The Musical Revelation of “Who is Eartha Mae?”

February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Jade Wheeler in “Who Is Eartha Mae” (photos by Andrew Brilliant)

by Michele Markarian

“Who is Eartha Mae?” by Jade Wheeler. Directed by Caitlin Doran. Scenic Design by Esme Allen; Costume Design by Kathleen Doyle; Wig Design by Rayo Cole; Lighting Design by Laura Hillebrand; Sound Design by Jason Rosenman; Properties by Joe Stallone. Presented by Bridge Repertory Theater, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, 41 2^nd Street, Cambridge, through February 23.

You know you’re in for an intimate experience when producing artistic director Olivia D’Ambrosio urges you, during her charmingly disarming curtain speech, to introduce yourself to your closest neighbor. Something about the gesture of doing so is relaxing, open, and prepares you well to receive the very talented and engaging Jade Wheeler, in her entertaining and revealing one woman show, “Who is Eartha Mae?”

Bridge Rep Composes a ‘Dark Room’ – and the Women Inside It

August 13, 2018 michaelhobanLeave a comment

Review by James Wilkinson

Dark Room – Written by George Brant. Directed by Olivia D’Ambriosio. Associate Director/Dramaturg: Aleander Platt. Scenic Design: Ryan Bates. Costume Design: Chelsea Kerl. Lighting Design: Stephen Petrilli. Sound Design/Composer: Elizabeth Cahill. Properties: Esme Allen. Presented by Bridge Repertory Theatre at the Multicultural Arts Center at 41 Second St, Cambridge through August 16th

While speaking with an audience member after having seen Bridge Repertory Theater’s production of Dark Room, she remarked to me that she found it an interesting piece. “There’s a little something for everyone,” she said. I think she hit the nail on the head. The experience of sitting through Dark Room is most akin to being thrown through a kaleidoscope of shadowy landscapes. By turns sad, funny, disturbing and bizarre, the ground is constantly shifting below your feet. Just as you adjust, we’re off somewhere else. There’s an energy around the piece as though we’re watching it trying to figure out a problem in real time. Try this. Now try this. Here, try this. That didn’t work? Then try this. No? Then how about this? Together we inch along, searching for the answer to a mystery.

Bridge Rep/Playhouse Creatures’ “Mrs. Packard” A Nightmarish Journey Into the Bad Old Days

March 22, 2017March 27, 2017 michaelhobanLeave a comment

by Mike Hoban

Mrs. Packard – Written by Emily Mann; Directed by Emily Ranii; Scenic Design by Jon Savage; Lighting Design by Ed Intemann; Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl; Sound Design by Don Tindall. Presented by Bridge Repertory Theatre in a co-production with Playhouse Creatures Theatre Co. of NYC at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., Cambridge through April 9

When I was a boy in middle school, I was a huge fan of the B horror films that ran on Saturday afternoon showcases like Creature Double Feature. There weren’t many classics in the “Dracula” or “Frankenstein” vein, but there was plenty of silly dreck like “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “The Thing That Wouldn’t Die” that were more laughable than frightening. But there was one film that truly did horrify me, and that was “Bedlam”, a low rent Boris Karloff vehicle that told the story of a woman wrongly committed to an insane asylum in Victorian England known as Bedlam – which was depicted as a Hollywood backlot version of Hell on Earth. What made it so terrifying was that while there no traditional movie monsters, Bedlam was a real place, and the monsters were the evil men running the asylum.