archives: sex work

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 →

May 02

Wait & Let the Daddies Come to You: “Sugar”

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(from left to right): Tiffany Santiago and Chingwe Padraig Sullivan; Photo credit: Erin Solomon.

Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre
Written by Tara Moses
Directed by Audrey Seraphin
Dramaturgy by Quita Sullivan
Dialect Coaching by Allison Olivia Choat
Intimacy direction by Olivia Dumaine

April 18 – May 3, 2025
Plaza Black Box Theatre
Boston Center for the Arts
527 Tremont St
Boston, MA 02116

Content advisories: Sexual Content, Racism, Fatphobia, some hateful language.

2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission

Critique by Kitty Drexel

BOSTON — Sugar is about cis het sex work. So, we’re talking about cis heteros today. Somebody plan them a parade.  

Sugar by Tara Moses is the intersectional feminism leftists want to see in the world. It is about a young, plus-sized woman of color, Brooke (a heroic Tiffany Santiago), who lives the dream by capitalizing on the unpaid labor she once provided for free to her whiny, white, affluent “friends.” Artist and gig-worker Brooke is besties with Holly (Katherine Callaway, with a discomfortingly accurate portrayal), and the two couldn’t be more different. Holly is slim, blonde, and enjoys all the privileges her moneyed Caucasian looks provide her, such as her rich christian fiancé Will (Matthew Feldman-Campbell, as a himbo who only punches down), a job in an arts-related career, and a hefty family allowance that allows her to keep that arts job. 

Whereas, Brooke lives in an apartment from Hell, works multiple jobs that won’t provide healthcare, and is collapsing under student loan and credit card debt. She dates to supplement her meals, not to find love. Without her neighbor and chosen sister Nina (Tanya Avendaño Stockler, a spark of joy and the shimmering energy boost this production’s pacing needed), Brooke would be homeless and starving. A bestie who wants your labor without reciprocating is not your bestie.  Continue reading →

Jun 18

Darkness Eats Unwanted Souls, or The Homeless are Human: “King of Shadows”

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Trinidad Ramkissoon and Laura Chowenhill in “King of Shadows.” Photo via Flat Earth’s Facebook page.

Presented by Flat Earth Theatre
By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Directed by Michael Hisamoto
Puppetry by Amy Lehrmitt
Intimacy direction by Betsy S. Goldman

June 7 – 22, 2019
Mosesian Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA
Flat Earth on Facebook

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Disclaimer: I auditioned for this production, and was not cast. It is my opinion that only a jackass would allow rejection, a natural process of auditioning, to taint their review.

Trigger warnings: mentioned sexual abuse, mentioned sex work (which is real work)

(Watertown, MA) There is a lot of ambiguity in Aguirre-Sacasa’s King of Shadows. He doesn’t communicate a clear message to his audience.  Specifically, he doesn’t clarify what it is he’s trying to say. At no fault of Flat Earth, Hisamoto or the cast, Aguirre-Sacasa implies in only uncertain terms that teen homelessness is bad, rich grad students with savior complexes are ineffective, and fairytales are fun. The details are a mishmash of complications. Flat Earth does a good job with the script, but Aguirre-Sacasa isn’t doing them any favors. Continue reading →

Jun 18

No One is Exempt From Pain:”I Was Most Alive With You”

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© T Charles Erickson Photography; Russell Harvard and cast.

© T Charles Erickson Photography; Russell Harvard and cast.

Presented by the Huntington Theatre Co. 
Directed and written by Craig Lucas

Through June 26, 2016
Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA
Boston, MA
Huntington on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

This is a bilingual production; the text is expressed in English and ASL through interpreters. My heartfelt thanks to the crew of the Huntington for respecting the limitations of the hearing community.

(Boston, MA) Bad things happen to people. They just do. Religious pessimists might believe that the Powers That Be punish sinners but even good people experience tragedy. Piety provides no exemption. Bad things happen because they do. If we could understand why, maybe we could prevent them from happening. Continue reading →