Peli Naomi Woods, Kenny Lee (both center), and the cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s Once on This Island (2022). Photos by Nile Scott Studios
by Michele Markarian
“Once On This Island”. Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Pascale Forestal. Presented by Speakeasy Stage, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA through April 16.
Once on This Island” isn’t exactly a light show. Class barriers, racial prejudice, and unrequited love are three of its main themes. Throw in the capriciousness of the gods, whose conflicting forces can’t always be controlled, and you can be sure that tragedy will counter good fortune. But what follows the rollicking first number, “We Dance”, is an hour and a half of engaging storytelling and musical entertainment.
Marianna Bassham and the cast of People, Places & Things. Photos by Nile Scott Studios.
‘People, Places & Things’ — Written by Duncan Macmillan. Directed by David R. Gammon;, Scenic Design by Jeffrey Peterson; Costume Design by Gail Astrid Buckley; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Wilson, Video Design by Adam Stone. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at Boston Center for the Arts through March 5.
by Shelley A. Sackett
Like Jonah’s whale, addiction can swallow us whole. Unlike Jonah, however, who was freed after a mere three days of praying and repenting, those stuck in the belly of the addiction beast have a much tougher, longer and shakier road to hoe.
Some are up to the challenge and some crumble under the beast’s daunting weight. Some make it and some fake it. Some don’t know the difference and some could care less. And some will circle their self-destructive drain as long as they can, all the while ferociously denying they’re about to drown.
Jennifer Rohn, Nathan Malin in Speakeasy Stage’s production of ‘The Sound Inside‘
The Sound Inside’ – Written by Adam Rapp. Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic Design by Chistina Todesco. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Devorah Kengmana. Sound Design by David Remedios. Starring Jennifer Rohn and Nathan Malin. Presented by Speakeasy Stage in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through Oct 16, 2021.
by Shelley A. Sackett
If your Covid Comfort Zone now includes attending indoor events, gallop on over to SpeakEasy Stage’s production of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, a trifecta of what makes for exalted theater: flawless script, acting and directing. This two-hander doesn’t just hit a home run over the Green Wall; it launches it into outer space.
That said, it still takes a leap of faith to believe it’s safe to be packed together as tightly as a fully booked economy cabin as long as everyone is fully vaccinated and masked. It took me several minutes before my anxiety leveled off and I could be entirely present for the play.
Jennifer Rohn in Speakeasy Stage’s production of ‘The Sound Inside‘
by James Wilkinson
‘The Sound Inside’ – Written by Adam Rapp. Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic Design by Chistina Todesco. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Devorah Kengmana. Sound Design by David Remedios. Starring Jennifer Rohn and Nathan Malin. Presented by Speakeasy Stage in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through Oct 16, 2021.
When the lights come up on Speakeasy’s production of The Sound Inside, it’s going to be hard to shake the impression that everyone involved is already dead. You don’t even need to wait for the lead character to reveal her cancer diagnosis before the dark thoughts start creeping in. The set design (by Christina Todesco) encases the action in a platform set adrift in a black void, practically turning the theater into a tomb. A translucent reflection of the actors is always visible in the plexiglass walls that tower over the performance space. It’s as if they’re in a constant state of being haunted by their undead doppelgangers. During the opening monologue the lighting (design by Devorah Kengmana) keeps shifting around that lead character, throwing shadows this way and that, preventing her from ever feeling truly solid. Then there’s that sound design, (by David Remedios) constantly needling at the back of our necks. It’s grim stuff.
(Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
By Julie-Anne Whitney
‘The Children’ Writtenby Lucy Kirkwood; Directed
by Bryn Boice; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Rachel
Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David
Remedios; Stage managed by Rachel Sturm. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at
the BCA Calderwood Pavilion through March 28, 2020.
Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Eastern Japan –
started by an earthquake which caused a tsunami that led to the death of 19,000
people – Lucy Kirkwood’s Tony-nominated play The Children is a
blistering commentary on the global environmental devastation caused by human
progress and development.
Hazel (Paula Plum) and her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen), are nuclear physicists who have relocated to a dilapidated cottage just outside the exclusion zone of the local nuclear power plant. The recent “disaster” at the plant forced them to abandon their family home and into early retirement. When their former colleague, Rose (Karen MacDonald), shows up unannounced, the lifeless cottage is suddenly filled with tension, jealousy, and intrigue.
(Paula Plum and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
by Shelley A. Sackett
“The Children”. Written by Lucy Kirkwood.
Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic
Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting
Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Remedios.Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at
the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.
Playwright Lucy Kirkwood had wanted to write about climate change for quite a while when the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan provided the impetus and inspiration. With The Children, a must-see production enjoying its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company, she has succeeded in crafting a thoughtful and provocative three-character play that manages to raise profound existential and moral questions while slowing peeling back the layers of this threesome’s long and complicated history. It is also one heck of a riveting eco-thriller/emotional detective story brilliantly acted by inimitable stage luminaries Tyrees Allen, Karen MacDonald and Paula Plum.
(Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
By Michele Markarian
“The Children”. By Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Bryn Boice. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.
“We heard you died,” says Hazel (Paula Plum) to her visitor, Rose (Karen MacDonald), ostensibly an old friend and colleague who has dropped unexpectedly by the temporary housing that Hazel shares with her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen). It has been thirty-eight years since they’d last seen her on their small British island, and Hazel’s welcome seems less than congenial (she has also, by accident, given Rose a bloody nose). Turns out that the women have shared more than just their former workplace, a nuclear power plant. A tsunami has rendered an accident at the plant, and the residents around it are instructed to live outside of a contaminated exclusion zone. Hazel and Robin have had to abandon their farm and their cattle, much to Hazel’s devastation. Rose, who never married and has lived in America, is seemingly less tethered. Hazel is circumspect about their old friend’s visit with good, intuitive reason – Rose has come back with a request with far-reaching responsibilities and consequences.
“Mister (Lewis D. Wheeler), Moses (Kadahj Bennett), and Kitch (Hubens “Bobby” Cius) in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘Pass Over’ – Photos by Nile Scott Studios
By Shelley A. Sackett
‘Pass Over’ – Written by Antoinette Nwandu; Directed by
Monica White Ndounou; Scenic Design by Baron E. Pugh; Costume Design by Chelsea
Kerl; Lighting Design by Kathy A. Perkins; Sound Design by Anna Drummond.
Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company and Front Porch Arts Collective at Roberts
Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion through February 2.
Even before ‘Pass Over’ begins, as theatergoers blithely check emails and jockey for their seats, the actors make clear theirs is a production that will claim one’s full attention and engagement. Two young scruffy black men, dressed in hoodies, oversized footwear and hats, prowl around the sparse stage, demanding eye contact and flirting with the women in the front row. By the time the house lights go down and the stage lights go up, these two have established an uneasy arms-length rapport with the audience.
Nathan Malin, Maureen Keiller and Michael Kaye in SpeakEasy Stage’s Production of “Admissions.” (Maggie Hall Photography)
By Shelley A. Sackett
‘Admissions’ –
Writtenby Joshua Harmon; Directed by Paul Daigneault; Scenic Design by
Eric Levenson; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker;
Sound Design by Dewey Dellay; Stage Managed by Stephen MacDonald. Produced by
SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston
Center for the Arts through November 30, 2019.
Joshua Harmon’s terrific new play “Admissions,” now making its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company through November 30, packs a timely wallop. Set at and near Hillcrest, a toney progressive New Hampshire prep school, the plucky drama starts out poking fun at Sherri, Hillcrest’s white admissions director who is not happy with the draft of the Admissions Catalog she has just received.
Nathan Malin, Michael Kaye and Maureen Keiller in SpeakEasy Stage’s Production of “Admissions.” (Maggie Hall Photography)
By
Julie-Anne Whitney
‘Admissions’ – Writtenby Joshua Harmon; Directed by Paul Daigneault; Scenic Design by Eric Levenson; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker; Sound Design by Dewey Dellay; Stage Managed by Stephen MacDonald. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through November 30, 2019.
The
Boston premiere production of Joshua Harmon’s play Admissions, directed
by Paul Daigneault, offers an unsettling behind-the-scenes look at issues of
class and race through the eyes of the most privileged among us: wealthy,
educated white people.
The story centers on Sherri Rosen-Mason (played with thoughtful sensitivity by Maureen Keiller), the head of admissions at Hillcrest, a small New Hampshire prep school, and her headmaster husband, Bill (played by the magnetic Michael Kaye), who have worked for years to expand the racial diversity of the school’s student body, which includes their son, a senior who is anxiously awaiting his college acceptance letters. Boston University student Nathan Malin, gives a commanding, stand-out performance as Charlie, son of Bill and Sherri, who spends the bulk of the play grappling with questions about privilege, fairness, fact versus opinion, and who “deserves” what and why.
