Reviewing theater from Broadway to the Fringe since 1994
By Killian Melloy For 55 years, the National Center of Afro-American Artists’ (NCAAA) production of Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity” has been a holiday tradition, a community gathering, and what some have called “Boston’s Black community’s holiday card to the world.” At the helm of this enduring celebration is Voncille Ross, Executive Producer and Director of…
Ebenezer Scrooge is the ultimate Christmas villain. Indeed, his name has become synonymous with unthinking greed paired with the sort of flinty hard-heartedness that denies joy to oneself as well as to others. His trademark exclamation of “Bah! Humbug!” has become a universal shorthand for dismissal of all things joyful and celebratory.
By Shelley A. Sackett Ask a Jewish audience what their first reaction is when they think about Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” and chances are they will mention the negative portrayal of Jews by the Venetian moneylender and play’s principal villain, Shylock. Long considered a slur against Jews, the very term was condemned by the…
“I was born in Russia,” New York-based theater maker Irina Kruzhilina explains as our interview commences. “My mom was born in Ukraine. My father’s a Georgian Jew, which makes the situation right now, as you can imagine, very difficult. But I think that most people who are in Russia, or those who escape, do have…
