Nathan Malin, Michael Kaye and Maureen Keiller in SpeakEasy Stage’s Production of “Admissions.” (Maggie Hall Photography)
by Sheila Barth
‘Admissions’ – Written by Joshua Harmon. One-act, 1
hour-50-minute play. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center
for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre, 527 Tremont St., Boston through November
30
The timing for SpeakEasy Stage Company’s tense production of Joshua Harmon’s one-act play Admissions, couldn’t be more perfect. Educators, parents, students undergoing the college admissions process – no-one should miss it. Directed by SpeakEasy’s multiple-award-winning artistic director Paul Daigneault, Admissions delivers realistic, non-stop excitement about a contemporary controversial subject, and lingers long after the terrific cast’s final bows. The winner of the 2018 Drama Desk Award winner for Outstanding Play and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play builds non-stop momentum, targeting the fairness-unfairness of colleges’ acceptance of worthy students.
(Isaiah Reynolds and the cast of Speakeasy’s “Choir Boy” – Photos by by Nile Scott Studios)
by Linda Chin Workman
‘Choir Boy’ – Play by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music Direction, David Freeman Coleman. Choreography, Yewande Odetoyinbo and Ruka White. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., through October 19
Like his play, In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, (which was adapted into the Oscar-winning film Moonlight), Choir Boy, by the multi-talented Tarell Alvin McCraney, powerfully reminds us that getting to love who you want and doing what you love are passions worth pursuing, as painful as the pathway may be.
Choir Boy is set at an elite prep school for boys that has been dedicated to educating strong ethical black men for 50 years, an ambitious mission for the 60s and 70s as for present day. From the moment it’s ‘lights up’ on stage, Director Maurice Emmanuel Parent deftly draws us into the lives of eight students who are uniformly dressed in blazers, buttoned-downs and slacks but unsurprisingly, each carries unique baggage on their transformational journey. The central character is Pharus Young (Isaiah Reynolds), a young gay black man who struggles with feeling unworthy and unseen and finding his voice and place in the community. He attends the school on scholarship and for years has aspired to get the coveted position of choir leader, but is all too aware that any misstep could jeopardize his future. Pharus thinks his nemesis Bobby (Malik Mitchell) has a charmed existence, that his joking manner and carefree attitude about breaking rules reflects his privilege as a legacy student and the headmaster’s nephew. Pharus doesn’t realize that below the surface Bobby carries deep hurt from grief and loss.
(Marissa Simeqi, Amy Jo Jackson, & Ellie van Amerongen in Speakeasy’s ‘Fun Home’/Photo Nile Scott Studios)
by Mike Hoban
‘Fun Home’ Music by Jeanine Tesori; Book & Lyrics by Lisa Kron; Based on the Graphic Novel by Alison Bechdel; Directed By Paul Daigneault; Music Direction by Matthew Stern; Choreography by Sarah Crane; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by the SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. Boston through June 30
Fun Home is not your typical musical. In fact, it, based on its tragicomic nature and lack of any show-stopping musical numbers, it might more accurately be called a play with music. But this Tony Award-winning coming out/coming of age adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic novel memoir is still a pretty gratifying work, due to its compelling storyline and effective performances by the cast.
(Cast of Speakeasy Stage Company’s ‘The View Upstairs’ All photos by Nile Scott Studios)
By Mike Hoban
‘The View Upstairs’ – Written by Max Vernon; Directed by Paul Daigneault; Scenic Design by Abby Shenker; Costume Design by Dustin Todd Rennells; Lighting Design by Abigail Wang; Sound Design by Elektra T. Newman. Presented by the Speakeasy Stage Company at the BCA Plaza Theatre through June 22.
Given that The View Upstairs is a fictional retelling of the final night of the Upstairs Lounge, the New Orleans gay bar that was turned into a fiery deathtrap by an arsonist’s match in 1973 (claiming the lives of 32 people), it’s a bit hard to find the proper descriptor without sounding disrespectful. But the truth of the matter is that this musical, now being given its New England premiere by Speakeasy Stage, is often funny and joyful – for the first 95 minutes anyway – despite its dark undertones. Equal parts Twilight Zone episode, gay sitcom, documentary, and cautionary tale on the ways that the obsession with social media is stealing our collective souls, View is first and foremost a worthwhile entertainment.
Asha-Le Davis on “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play”
On Instagram @theatermirror YouTube: Theater Mirror
“School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” – Written by Jocelyn Bioh. Summer L. Williams, Director. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA Roberts Studio Theater, 539 Tremont St., Boston through May 25.
In this video review, Asha-Le Davis assesses “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” as “extremely well put together” and full of “important” and “deep themes.”
“It touches on thing I know that I have dealt with,” says Davis, “even here in America.” She goes on to say, “To bring that to the stage is very bold and very needed.” In her opinion, the play addresses “what is a huge problem in our society, while also adding really awesome comedic elements throughout to keep it light and keep you interested.”
(Ireon Roach, Crystin Gilmore Veronica Byrd in School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
by Linda Chin
‘School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play’ – Written by Jocelyn Bioh. Directed by Summer L. Williams. Scene design by Baron E. Pugh. Costume Design by Miranda Kau Giurleo. Lighting Design by Devorah Kengmana. Sound Design by Allyssa Jones. Presented by Speakeasy Stage Company at 527 Tremont St. Boston through May 26
With the Kavanaugh hearings and Operation Varsity Blues offering a steady stream of live theatrics about people’s willingness to steal, blackmail, and cover up the truth to get themselves (or their children) ahead, a play about bad behavior at a boarding school might be dismissed as same old, same old. Set in the Aburi girls school in Ghana in 1986, SpeakEasy Stage’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh offers New England theatergoers a much needed respite, a refreshingly original take on the lengths that teens (and the adults they grow up to become) are willing to go in their desperateness to win, or to just fit in.
(School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
Review by James
Wilkinson
School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play is presented by Speakeasy Stage Company.
Written by Jocelyn Bioh. Directed by Summer L. Williams. Scene design by Baron
E. Pugh. Costume Design by Miranda Kau Giurleo. Lighting Design by Devorah
Kengmana. Sound Design by Allyssa Jones.
The cafeteria at an African all-girls school becomes a battleground in Speakeasy Stage’s new production, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. The play by Jocelyn Bioh focuses on a group of girls attending the school and it earns the second half of its title. It’s the mid-80s and the girls are giddy with anticipation for the arrival of beauty pageant scout who will be coming to potentially pick a competitor for the Miss Ghana pageant. The one who gets the crown will go on to compete against the winners from countries all over the world. Resident Queen Bee, Paulina (Ireon Roach) seems a shoe-in to chosen, but a wrench gets thrown into her plan with the arrival of new student, Ericka (Victoria Byrd). Due to Ericka’s parentage (white mother and black father), her complexion is much fairer (i.e. whiter) than the rest of the girls at the school. The pageant scout almost immediately latches on to Ericka, thinking that her lighter complexion will make it easier for her to compete on the world stage. When Paulina senses the potential for her best laid plans to go up in smoke, she strikes out in a way that has consequences for everyone in the school.
(Mackenzie Lesser-Roy as ‘Girl’ and Nile Scott Hawver as ‘Guy’ in SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘Once’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)
By Linda Chin
‘Once’ – Book by Enda Walsh; Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. Based on the Motion Picture Written and Directed by John Carney. Directed by Paul Melone; Music Direction by Steven Ladd Jones; Choreography by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through April 7
Artists and
audiences benefit when theater companies embrace authenticity and relatability
as critical components of their mission and values, and plan their seasons
accordingly. Bravo to those producers, creative teams and casting directors
with bold visions and broad reach and the perseverance to find the best actors
for the roles, especially challenging with the specific requirements in musical
theater works. Bravo to musicals of this season that were impeccably cast: Miss You Like Hell (Company One &
ART), Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage & Front Porch Arts
Collective) and Billy Elliot (Seacoast Rep). To this list we can add
SpeakEasy’s Fun Home, which with Scottsboro Boys and Allegiance in previous seasons represent a sweep of standouts with multi-talented
(& multicultural & multigenerational) ensembles of actors who speak
(and sing and dance) their truth. In Once,
the actors are also the musicians for the musical (a first in SpeakEasy’s
27-year history), making impossible dreams – of artists, immigrants, people
young and old – seem possible.
‘Allegiance’ – Book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, Music and Lyrics by Jay Kuo. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, through June 2.
“Every Pearl Harbor Day, they trot me out to prove that I’m still alive”, says the elderly Sam Kimura (Gary Thomas Ng), a decorated World War II war hero. If Sam sounds bitter, it is because the bombing of Pearl Harbor produced a declaration of war against Japan that adversely affected loyal Japanese Americans, including Sam and his family. It was just a few months afterwards that the US government forcibly rounded up 110,000 Japanese American from California, Washington, Arizona and Oregon. Families, just by virtue of looking like the enemy, had to sell their homes, businesses and items for a pittance of what they were worth to take up residence in camps, interned behind barbed wire.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-TimeAdapted by Simon Stephens from the novel by Mark Haddon. Produced by Speakeasy Stage Company and playing at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion October 20 – November 25.
Just after midnight in Swindon, a town 71 miles West of London, fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone finds a dog brutally murdered in his neighbor’s garden. Wellington, a cherished family pet, has been impaled with a pitchfork and is still pinned to the ground. Mrs. Eileen Shears, the owner of the dog and the garden, calls the police. And when they arrive they’re looking for answers. But Christopher can’t provide them. Instead, he assaults the officer.
As The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time unfolds, Christopher tells us his side of the story. He writes it down in a notebook as part of a school project, and he chooses to convey the experience as a murder mystery.
