Manual Cinema Brings Playful Puppetry to Wheelock Family Theatre with ‘Leonardo!’

October 12, 2025October 21, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Leonardo!’ at Wheelock Family Theatre

Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster, based on the books by Mo Willems; directed and adapted by Sarah Fornace and Drew Dir; 2D paper puppet and prop design by Drew Dir; music, lyrics, and sound design by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter; hand and rod puppet design by Lizi Breit; costume and wig design by Mieka Van der Ploeg; lighting design by Trey Brazeal with Nick Chamernik; dramaturgy by Megan Alrutz; stage managed by Maydi Díaz; created by Manual Cinema; presented by Wheelock Family Theatre in Boston, MA through October 19, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Manual Cinema is a Chicago-based performance collective that specializes in cinematic shadow puppetry. For Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster, presented by Wheelock Family Theatre, the troupe transforms two books by beloved children’s author Mo Willems into a unique live-action cinematic experience.

Central Square Theatre’s “Silent Sky” Shines – with Occasional Flickers.

October 11, 2025October 11, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Lee Mikeska Gardner, Jenny S. Lee, Erica Cruz Hernández in Central Square’s ‘Silent Sky’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Silent Sky’ – Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Sarah Shin. Stage Management from Fanni Horváth. Lighting Design by Eduardo M. Rameriz. Costume Design by Leslie Held. Sound Design by Kai Bohlman. Props Design by Julia Wonkka. Central Square Theatre’s ‘Silent Sky’ ran from September 11th – October 5th.

By Charlotte Snow

(Editor’s Note: Charlotte Snow designed the costumes for their 2025 production of SPACE at Central Square Theater)

Lauren Gunderson, who has penned such hits as I and You, The Book of Will, and Émilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, has been the nation’s most produced playwright for several years now. To me, her writing is the antithesis of David Mamet’s (which is her second greatest accomplishment). I have long harbored a love-hate relationship with her writing style. While love that she often focuses on intelligent, independent, and resourceful female heroines who strive to break into the sciences and/or other male-dominated fields, I frequently groan and cringe at her over-reliance on humor and sickeningly sweet faux sincerity. Central Square Theatre’s production of Silent Sky only furthers this love-hate relationship, even though the production is quite well done.

ArtsEmerson’s ‘Hang Time’ is a Searingly Powerful Call to Action

October 10, 2025October 10, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ArtsEmerson’s ‘Hang Time’. Photos by Maria Baranova

Hang Time, written and directed by Zora Howard; scenic design by Neal Wilkinson; movement direction by Charlie Oates; stunt direction by Rick Sordelet; lighting design by Reza Behjat; sound design by Megan Culley; costume design by Dominique Fawn Hill; produced by The Flea; presented by ArtsEmerson at the Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre/Paramount Center in Boston, MA through October 12, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

From the moment you walk into ArtsEmerson’s Black Box Theatre, you are confronted with an awful scene: three Black men hanging in mid-air. The image is provocative and shocking. You are no longer just an audience member; you have become a witness.

Kilian Melloy Interviews Playwright KJ Moran Velz, whose new play, ‘Mother Mary’ is premiering at BPT

October 10, 2025October 10, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Tara Forseth, Adriana Alvarez in BPT’s ‘Mother Mary’. Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography

by Kilian Melloy

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s season continues with KJ Moran Velz’s new play Mother Mary, a story set in 1968 that finds two women — cab driver Jo Cruz and Catholic schoolteacher Mary O’Sullivan — navigating not just the streets of Southie, but also the perils of the time and the eternal mysteries of love. What starts as a ride home turns into a shared daily ritual of commuting and discussing books like The Price of Salt. Jo’s uncertainties and Mary’s innocence are roadblocks on the road to romance, but so too are the insults hurled by community members who can see plainly that Jo likes women… something that Mary, catching onto, finds herself intrigued by. There’s a complication in that Mary is pregnant thanks to her boyfriend (also Catholic, but deployed to Vietnam), but that might just be something Jo happens to be able to help with…

Kilian Melloy Interviews Tom Coiner, Star of Merrimack Rep’s “Misery”

October 10, 2025October 10, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Kilian Melloy

It’s hellishly hard to get Stephen King’s work to translate well from page to screen; you’d better be a Stanley Kubrick, a Bran DePalma, or a Mike Flanagan if you hope to create the same sense of dread and terror King imbues his novels and short stories, or a Frank Darabont or a Rob Reiner to capture some of the same emotional charge and general atmospherics.

Winston Churchill Comes to Life in “Churchill”

October 9, 2025October 10, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

“Churchill” − Created and directed by David Payne. Presented by Emery Entertainment, Standford Calderwood Pavilion, 539 Tremont Street, through October 12.

by Michele Markarian

One-person shows are tricky in terms of verisimilitude – who is the person talking to? Why are they standing before us? Years ago, my grandmother, knowing I was fond of Emily Dickinson, took me to see “The Belle of Amherst” with Julie Harris. My twelve-year-old self didn’t buy the fact that Emily was willing to address a roomful of 650 strangers at Boston’s Colonial Theater for no apparent reason other than the fact that we were there. She even offered us cake when clearly there wasn’t enough to go around. It didn’t make for a credible suspension of disbelief.

Don’t Throw Away Your Shot to See Broadway in Boston’s Spectacular ‘Hamilton’

October 9, 2025 Theater Mirror1 Comment

Cast of Broadway in Boston’s ‘Hamilton’. Photos: Joan Marcus

‘Hamilton’ — Book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Inspired by Ron Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton.” Directed by Thomas Kail. Choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; Music Supervision and Orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, Boston through Nov. 2.

By Shelley A. Sackett

How lucky are we that Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to pack Ron Chernow’s biography, “Alexander Hamilton,” when preparing his bag to take on his first vacation in seven years after the Broadway run of his smash hit, In the Heights. He plowed through the 800+ page book and was mesmerized by Hamilton, particularly his story as a poor immigrant rising to power.

“The moment my brain got a moment’s rest, Hamilton walked into it,” he told Ariana Huffington in an interview.

With Top-Notch Performances, Front Porch Arts Collective’s ‘The Mountaintop’ Soars

October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Dominic Carter as MLK in Front Porch Arts Collective‘s ‘The Mountaintop’

‘The Mountaintop’ – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Ben Lieberman. Lighting Design by Brian Lilienthal. Sound Design by Joshua Jackson. Presented by the Front Porch Arts Collective at the Suffolk University Modern Theatre, 525 Tremont Street, Boston, through October 12, 2025

A powerful production of the play The Mountaintop is running at Suffolk’s Modern Theatre – a short Green Line ride away from the university (BU) where MLK earned a PhD in systematic theology in 1955, on the same campus where he delivered a speech entitled “The Future of Desegregation” at the Ford Hall Forum in 1963, and blocks away from the Boston Common, where he delivered a speech in 1965 and where a permanent monument honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled in 2023.

ASP’s ‘Macbeth’ is Imaginative, Disquieting

October 7, 2025October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘Macbeth’ Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography.

‘Macbeth’– Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Christopher V. Edwards; Featuring Brooke Hardman, Jade Guerra, Jesse Hinson, Jennie Israel, Brian Demar Jones, Claire Mitchell, Vince Nguyen, Amanda Esmie Reynolds, Omar Robinson, Chingwe Padraig Sullivan, Dennis Trainor Jr.; Scenic Design Danielle Ibrahim; Sound Design by Julian Crocamo; Lighting Design Elmera Martinez; Costume Design Marissa Wolf; Sound Design Mackenzie Adamick; Production Design Sue Rees; Audio Engineer Irene Wang; Fight Director Naomi Kim. Presented by Actors Shakespeare Project, Boston, MA, through October 26.

By C.J. Williams

Macbeth, as you know, is one of those plays that takes sanity and hope and puts them through a meat grinder. Once you’ve seen Macbeth, you’ve seen not only that blood will out, but that blood will douse, drench, and seep through skin into the deepest crevices of your heart, mind, and conscience. But what if you want to make it more disquieting? Perhaps this is what Director Christopher V. Edwards and the Actors’ Shakespeare Project team asked themselves as they planned this year’s production of the iconic play. How about staging the political and relational shenanigans during the Cold War?

A.R.T.’s ‘300 Paintings’ Brings Humor to Harrowing Story of Mental Illness

October 5, 2025October 6, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Sam Kissajukian in performance of ‘300 Paintings’ at A.R.T. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva.

300 Paintings, Created and performed by Sam Kissajukian; Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals; Presented by American Repertory Theater at Farkas Hall in Cambridge, MA through October 25, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Aussie comedian Sam Kissajukian didn’t know anything about art when he quit stand-up comedy four years ago. During his 10-year career, he toured throughout Australia, Europe, the UK, and the USA. Despite his success, he confessed, “I just did whatever the audiences wanted me to do, and I hated it. I hated myself.” For him, comedy had become performative and superficial – “It made me feel invisible inside.” After abandoning his comedy career, Kissajukian devoted himself to painting. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had been living with bipolar disorder, and he was about to enter into a brutal six-month manic episode that would completely sever him from reality.