The Otherworldliness and Exquisite Beauty of MRT’s “A Khmer Swan Lake”

April 10, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

“A Khmer Swan Lake”. Created by Angkor Dance Troupe, Inc. Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Liberty Hall, 50 E. Merrimack Street, Lowell, through April 26.

By Michele Markarian

Every so often, one sees a performance that’s so breathtakingly artful that it’s hard to describe. A Khmer Swan Lake, created by the Angkor Dance Troupe, is one of them, presenting a gorgeous rendition of the 19th-century ballet, first scored by Tchaikovsky (which Angkor gives a periodic nod to by inserting snippets of his score at key moments). Swan Lake writer and music composer Sot Somaly has created a sometimes lilting, often dramatic and melodic recorded score of traditional Cambodian music comprised of four singers and five musicians that capture the natural world, the world of the court, and the spiritual realm accordingly.

Bridget Kathleen O’Leary on the 5th Annual New Works Festival: “It is essential that we uplift the voices of Queer communities.”

April 9, 2026April 10, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Moonbox Productions originated the Boston New Works Festival in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Bridget Kathleen O’Leary, Director of New Play Development and Literary Engagement for Moonbox, recalled that the company “was trying to figure out, how do they uplift artists in the midst of this pandemic, when art isn’t being created. How do we keep people creatively engaged? Sharman Altshuler, who’s the artistic director of Moonbox, is really about how can she facilitate artists’ processes? How does she take things that people are excited about and help make them happen?”

CST’s ‘Breaking the Code’ Is Not To Be Missed

April 5, 2026April 10, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Matthew Beagan and Eddie Shields in Central Square’s ‘Breaking the Code’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

Breaking the Code by Hugh Whitemore; directed by Scott Edmiston, scenic design by Janie E. Howland, lighting design by Karen Perlow, costume design by Chloe Moore, sound design by Aubrey Dube, projections design by SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal, props design by Julia Wonkka, dialect coach Danny Bryck, stage manager Charles Waite Clay. Presented by Central Square Theater at 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA, through April 26, 2026.

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Many of us have heard the name Alan Turing, but few know much more about him than what he is most known for: breaking the Nazi Enigma code, which helped bring an end to WWII. Known as the father of computer science, Alan Turing was a pioneering English mathematician and cryptographer. In 1936, at just 24 years old, he developed the Universal Turing Machine, which would later lead to the creation of the first modern computer. During the Second World War, he worked as a codebreaker for the British government, creating a machine that could decode the German military’s encrypted transmissions, which likely saved millions of lives. In 1950, he published a paper that asked, “Can machines think?” which became the foundation for artificial intelligence.