Speakeasy’s ‘Lizard Boy’ Artfully Combines Indie Rock with Comic Book Sensibility

October 29, 2025October 30, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Chelsie Nectow, Keiji Ishiguri, and Peter DiMaggio in ‘Lizard Boy’ at SpeakEasy Stage.
Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography.

‘Lizard Boy’ – Book, music, and lyrics by Justin Huertas. Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox; Music Direction by Violet Wang; Scenic Design by Qingan Zhang; Sound Design by Sean Doyle; Costume Design by Zoë Sundra, Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage at the Calderwood Pavilion. Through Nov. 22.

By Mike Hoban

There are any number of musicals that examine the hardships of not fitting in − from the 1960s Rankin-Bass television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Nose Reindeer to Wicked to Bat Boy: The Musical. The challenges of “being different” and the struggle to be accepted can be compelling fodder for any storytelling vehicle, and SpeakEasy’s delightfully silly but poignant Lizard Boy is no exception.

Kilian Melloy Talks with Liz Callaway About Her Career and SpeakEasy’s Upcoming New Musical Showcase, “Boston Bound”

October 4, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Boston theaters have long served as a testing ground for new musicals headed to Broadway. Recent major works like Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2015), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2011), and Waitress (2015)all premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Harvard Square in recent years before becoming sensations on the Great White Way. It’s a tradition that reaches as far back as 1943 (Oklahoma!) if not even earlier, and endures as recently as 2018 (Moulin Rouge! The Musical! and Jagged Little Pill both lit up Boston area stages that year).

SpeakEasy’s ‘Primary Trust’ a Warm Bath of Compassion

September 24, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Arthur Gomez and David J. Castillo in Speakeasy’s “Primary Trust”.
Photos by Benjamin Rose

SpeakEasy Stage presents ‘Primary Trust.’ Written by Eboni Booth. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Scenic Design by Shelley Barish. Lighting Design by Karen Perlow. Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl. Sound Design by Anna Drummond. At the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood/BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through October 11, 2025.

By Linda Chin

Trust me – SpeakEasy Stage’s production of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Primary Trust by Eboni Booth is a warm bath worth indulging in. For 100 minutes without intermission, expect to be immersed in a sweet and uplifting story told by a fabulous four-person cast and deftly directed by Dawn M. Simmons.

Set in the small fictional town of Cranberry, New York, Primary Trust centers on Kenneth (played to perfection by David J. Castillo), an emotionally reserved 38-year-old man whose simple, quiet, relatively isolated life routine – working in a bookstore, going to happy hours at Wally’s, the local tiki bar – is suddenly upended.

SpeakEasy’s Outstanding ‘Primary Trust’ Simmers Slowly Until It Boils Over

September 21, 2025September 22, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

David J. Castillo, Luis Negrón and Arthur Gomez in Speakeasy’s “Primary Trust”.
Photos by Benjamin Rose

‘Primary Trust’ — Written by Eboni Booth. Directed by Dawn Simmons. Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through October 11.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Like homesickness and old age, some things just “creep up” on us. A feeling that might start suddenly and imperceptibly, the sensation gradually builds until reaching a tipping point, after which we are acutely aware of and significantly affected by it.

Such is the case with SpeakEasy’s first production of the 2025/2026 season, Primary Trust, now enjoying a long run through October 11 (so there’s plenty of time to catch this gem).

Theater Mirror’s Kilian Melloy Talks with New Speakeasy Artistic Director Dawn Simmons on Her New Role and “Primary Trust”

September 4, 2025September 4, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Dawn Simmons (R) directs Arthur Gomez and David Castillo in “Primary Trust”

By Killian Melloy

“But that’s another story.”

It’s a line of dialogue Kenneth, the main character and narrator of “Primary Trust,” uses often. Kenneth has been through a lot, and he touches on painful memories only glancingly, leaving it to the audience to try to imagine what he’s not saying. One of only a few Black people in the mostly white town of Cranberry, New York, Kenneth has endured the occasional brush with racism; he’s also someone who grew up in an orphanage. We can’t tell what’s going on in his mind, except for the inferences he makes, the way he sometimes has to put himself on hold and count in order to stay grounded, and what he reveals through his fourth wall-breaking asides and his conversations with his best friend, Bert, and Corrina, a waitress with whom he starts to become friendly.

Daigneault Closes the Door on SpeakEasy Stewardship with Poignant and Timely ‘A Man of No Importance’

February 26, 2025March 2, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Speakeasy’s ‘A Man of No Importance’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘A Man of No Importance’ – Based on the film, ‘A Man of No Importance’. Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Music by Stephen Flaherty; Book by Terrence McNally; Directed by Paul Daigneault. Choreographed by Ilyse Robbins. Music direction by Paul S. Katz. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through March 22.

By Mike Hoban

For the final show of a thirty-plus year career as the founder & artistic director of Boston’s SpeakEasy Stage Company, it’s interesting to note that Paul Daigneault chose the small but quietly beautiful A Man of No Importance for his final production. Producer and/or director of over 160 productions and winner of multiple Eliot Norton and IRNE Awards, Daigneault is equally adept at drama and musicals, including the mind-blowing two-part The Inheritance in 2022 and a slew of terrific musicals, the most recent being the Eliot Norton Award-winning The Band’s Visit. So it should probably come as no surprise that his final selection straddles the two genres.

Flight 1619 Finally Lifts Off in SpeakEasy/Front Porch’s Ambitious ‘Ain’t No Mo’

January 17, 2025January 17, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of SpeakEasy/Front Porch’s ‘Ain’t No Mo’ Photos: Nile Scott Studios
MaConnia Chesser, Kiera Prusmack, De’Lon Grant, Schanaya Barrows, and Dru Sky Berrian.

‘Ain’t No Mo’.’ Written by Jordan E. Cooper. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Co-produced by SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective at the Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, through February 8.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo is a complicated, uneven, scathing, audacious, and hilarious rollercoaster ride of a play. It covers a lot of ground, and Cooper dips his pen into the inkwell of every genre known to playwrights: from satire, allegory, fiction, and parody to tragedy and Shakespeare-worthy soliloquy.

SpeakEasy’s “Pru Payne” Is A Must See for Fans of Fabulous Theater

October 25, 2024October 25, 2024 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Karen MacDonald and Gordon Clapp in SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of *Pru Payne*.
Photo: Nile Scott Studios

“Pru Payne”— Written by Steven Drukman. Directed by Paul Daugneault. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage at Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavillion, 539 Tremont St., Boston, through Nov. 16.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Karen MacDonald, recently introduced as “the empress of Boston,” adds another gem to her tiara with her portrayal of Prudence Payne, a Dorothy Parker-esque reviewer whose sharp wit, acid tongue and encyclopedic familiarity with minutiae of all things cultural have earned her many awards. We are introduced to her as she and her son, Thomas (De’Lon Grant) sit in the Brook Hollow clinic anteroom, awaiting a consultation with a doctor. The television is blaring pablum. Pru regally grabs the remote, waves it like a magic wand. She tries to turn the television set off, but can’t. She retakes her seat, slumping in confused defeat. Thomas reminds her that there are other people in the room who may want to continue watching. “Re. Member,” Pru says, enunciating each letter as if it were a syllable unto itself.

Theater Mirror Talks with Emmy Award-winning Actor Gordon Clapp, on returning to Boston for Speakeasy Stage’s ‘Pru Payne’

October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Karen MacDonald and Gordon Clapp in the SpeakEasy Stage Company production of *Pru Payne*. Photo: Nile Scott Studios

Gordon Clapp, best known for his Emmy-winning role of Detective Greg Medavoy in the long-running TV series NYPD Blue, returns to the Boston stage for the second time this year, following up his acclaimed portrayal of poet Robert Frost (Robert Frost: This Verse Business) last spring. This time around, Clapp appears in Pru Payne, an unlikely love story set in a memory care unit by Pulitzer Prize nominee and Newton native Steven Drukman (“Another Fine Mess”). Clapp plays a retired custodian who falls in love with the title character, a contemporary Dorothy Parker type whose memory is failing. The cast includes Boston theater stalwarts Karen MacDonald, Marianna Bassham, Greg Maraio, and De’Lon Grant, and runs through November 16th at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts.

Theater Mirror spoke with Clapp during the rehearsal process.

Azúcar! Comedia y intensidad abound at Speakeasy Stage’s Laughs in Spanish

September 18, 2024September 18, 2024 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of *‘Laughs in Spanish’* at Speakeasy Stage. Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Laughs in Spanish’ – Written by Alexis Scheer. Directed by Mariela López-Ponce. Scenic design by Erik D. Diaz. Costume design by Rebecca Glick. Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon. Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02116, from September 13^th to October 12^th.

By Helen Ganley

Bright orange chairs sit below bare white walls bearing blank name cards for conspicuously missing paintings. Henry Fiol’s “Ahora me da Pena” (“Now I Feel Sorry”) wafts through the room as the part-telenovela, part-whodunit begins to unfold onstage. Written by Alexis Scheer, Laughs in Spanish is a contemporary play that explores the intersection of culture, identity, and family dynamics through humor. Scheer, a playwright and actress, debuted this work in 2019 at the Boston Playwright’s Theatre. Speakeasy Stage’s rendering is a high-energy and campy production that speaks to family, relationships, and the importance of connection.