Tag Archives: Zoom theatre

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/.

Mar 13

Show More, Explain Less: “POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

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Presented by CirqueSaw
Created by Nathan Leigh
Performed by Nicole Orabona

March 9-18, 2023
A Virtual Event
Zoom access required
40 Minutes

Critique by Kitty Drexel

ONLINE — I greatly respect artists who are involved in every aspect of the creation process of their art, but I don’t advise it. Creator Nathan Leigh is a multi-hyphenate who wrote, composed, directed, coded, and designed POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness. Such intimacy with his work means he knows he can track every nuance and fine detail.

Such intimacy does not grant Leigh a fresh perspective or even moderate insight into glaring problems. In academic circles, this is when a professor would invite the dreaded reviewer #2 into the editing process.

 Reviewer #2, in theory, should offer handy advice that a writer hasn’t considered. This is almost never the case in scientific circles. In artistic workshopping, it will be helpful if the artists are open-minded. It is in the spirit of creating thoughtful and mind-enriching art that I offer the following critique. Continue reading →

Mar 10

If You See Something, No You Didn’t: “Cointelshow: A Patriot Act”

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Presented by ArtsEmerson 
Produced by Mondo Bizarro Productions
Written by L.M. Bogad
Performed by Bruce France
Composed by Peter J. Bowling
Virtual backend by Dan Pruksarnukul
Directed by Nick Slie and Dan Pruksarnukul
Scenic design by Bruce France, Dan Pruksarnukul, Nick Slie & Yamil Rodriguez
Additional collaboration: Yamil Rodriguez

March 8-12, 2023
Virtual Event
Zoom access required
Zoom closed captioning available
60-minutes

Critique by Kitty Drexel

“Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?”

-Critic, playwright, and screenwriter Dorothy Parker in Parker’s home in April 1951 responding to FBI interrogation about Communist party activities. The dog, smelling dirty rats, began barking as soon as the agents entered the premises. 

Good dog.

ONLINE — Cointelshow: A Patriot Act is brought to you by the letters H, U, A, C and the numbers 1,9,6 and 9. It’s a niche theatre project that will appeal to folks invested in streamed live theatre. It will intrigue folks who see the internet as the new frontier of civil liberties. We are the ones who must watch the watchers. 

Cointelshow: A Patriot Act is righteously, gloriously subversive AF. It dresses its subversion up in parody, parades it in front of an audience of judgmental peers, reveals its subversion as an unreliable narrator with mental illnesses, and then proclaims its subversion as completely normal and meme-worthy. Here kids, have a Tiktok.  Continue reading →

Jan 25

Poverty is Expensive: Rattlestick’s “Addressless”

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A screen grab from “Addressless.” The cast discusses their options.

Presented by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Community partnered with Urban Pathways, Community Access
Adapted from STEREO AKT‘s and Lifeboat Unit’s Hungarian production of Addressless.
Created & directed by Martin Boross
Written by Jonathan Payne
Script consultants: Hope Beaver, Cassie Desalines, Shams DaBaron aka “Da Homeless Hero”
Video editing by Matthew Russell
Graphics & animation by Maiko Kikuchi
Streaming technician: Keenan Hurley
Featuring: Joey Auzenne, Hope Beaver, Shams DaBaron a.k.a. “Da Homeless Hero,” & Bianca Norwood

Thursday, January 13 – Sunday, February 13, 2022
Presented over Zoom
Tickets
Digital Program
Rattlestick on Facebook

Content warnings: Addressless discusses at length issues faced by the unhoused community such addiction and sobriety, bigotry, sex trafficking, shame, government benefits programs, and other forms of abuse. This show can be intense. It may not be appropriate for children under 12. 

Critique by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM — Addressless is heart-breakingly honest digital theatre. If you’re looking for something to take you out of the monotony of COVID-living, creators Boross and Payne have a solution for you. Their two-hour, interactive, roleplaying theatre game is a reminder that life’s struggles don’t end just because there’s a pandemic at your door. 

This production begins like any other over Zoom: the host invites attendees in, we wait patiently for the show to start. Addressless is slightly different because it asks attendees to fill out a survey via a link in the chat. The survey asks participants personal questions about their identity, financial situation, and if they’ve ever been unhoused. Have you lived on the streets? For how long?  Continue reading →

Jan 10

A Lot to Unpack: Guerilla Opera’s “Rumpelstiltskin”

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Presented by Guerilla Opera 
Based on the tale by the Brothers Grimm
Composed by Marti Epstein
Libretto by Marti Epstein and Greg Smucker
Shadow puppetry animation and direction by Deniz Khateri
Conducted by Jeffrey Means
Featuring the Guerilla Opera Ensemble

Premiere date/Reviewed on January 7, 2022
Via Parma Live Stage

Upcoming: 
Rumpelstiltskin Studio Album & Release Party
January 14 at 7:30
An Online Event
Album is available on Navona Records

Review by Kitty Drexel

ONLINE — On January 7, Guerilla Opera held an online viewing party to premiere their short opera Rumpelstiltskin on Parma Live Stage. Rumpelstiltskin will be presented again at the album’s release party on January 14, 7:30 PM. The album will be available on Navona Records. 

Composer Marti Epstein and Guerilla Opera retell the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin story with some updates for their opera. Rumpelstiltskin (Aliana de la Guardia), a human man with magical abilities, is now portrayed as a sympathetic character according to Epstein’s “Note from the Composer” available on the Navona Records website. The opera explains Rumpelstiltskin’s desire for a child and elaborates on his single-minded obsession with obtaining one: unconditional love.  Continue reading →

Dec 15

No Room at the Inn: “Witness”

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WITNESS: A new virtual documentary theater piece

A screen capture of the online platform.

Presented by Arlekin Players’ (Zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab
Conceived and directed by Igor Golyak
Written by Nana Grinstein with Blair Cadden & Igor Golyak
Scenography & Costume Design by Anna Fedorova
Virtual Design by Daniel Cormino
Sound Design by Viktor Semenov
Produced by Sara Stackhouse
Dramaturgy by Blair Cadden 
Featuring the Arlekin Acting Company

December 10, 2021 – January 23, 2023
Over the Arlekin (zero-G) virtual Theater Lab platform
and Zoom
Arlekin Players on Facebook
Playbill

Review by Kitty Drexel

“It doesn’t feel virtual; it feels real.” 

– Talkback moderator Inessa Rifkin, a founder of the Russian Jewish Community Foundation and a founder of the Russian School of Mathematics, after the December 13 performance of Witness.  

ONLINE/Zoom  — It’s almost Yule! Here’s a Christmas story: In May 1939, the MS St. Louis carried 937 passengers from Nazi-occupied Germany to Havana, Cuba. The Cuban government refused the ship. Its passengers remained onboard; the ship didn’t dock. Cuba had cancelled the immigration papers of the onboard immigrants without notifying them. 

The United States refused the ship too. The US had space to put the passengers but our politicians let money and immigration law stop them from welcoming the passengers. We made a 1976 secular movie about it called “Voyage of the Damned” with Faye Dunaway. How American of us. 

The Jewish passengers were finally allowed some succor when the ship returned to Europe that June.  254 of the passengers died in the Holocaust: 84 in Belgium; 84 in Holland, and 86 in France. There was no room at the inn or the stable with Mary and Joseph. 

Witness by Arlenkin Players is about the fluffy talent show that the passengers held to boost morale. Local New Englanders who are also immigrants play passengers on the boat. It’s about the stark tragedy that our country, a nation that says it welcomes immigrants at its front door on the East Coast, decided that Jewish immigrants fleeing for their very lives should go elsewhere. Popup text boxes invite us to learn about who the passengers were and if they survived the ship. It’s about the multigenerational fight against anti-Semitism in the US. The Arlekin Acting Company portrays Jewish characters from across the decades. Continue reading →

Dec 09

Feed Your Head: “White Rabbit Red Rabbit”

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White Rabbit Red Rabbit
Presented by ArtsEmerson
Written by Nassim Soleimanpour/Iran
Performance viewed on Dec. 7, 7:30 PM
Dec. 7 – 12, 2021
Virtual Performance via Zoom
Program playbill
ArtsEmerson on Facebook 

ArtsEmerson Age Recommendation: 14+. We understand that certain types of content could trigger past traumatic experiences for some viewers. Please be aware that this production contains scenes discussing suicide.

ArtsEmerson Accessibility: White Rabbit Red Rabbit will feature live captions throughout the performance.

Review by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM — White Rabbit Red Rabbit is not a production to be enjoyed. It is to be endured. It behooves everyone with the means to watch to endure White Rabbit Red Rabbit. Continue reading →

Nov 19

And still those voices are calling from far away: “Zoo Motel”

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Presented by ArtsEmerson
A play by Thaddeus Phillips
Cocreated and directed by Tatiana Mallarino
Designed by Steven Dufala
Magic by Steve Cuiffo
Night Clerk: Newton Buchanan

November 16—21, 2021
The final performances! A virtual event via Zoom
ArtsEmerson on Facebook

AE Production Program featuring leadership team bios, a synopsis of the performance, and the full list of staff, artist and creative team credits for the production.

Originally presented via Miami Light Project Sept. 28 – Oct. 25, 2020. It is the longest running theatre play on the world wide web.

Review by Kitty Drexel

Virtual Boston, Mass — New England Theatre Geek reviewed Zoo Motel on October 14, 2020. The Quarantine was a dark time that produced some dark writing. Our ridiculously written review can be read here.

We were interested in seeing Zoo Motel again to see if it had updated since its 2020 run. Its creators have taken this show to audiences all over the world: Stockholm, Madrid, Perth, London, and now Boston. We can say that Zoo Motel still inspires wonder and awe. Continue reading →

Oct 25

New House, New Problems: “Someone Else’s House”

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Official screen shot of Mezzocchi. No photos or recordings of the performance are allowed.

Presented by TheatreWorks Hartford and Virtual Design Collective 
Written & performed by Jared Mezzocchi 
Directed by Margot Bordelon 
Playbill

TheatreWorks on Facebook  
October 21-31, 2021
TICKETS
A Live Virtual Performance: Performed over Zoom, watch live from your home or at the TheatreWorks theater

HAUNTED VIEWING from home* – Showtimes
Tuesday through Sunday at 8 pm
Saturdays at 8 pm and 12 Midnight

HAUNTED VIEWING in the theater – Showtimes 
Oct. 22, 23, & 24 and Oct. 29, 30 & 31 at 8 pm
IN-THEATER STREAMING watch parties @ 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT 06103

Review by Kitty Drexel

ZOOM/Hartford, CT — The new house/new problems horror movie trope follows a naive (usually white) family moving into their dream home. Strange, spooky things happen and the idiot family stays until the bodies are piled up.  Blood can hemorrhage from the walls and this family thinks it’s a tax write-off. 

A dank meme; Hooray, we’re going to die!

Speaking of obtuse families, Jared Mezzocchi’s lovely family moved into a 200-year-old house in Enfield, New Hampshire in 1977. TheaterWorks Hartford’s production of Someone Else’s House tracks the Mezzocchis move into a gorgeous mansion in Enfield. Mom and Dad had new jobs teaching at the elementary school. The kids had a pastoral town to grow up in. It should have been perfect. Continue reading →

Aug 02

One Percenters Gone Wild: “7 Rooms: The Masque of the Red Death”

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Prospero (Juliet Bowler) welcomes you! Photo via Flat Earth Theatre.

Presented by Flat Earth Theatre
New plays by Sari Boren, Hortense Gerardo, Gabriel Graetz, MJ Halberstadt, Michal Lin, Cliff Odle, Kelly Smith
Directed by Jessica Ernst, David R. Gammons, Lee Mikeska Gardner, Shira Helena Gitlin, Johnny Nichols, Jr., Elizabeth Yvette Ramirez, LaToya T. Robinson
“Prospero” by Amy Lehrmitt; directed by Lindsay Eagle; performed by Juliet Bowler.

Aesthetics Designs by Michael Clark Wonson
Sound by Kyle Lampe
Costumes by Zane Kealey
Props & special effects by S Ayala
Showrunner: Amy Lehrmitt
Dramaturgy by Betsy Goldman

Full cast of actors: Sydney Roslin, Kira Helper, Kristen Heider, Michael Lin, Sharmarke Yusuf, Shanelle Villegas, Kalee Burrows, Olivia Dumaine, Naomi Ibasitas, Evan Turissini, Jo Michael Rezes, Blair Nodelman, Lorraine Kanyike, and Miles Wheeler II.

July 28 – August 15, 2021
Steamed on Zoom 
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Can
Flat Earth on social media: @FE_theatre

Accessibility Notes: This online event offers captioning. Instructions are available before, and during the live-stream. 

Review by Kitty Drexel

Content Warnings: Blood, strong language, abuse of white privilege, mentions of cannibalism 

ZOOM — Flat Earth Theatre’s 7 Rooms: The Masque of the Red Death is a massive undertaking of considerably wide and deep proportions that will impress even the most nihilistic of digital theatre naysayers. 7 Rooms will tantalize; it’ll tease; it’ll entreat you to shake your booty. 

Running July 28 – August 15, audience members are invited to attend a party at Prospero’s (Juliet Bowler) extravagant mansion. There’s no need to rabble rouse with dirty plebes sick with the plague. Not when there’s a fancy ball to attend!   Continue reading →