DTF’s Timely ‘True Art’ Is A True Masterpiece

September 19, 2024April 9, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Jayne Atkinson, Fiona Robberson in Dorset Theater Festival’s Timely ‘True Art.’
Photos by T Charles Erickson

“True Art” – Written by Jessica Provenz. Directed by Michelle Joyner. Scenic Design by Christopher and Justin Swader; Costume Design by Barbara A. Bell; Lighting Design by Patricia M. Nichols; Sound Design by Jane Shaw; Projection Design by Joey Moro. Presented by Dorset Theatre Festival, Dorset, Vermont. Run has ended.

By Shelley A. Sackett

It was good planning to arrive a little early for the Dorset Theatre Festival’s world première of “True Art.” The bewitching set begged a closer look. Center stage, basking in Renaissance splendor, is Michelangelo’s “Leda and the Swan,’ mounted on a rich burgundy panel. Stage left and right are mirror rows of vertical metal grids, each loaded top to bottom with the A-list of coveted museum possessions, from Pollack to Picasso and Monet to Miro.

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

September 18, 2024April 9, 2026 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.

Huntington’s ‘Common Ground, Revisited’ Asks Us to Look Back In Order to Move Forward

June 13, 2022April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

The cast of *Common Ground Revisited* at The Huntington. Photos: T Charles Erickson

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Common Ground, Revisited – Co-conceived and adapted by Kirsten Greenidge; co-conceived and directed by Melia Bensussen; set design by Sara Brown; costume design by An-lin Dauber; lighting design by Brian J. Lilienthal; sound design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; projection design by Rasean Davonté Johnson; wig/hair and makeup design by J. Jared Janas; dramaturgy by Neema Avashia; stage-managed by Emily F. McMullen. Co-produced by The Huntington Theatre and ArtsEmerson at the Calderwood Pavilion/BCA through July 3, 2022.

Kirsten Greenidge’s new play, Common Ground, Revisited is inspired by and based in part on J. Anthony Lukas’1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. The primary focus of both texts is on class and racial tensions in Boston during the 1974 busing crisis when U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity Jr. ordered nearly 20,000 Black and white students to be bused to/from the city’s geographically segregated public schools. The mandate led to years of violent protesting, significant demographic changes in the city and surrounding suburbs, and a dramatic decrease in enrollment in area schools that continues to this day. Fifty years after the 1972 Morgan v Hennigan case that led to Garrity’s ruling, Boston’s public schools are even more divided than they were back then with “two-thirds of BPS students attend[ing] intensely segregated schools where students of color make up 90% or more of the total enrollment.”

SpeakEasy’s ‘The Inheritance’ is a Beautifully Realized Production of an Ambitious and Imperfect Play

May 3, 2022April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Jared Reinfeldt (left center), Eddie Shields (right center), and members of the cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘The Inheritance’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Inheritance’ – Written by Matthew López; directed by Paul Daigneault; movement and intimacy direction by Yo-El Cassell; scenic design by Cristina Todesco; costume design by Charles Schoonmaker; lighting design by Karen Perlow; sound design by Dewey Dellay; stage-managed by Thomas M. Kauffman. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA/Calderwood Pavilion through June 11, 2022.

Matthew López’s Tony Award-winning play, The Inheritance, loosely transposes E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel, Howard’s End, to 21st Century New York where Forster (a closeted gay man all his life) acts as a spiritual guide to a group of young gay men, teaching them the art of effective storytelling. The group then collectively narrates the fictional tale of three generations of gay men from different social and economic backgrounds whose lives become inexplicably linked by way of friendship, betrayal, loss, and love. The story they write follows 50-something billionaire real estate owner Henry and his long-time partner Walter, both of whom become emotionally tied to 35-year-old activist Eric, whose self-destructive playwright boyfriend, Toby, falls for their new actor friend, Adam. Toby ends up befriending and becoming lovers with a lonely 19-year-old sex worker named Leo, who later is saved by Eric’s unwavering kindness.

Arlekin Players’ ‘Witness’ Unflinchingly Details the Jewish Experience

December 15, 2021April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Arlekin Players ‘Witness’ (virtual)

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Witness’– Written by Nana Grinstein with Igor Golyak and Blair Cadden; conceived and directed by Igor Golyak; scenography and costume design by Anna Fedorova; virtual design by Daniel Cormino; sound design by Victor Semenov; editing by Anton Nikolaev; cinematography by Austin de Besche; dramaturgy by Blair Cadden; stage managed by Kendyl Trott. This world premiere production runs at the (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab through January 23, 2022.

“Where do unwanted people go?” This is the question that Arlekin Players Theater is asking us to consider in their new virtual documentary theater piece, Witness.

Set on a ship that travels through time, Witness explores the seemingly endless migratory experiences of Jewish people throughout history. The source material for the script comes from historical letters, journals, and newspaper articles as well as recent interviews with immigrants and refugees from around the world. The story, written by Nana Grinstein, is inspired by the 1939 transatlantic voyage of the M.S. St. Louis. With over 900 Jewish refugees on board, the St. Louis was cruelly turned away from ports in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S., and ultimately forced to return to Europe. Of the more than 500 passengers who became trapped in Nazi-controlled countries, 254 of them were killed in concentration camps.

Speakeasy’s Chilling ‘The Children’ Asks the Hard Questions

March 6, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

(Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘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; 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.

Huntington’s ‘Sweat’ – The Dark Side of American Dream

February 8, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

*Cast of the Huntington Theatre Company’s ‘Sweat’ – Photos: T. Charles Erickson*

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Sweat – Written by Lynn Nottage; Directed by Kimberly Senior; Scenic Design by Cameron Anderson; Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee; Lighting Design by D.M. Wood; Original Music and Sound Design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; fight choreography by Ted Hewlett; stage managed by Emily F. McMullen. Produced by the Huntington Theatre Company at 264 Huntington Avenue through March 1, 2020.

In 2011, intrigued by the news that Reading, Pennsylvania (population 88,000) was named the poorest city per capita in America, playwright Lynn Nottage went to Berks County in search of a story. Throughout the next two years, she interviewed dozens of factory employees, business owners, social workers, members of law enforcement, and government officials. These interviews inspired Nottage to write her Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Sweat, which offers a transparent, unflinching view of what can happen to communities when powerful corporations prioritize profits over people.

It’s a Mad, Mad (Victorian) World in Central Square’s ‘Vanity Fair’

February 5, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Cast of Nora Theatre’s ‘Vanity Fair; at Central Square Theatre

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Vanity Fair (an im-morality play) – Written by Kate Hamill, adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel; direction and scenic design by David R. Gammons; lighting design by Jeff Adelberg; sound design by David Wilson; costume design by Leslie Held; properties coordinated by Ciara McAloon; dramaturgy by Hilary Rappaport; stage managed by Elizabeth Yyvette Ramirez. Produced by Underground Railway Theater through February 23, 2020 at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.

William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fairwas first published in 1847 as a 19-volume serial novel released in monthly installments for Punch, a British magazine known for its satirical content. The 800-page work was published in a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel Without A Hero. Arguably Thackeray’s most successful and enduring work, Vanity Fair has been adapted into radio broadcasts, silent and sound films, television series, and plays.

ASP’s ‘Bright Half Life’ Shines a Light on Lesbian Love

January 27, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Lyndsay Allyn Cox, Kelly Chick in ASP’s ‘Bright Half Life’ – PHOTO CREDIT NILE SCOTT STUDIOS

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Bright Half Life’ – Written by Tanya Barfield; Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Lighting Design by Aja Jackson; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill; Costume Design by Zoe Sundra; Stage-managed by Lauren Burke. Presented by Runs through February 16, 2020 at the Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts.

How many times have you been in the theater and seen two women on stage who happen to love each other? Think about it for a minute and you’ll probably realize it’s a pretty low number.

There are several well-known plays which discuss or highlight LGBTQ+ characters such as The Children’s Hour (1934), The Boys in the Band (1968), The Normal Heart (1985), I Am My Own Wife (1992), Angels in America (1992), Stop Kiss (1998), The Laramie Project (2001), Indecent (2017), and The Inheritance (2018), among others. There are also a few popular musicals which feature LGBTQ+ characters such as La Cage aux Folles (1983), Falsettos (1992), Rent (1996), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998), The Color Purple (2005), Kinky Boots (2013), Fun Home (2015), and Jagged Little Pill (2018). But not one of these pieces features two women who love each other as the central focus of the story, and who are given the time to express their love for more than just a song or a couple of scenes. This is why Tanya Barfield’s Bright Half Life is an overdue breath of fresh air. A 65-minute play about the 40-year relationship between two women is a rare gift – one I have been waiting to receive nearly all of my life.

Fresh Ink’s ‘Last Catastrophist’ Looks for Answers in Bleak Future

January 26, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

*Evelyn Holley as Marina and Shanelle Chloe Villegas as Lucia in Fresh Ink’s ‘Last Catastrophist’ Photos by Paul Fox*

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Last Catastrophist’ – Written by David Valdes; Directed by Sarah Gazdowicz; Sound Design by Vinny Laino; Lighting Design by Read Davidson; Costume Design by Erica Desautels; Scenic Design by Andrew Kolifrath; Dramaturgy by Sarah Schnebly; Fight Choreography by Marge Dunn; Stage Managed by Sam O’Brien. Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre, this world premiere production runs through February 8, 2020 at the Plaza Black Box Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts.

According to National Geographic, Climatology is “the study of climate and how/why it changes over time.” Climatologists – not to be confused with meteorologists (who study the weather and weather forecasting) – study the Earth’s climate by collecting and analyzing data from sources such as ice, soil, water, air, and plants to find patterns in weather and understand how those patterns affect the environment.