Speakeasy’s Absorbing ‘Heroes’ is Guaranteed to Spark Discussion

September 14, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Elise Piliponis, Karen MacDonald, Jesse Hinson, Dayna Cousins, and Nathan Malin in *Heroes of the Fourth Turning*. Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning – Written by Will Arbery; Directed by Marianna Bassham; Set Design by Baron E. Pugh; Costume Design by Rachel Padula Shufelt; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. Boston through October 8

by Mike Hoban

There’s a lot to unpack in playwright Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning, the thought-provoking political drama now running at Speakeasy Stage. Brilliantly acted by a terrific ensemble, Heroes is billed as a look at “a country at war with itself,” but in truth delves more specifically into the internal divides within the Catholic wing of the Republican party brought on by the election of Donald Trump. Interestingly, the play is set in 2017, two days before the solar eclipse and just one week after the white nationalist riots in Charlottesville – which means that the play pre-dates the 2020 election and the ensuing insurrection at the Capital that led the Republican party to desert their conservative principles in deference to the Big Lie pushed by the former president.

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

May 3, 2022 michaelhobanLeave 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.

SpeakEasy’s ‘Once on This Island’ Is A Magical Tour of A Mystical Place

March 16, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Peli Naomi Woods, Kenny Lee, and the cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s **Once on This Island** (2022). Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

“Once On This Island.” Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Pascale Forestal. Music Direction by David Freeman Coleman; Choreography by Jazelynn Goudy; Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Speakeasy Stage, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA through April 16.

by Shelley A. Sackett

‘Once On This Island’ is such a happy, toe-tapping, brightly colored musical, it’s easy to forget that its overarching tragic themes are Caribbean colonialism, racism, and slavery. Part ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (which didn’t end well for those star-crossed lovers, either), part Little Mermaid and part multi-cultural folk fable, the show explains the history of the Island Hispaniola and its eventual split into Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

An Exuberant, Optimistic “Once on This Island” at Speakeasy

March 15, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Peli Naomi Woods, Kenny Lee (both center), and the cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s **Once on This Island** (2022). Photos by Nile Scott Studios

by Michele Markarian

“Once On This Island”. Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Pascale Forestal. Presented by Speakeasy Stage, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA through April 16.

Once on This Island” isn’t exactly a light show. Class barriers, racial prejudice, and unrequited love are three of its main themes. Throw in the capriciousness of the gods, whose conflicting forces can’t always be controlled, and you can be sure that tragedy will counter good fortune. But what follows the rollicking first number, “We Dance”, is an hour and a half of engaging storytelling and musical entertainment.

SpeakEasy’s ‘People. Places & Things’ Takes Us Into the Belly of Addiction

February 17, 2022 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Marianna Bassham and the cast of *People, Places & Things.* Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

‘People, Places & Things’ — Written by Duncan Macmillan. Directed by David R. Gammon;, Scenic Design by Jeffrey Peterson; Costume Design by Gail Astrid Buckley; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Wilson, Video Design by Adam Stone. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at Boston Center for the Arts through March 5.

by Shelley A. Sackett

Like Jonah’s whale, addiction can swallow us whole. Unlike Jonah, however, who was freed after a mere three days of praying and repenting, those stuck in the belly of the addiction beast have a much tougher, longer and shakier road to hoe.

Some are up to the challenge and some crumble under the beast’s daunting weight. Some make it and some fake it. Some don’t know the difference and some could care less. And some will circle their self-destructive drain as long as they can, all the while ferociously denying they’re about to drown.

SpeakEasy Stage’s Impeccable ‘The Sound Inside’ Should Be Your First Stop for In-Person Theater

October 2, 2021 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Jennifer Rohn, Nathan Malin in Speakeasy Stage’s productio*n of ‘*The Sound Inside*‘

The Sound Inside’ – Written by Adam Rapp. Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic Design by Chistina Todesco. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Devorah Kengmana. Sound Design by David Remedios. Starring Jennifer Rohn and Nathan Malin. Presented by Speakeasy Stage in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through Oct 16, 2021.

by Shelley A. Sackett

If your Covid Comfort Zone now includes attending indoor events, gallop on over to SpeakEasy Stage’s production of Adam Rapp’s The Sound Inside, a trifecta of what makes for exalted theater: flawless script, acting and directing. This two-hander doesn’t just hit a home run over the Green Wall; it launches it into outer space.

That said, it still takes a leap of faith to believe it’s safe to be packed together as tightly as a fully booked economy cabin as long as everyone is fully vaccinated and masked. It took me several minutes before my anxiety leveled off and I could be entirely present for the play.

And what an extraordinary play it is.

‘The Sound Inside’ at Speakeasy Stage

October 2, 2021 michaelhobanLeave a comment

*Jennifer Rohn in Speakeasy Stage’s productio*n of ‘*The Sound Inside*‘

by James Wilkinson

‘The Sound Inside’ – Written by Adam Rapp. Directed by Bryn Boice. Scenic Design by Chistina Todesco. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Devorah Kengmana. Sound Design by David Remedios. Starring Jennifer Rohn and Nathan Malin. Presented by Speakeasy Stage in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts through Oct 16, 2021.

When the lights come up on Speakeasy’s production of The Sound Inside, it’s going to be hard to shake the impression that everyone involved is already dead. You don’t even need to wait for the lead character to reveal her cancer diagnosis before the dark thoughts start creeping in. The set design (by Christina Todesco) encases the action in a platform set adrift in a black void, practically turning the theater into a tomb. A translucent reflection of the actors is always visible in the plexiglass walls that tower over the performance space. It’s as if they’re in a constant state of being haunted by their undead doppelgangers. During the opening monologue the lighting (design by Devorah Kengmana) keeps shifting around that lead character, throwing shadows this way and that, preventing her from ever feeling truly solid. Then there’s that sound design, (by David Remedios) constantly needling at the back of our necks. It’s grim stuff.

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

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 michaelhobanLeave 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.

Child Is Father to Man in SpeakEasy’s “The Children”

March 5, 2020March 6, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

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

by Shelley A. Sackett

“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. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.

Playwright Lucy Kirkwood had wanted to write about climate change for quite a while when the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan provided the impetus and inspiration. With The Children, a must-see production enjoying its Boston premiere at SpeakEasy Stage Company, she has succeeded in crafting a thoughtful and provocative three-character play that manages to raise profound existential and moral questions while slowing peeling back the layers of this threesome’s long and complicated history. It is also one heck of a riveting eco-thriller/emotional detective story brilliantly acted by inimitable stage luminaries Tyrees Allen, Karen MacDonald and Paula Plum.

“The Children” a Stunning Look at What We leave Behind

March 4, 2020 michaelhobanLeave a comment

By Michele Markarian

“The Children”. By Lucy Kirkwood. Directed by Bryn Boice. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 537 Tremont Street, Boston through March 28.

“We heard you died,” says Hazel (Paula Plum) to her visitor, Rose (Karen MacDonald), ostensibly an old friend and colleague who has dropped unexpectedly by the temporary housing that Hazel shares with her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen). It has been thirty-eight years since they’d last seen her on their small British island, and Hazel’s welcome seems less than congenial (she has also, by accident, given Rose a bloody nose). Turns out that the women have shared more than just their former workplace, a nuclear power plant. A tsunami has rendered an accident at the plant, and the residents around it are instructed to live outside of a contaminated exclusion zone. Hazel and Robin have had to abandon their farm and their cattle, much to Hazel’s devastation. Rose, who never married and has lived in America, is seemingly less tethered. Hazel is circumspect about their old friend’s visit with good, intuitive reason – Rose has come back with a request with far-reaching responsibilities and consequences.