Karina Beleno Carney and Luz Lopez in ‘Alma’ at Central Square Theater
“Alma” – By Benjamin Benne. Directed by Elena Velasco. Presented by Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, through March 26.
by Michele Markarian
It is 2016, and Trump has won the election. Alma (Karina Beleno Carney) is the mother of Angel (Luz Lopez), a teenager preparing for college. Alma is excited; tomorrow is the day that Angel is going to take the SATS and ace them so that she can fulfill their shared dream of Angel going to UC Davis and becoming a veterinarian. Angel, however, has other plans, which Alma sees as a slap in the face for all of the sacrifice and money she’s put into this dream for her daughter.
Manual Cinema Co-Artistic Director Sarah Forance as Dr. Frankenstein
Manual Cinema’s ‘Frankenstein’ – Adapted from the novel byMary Shelley; Concept and Storyboards by Drew Dir; Devised by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, and Julia Miller; Original Music and Sound Design by Ben Kauffman and Kyle Vegter. Presented by Arts Emerson, Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through February 26.
by Mike Hoban
Watching a Manual Cinema production is a lot like eating at the old Benihana in Cambridge – not only do you get to enjoy what you came for; you get to see how it’s made right in front of your eyes. But instead of chefs artfully chopping and slicing food over a flaming hibachi grill, the Chicago-based troupe uses puppets, shadow silhouette cutouts beamed via overhead projectors (yes, the ones from a 1970s high school biology class) to a giant screen, and a live band playing a veritable “mad scientist laboratory of instruments” to deliver a brilliant and original retelling of Frankenstein.
Cast of Liars & Believers ‘A Story Beyond’ at The Foundry
‘A Story Beyond’ – Conceived & Directed by Jason Slavick; Music & Lyrics – Nathan Leigh; Puppetry Design & Direction – Faye Dupras; Costume Design – Kendra Bell Lighting Design – PJ Strachman; Scenic Design & Props Master – Rebecca Lehrhoff; Mask Design – Becca Jewett; Technical Direction & Assistant Scenic Design – Ben Lieberson; Music Director & Lead Vocalist – Jay Mobley. Presented by Liars and Believers Theatre Company at the Foundry, 101 Rogers Street through February 25.
By Jim Phelan
What’s better than a nice cup of hot cider on a cold February day? How about a nice cup of hot cider at The Foundry in Cambridge, served by a costumed cast member of Liars and Believers, as you wait to see their latest performance of A Story Beyond? Part of a week-long family-friendly school vacation week dedicated to the theme of storytelling, A Story Beyond is a crowd-pleasing gem. Music, masks, hand-held puppets, shadow puppetry, lights, and colors abound throughout the story-filled hour-long show.
Cast of Speakeasy’s ‘Fairview’. Lyndsay Allyn Cox, Dom Carter, Yewande Odetoyinbo, Victoria Omoregie. Photos: Nile Scott Studios
‘Fairview’ –Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Directed by Pascale Florestal. Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson. Sound Design by James Cannon. Fight and Intimacy Choreography by Amanda O’Donnell. At the Roberts Studio Theater, Boston, through March 11, 2023.
by Linda Chin
SpeakEasy’s highly-anticipated Boston premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning Fairview is billed as a bold and disarmingly funny play. Set in the tastefully appointed home of the Frasiers, a seemingly typical, middle-class Black American family, in contemporary times (a portrait of the Obamas adorns the living room wall), the play opens with the household abuzz with preparations for Grandma’s birthday celebration. But lest audience members expect to sit back, relax, and laugh for the duration of this 100-minute, intermission-less play, be “fair warned” that only the first of the three acts is a comedy (and includes a fair share of family drama that I found both familiar and funny). Its sitcom style is reminiscent of popular shows of earlier decades, like The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, and Family Matters.
Written by Dale Wasserman. Music by Mitch Leigh. Lyrics by Joe Darion. Directed by Ben Hart and Brandon James. Music Direction by Walter “Bobby” McCoy. Choreography by Jason Faria and Alyssa Dumas. Lighting Design by Kelly Gibson. Sound Design by Andrew Cameron. Properties Design by Gretchen Gray and Elise Marshall. Costume Design by DW. Set Design by Ben Hart and Brandon James. Presented by Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, through March 5.
By Linda Chin
For Seacoast Repertory Theatre’s 2023 Season, “The Impossible Dream!”, the Artistic Direction Team (Ben Hart, Brandon James, Alyssa Dumas) have curated an octet of titles thematically bound by their protagonists’ quests for love and acceptance, freedom, and justice. The Rep’s season opener Man of La Mancha is a musical telling of the quest of Don Quixote, one of the most iconic dreamers known to humankind. Although Cervantes’ 17th-century novel (which has been translated into over 50 languages) has broad appeal, the original 1965 production won 5 Tonys (including Best Musical) and enjoyed a successful Broadway revival in 2002, and “The Impossible Dream” (also widely translated) is an iconic number in the musical theater canon, it is not oft-produced by NE theater companies. Some consider the show dated, and difficult to stage, and there are flaws and inconsistencies in the score and book. Seacoast Rep’s rousing rendition overcomes these challenges and demonstrates that this musical is timeless, accessible, and universal.
Cast of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ‘Seven Guitars’. Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.
‘Seven Guitars’ by August Wilson. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Jon Savage; Sound Design by Abe Joyner-Meyers; Original Music Composition by Dewey Dellay; Lighting Design by Amanda E. Fallon Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Hiberian Hall,182 Dudley St., Roxbury through March 5. Photo by Ken Yotsukura Photography.
by Shelley A. Sackett
It’s hard to know where to begin praising Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of August Wilson’s ‘Seven Guitars.’ Jon Savage’s urban backyard set, with its backlit city side panels, gardens, make-do furniture, and hints of multiple interior spaces, combines simplicity with depth. Amanda E. Fallon’s lighting, Dewey Dellay’s pitch-perfect musical compositions, and Abe Joyner-Meyer’s toe-tapping sound design complete the immersive capsule. We are indeed time travelers to a 1948 rooming house in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.
“Sacre”. Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa Ensemble. Directed by Yaron Lifschitz. Music by Philippe Bachman and Igor Stravinsky. Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, Boch Center Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont Street Boston, through February 11.
Watching “Sacre”, I couldn’t help but think of my first trip to India. The streets were crowded with activity – tuk tuks, people four or five deep on motorbikes, cars, regular bicycles. My colleague and I stood on one side of the road, jittery, panicking, eventually darting tensely across the street like rabbits on steroids. The people who lived there, though, had no such fear. They calmly and serenely crossed the street, as if they were working with the chaos and motion, and not against it. “Sacre” has a similar flow to it, a synergy between cast members of safety, trust, and belonging that’s only frightening if you’re on the outside looking in.
Cast of ‘Bad Jews’ at the Gamm Theatre. Photo Credit: Cat Laine
Reviewed by Tony Annicone
Gamm Theatre’s second show in 2023 is the one-act play “Bad Jews” by Joshua Harmon. The show premiered back in 2013 and is a dark comedy about faith, culture, and how our honor to our family and history influences us. 10 years ago was a relatively peaceful time for Jewish people, but since the 2016 election, the tide has turned in the other direction with White Supremacists rearing their ugly heads and antisemitism ramping up – t not only in the United States but around the world, too. The play becomes a warning about not becoming complacent in these troubled times and to be aware to make sure that the atrocities of the past do not repeat themselves. “Bad Jews” uses humor, not only to entertain but to educate us that even though some people are unlikeable, they still struggle to understand the problems as well as to be understood. Harmon uses four characters in this show to display what he’s concerned about. The turmoil occurs after a grandfather dies in New York, leaving a treasured piece of religious jewelry that he successfully hid from the Nazis during the Holocaust. The heirs – who are cousins – not only fight over the family heirloom but about their religious faith, cultural assimilation, and last but not least, the validity of their romances. Director Tony Estrella casts these four roles splendidly and elicits an in-depth vision of their inner thoughts and feelings which they convey in a comic as well as a meaningful way for the audience to understand completely. The off-kilter set by Patrick Lynch conveys the strained family dynamics beautifully. You can see into every room of the set. Stage manager Kelsey Emry keeps things running smoothly all night long.
Adrianne Krstansky, Michael Kaye and Rom Barkhordar in The Huntington’s ‘Art of Burning’ Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson
“The Art of Burning” by Kate Snodgrass. Directed by Melia Bensussen. Scenic Design: Luciana Stecconi; Lighting Design: Aja M. Jackson; Sound Design: Jane Shaw; Costume Design: Kate Harmon. Presented by The Huntington, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through February 12.
by Shelley A. Sackett
Patricia (Adrianne Krstansky), a frumpy middle-aged painter, opens Kate Snodgrass’ ‘The Art of Burning’ mid-conversation with her friend Charlene (Laura Latreille). “Sometimes we have to kill the things we love to save them,” she announces seemingly out of the blue. Charlene adds critical context. The two have just seen a production of “Medea” and are debriefing outside the theater.
In the ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, Medea takes vengeance on her unfaithful husband Jason by murdering his new younger wife as well as her own two sons, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life. To Charlene’s discomfort, Patricia not only sympathizes with Medea, she praises her.
“She saves her children,” Patricia explains. “She doesn’t want to but she has to. The world will make their lives miserable and she doesn’t want that. She loves them.” Patricia may look mousey, but she is a mouse that roars.
Cast of “Sacre”, being presented by Celebrity Series of Boston February 9-111
Next weekend (February 9-11) the Celebrity Series of Boston will present “Sacre”, a re-imagining of “The Rite of Spring” by Australian contemporary circus company Circa, at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre. Theater Mirror had an opportunity to speak with acting artistic director Benjamin Knapton, who directed “Sacre”, last week.
TM: Tell us about Circa and how they differ from other circus arts troupes?
BK: In the early 2000s, Yaron Lifschitz (artistic director and CEO of Circa) took over a troupe called Rock n Roll Circus, and that company was doing some real different circus in Brisbane, Australia at the time. Yaron has a theater background, and when he started working with the (troupe) he essentially stripped it back, taking away the fancy costumes and lighting and set design, and really started to focus on the acrobatic body and what it could do, as well as the personalities and the emotional capacity of the performance. Since then, we’ve brought back sets and lighting and we do children’s shows (“Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Circus”), but the heart of that intent is still focused on the acrobatics, the acrobatic body and who the are performers are as people. With ‘Sacre’ for instance, there’s nothing on stage, it’s an empty black space lit by this one light. And it really focuses in on these extraordinary 10 acrobats who are in the show.
