ASP’s ‘Macbeth’ is Imaginative, Disquieting

October 7, 2025April 10, 2026 CJ WilliamsLeave a comment

Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘Macbeth’ Photos by Benjamin Rose Photography.

‘Macbeth’– Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Christopher V. Edwards; Featuring Brooke Hardman, Jade Guerra, Jesse Hinson, Jennie Israel, Brian Demar Jones, Claire Mitchell, Vince Nguyen, Amanda Esmie Reynolds, Omar Robinson, Chingwe Padraig Sullivan, Dennis Trainor Jr.; Scenic Design Danielle Ibrahim; Sound Design by Julian Crocamo; Lighting Design Elmera Martinez; Costume Design Marissa Wolf; Sound Design Mackenzie Adamick; Production Design Sue Rees; Audio Engineer Irene Wang; Fight Director Naomi Kim. Presented by Actors Shakespeare Project, Boston, MA, through October 26.

By C.J. Williams

Macbeth, as you know, is one of those plays that takes sanity and hope and puts them through a meat grinder. Once you’ve seen Macbeth, you’ve seen not only that blood will out, but that blood will douse, drench, and seep through skin into the deepest crevices of your heart, mind, and conscience. But what if you want to make it more disquieting? Perhaps this is what Director Christopher V. Edwards and the Actors’ Shakespeare Project team asked themselves as they planned this year’s production of the iconic play. How about staging the political and relational shenanigans during the Cold War?

A.R.T.’s ‘300 Paintings’ Brings Humor to Harrowing Story of Mental Illness

October 5, 2025April 10, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Sam Kissajukian in performance of ‘300 Paintings’ at A.R.T. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva.

300 Paintings, Created and performed by Sam Kissajukian; Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals; Presented by American Repertory Theater at Farkas Hall in Cambridge, MA through October 25, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Aussie comedian Sam Kissajukian didn’t know anything about art when he quit stand-up comedy four years ago. During his 10-year career, he toured throughout Australia, Europe, the UK, and the USA. Despite his success, he confessed, “I just did whatever the audiences wanted me to do, and I hated it. I hated myself.” For him, comedy had become performative and superficial – “It made me feel invisible inside.” After abandoning his comedy career, Kissajukian devoted himself to painting. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had been living with bipolar disorder, and he was about to enter into a brutal six-month manic episode that would completely sever him from reality.

‘The Mountaintop’ Is A Gripping Rendering of MLK’s Last Night

October 2, 2025April 10, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Dominic Carter as MLK in *Front Porch Arts Collective*‘s ‘The Mountaintop’

The Mountaintop – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with Suffolk University at Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St., Boston, through October 12.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Katori Hall couldn’t have asked for a better production of his Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, than the one it is receiving at the Modern Theater at Suffolk University. Under Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s pitch-perfect direction, its two stars, Dominic Carter and Kiera Prusmack, deliver impeccable performances as civil rights and social justice leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Camae, a motel employee. Ben Lieberson’s set is straightforward and literal, a classic 1960s era, no frills, wood-paneled motel room.

‘The Ceremony’ Revisits and Rewrites the Ufot Legacy

September 30, 2025April 10, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Lumanti Shrestha, Khadaj Bennett in CHUANG Stage’s ‘The Ceremony’
Photos by Ken Yotsukura

‘The Ceremony’ — Written by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Kevin R. Free. Presented by CHUANG Stage at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, 820 Commonwealth Ave., Boston through October 5.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle follows the various members of the Nigerian Ufot family across three generations, starting with the brutal Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War) of 1967-1970. With the world premiere of The Ceremony, the sixth in the series, Udofia brings the family firmly into the present (2023) with all its contemporary social mores and cultural pressures.

Lyric Stage’s ‘Our Town’ Is A Classy Production of A Timeless Classic

September 25, 2025April 10, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Will McGarrahan as the Stage Manager in Lyric Stages’ “Our Town”
Photos by Nile Hawver

‘Our Town’ – Written by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Courtney O’Connor; Scenic Design by Shelley Barish; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 19.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, is set in the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners. Narrated by a Stage Manager (Will McGarrahan, excellent in the sober yet not dispassionate part), this classic uses a minimal set to explore universal themes of life, love, and death. Described by Edward Albee as “the greatest American play ever written,” it presents the fictional American town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1913. Through its citizens, and especially the Webb and Gibbs families, Wilder celebrates our shared humanity and the importance of appreciating the present moment, especially the glimmers of community and connection that keep us grounded and give our lives meaning.

And who couldn’t use a glimmer of light during dark times, whether it’s 1938 or 87 years later?

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

September 24, 2025April 10, 2026 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.

CST’s ‘Silent Sky’ Aims for The Stars But Falls Short

September 22, 2025April 10, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

Lee Mikeska Gardner, Jenny S. Lee, Erica Cruz Hernández in Central Square’s ‘Silent Sky’
Photos by Nile Scott Studios

‘Silent Sky.’ Written by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Sarah Shin. Scenic Design by Qingan Zhang; Costume Design by Leslie Held; Lighting Design by Eduardo M. Ramirez; Sound Design and Composition by Kai Bohlman. A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production. Presented by Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge through October 5.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Lauren Gunderson’s career as a playwright (she is also a screenwriter and short story author) has largely focused on stories about iconoclastic women in history, science and literature. She is one of the top 20 most produced playwrights in the country, with over twenty plays produced. (Lyric Stage Boston’s 2022 production of her The Book of Will was a knockout).

With Silent Sky, a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production presented by Central Square Theater through October 5, she turns her attention to the story of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, a young astronomer whose scientific brilliance and curiosity led to her discovery of the relationship between luminosity and the period of Cepheid variables (a star that pulsates).

Wilbury Theatre Group’s ‘From Here to Where’ Offers Strangely Fascinating Reflections on Being Alive

September 21, 2025April 10, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Cast of Wilbury Theatre Group’s ‘From Here to Where’. Photos by Erin X. Smithers

From Here to Where (world premiere), Book by Umberto Crenca, Music by The Gillen Street Ensemble; Video Design by Jacob Dixon, Lighting Design by Andy Russ, Set Design by Monica Shinn, Stage Managed by Maxime Hendrikse Liu. Produced by Wilbury Theatre Group (WTG) at 475 Valley Street in Providence, RI. Plays through October 5, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

When you walk through the door at the Wilbury Theatre, you are drawn in by the soulful, bluesy, rock-like sounds of The Gillen Street Ensemble (GSE), a Providence-based music collaborative. You have been invited to their basement jam session, which has a definite mood. The vibe is loose and cool as the musicians playfully improvise. In this basement of curiosities, designed by Monica Shinn, you find many strange and quirky objects: a dinosaur-sized egg on wheels, a rubber chicken, a comically large skeleton, a giant light bulb, a megaphone, a gong, and dozens of other unusual items. What does this mean, you wonder. What is this about?

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

September 21, 2025April 10, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave 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).

“The Hills of California” Offers Family Dysfunction and Healing

September 20, 2025April 10, 2026 Michele MarkarianLeave a comment

Meghan Carey, Kate Fitzgerald, Alison Jean White, Chloé Kolbenhyer, Nicole Mulready (on floor) in Huntington’s ‘The Hills of California’. Photos by Liza Voll

“The Hills of California”, by Jez Butterworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Presented by The Huntington in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Huntington, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, through October 12.

By Michele Markarian

Full disclosure: I love Jez Butterworth’s writing – psychological without being heavy-handed. I saw Jerusalem with Mark Rylance in 2011; it was magnificent, as was The Ferryman. The Hills of California is no exception – it is a remarkable and moving work that skillfully weaves the lives of four sisters and their mother through their shaky past and fractured present and makes them whole again.