by Mike Hoban

Our Dear Dead Drug Lord – Written by Alexis Scheer. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Scenic Design: Kristin Loeffler; Lighting Design: Aja M. Jackson; Costume Design: Rachel Padula; Sound Design: Julian Crocamo. Presented by Off the Grid Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Calderwood Pavilion, Roberts Studio Theatre, 527 Tremont St. Boston, through September 1

It’s 2008, right before the historic presidential election, and four teen girls are convening in the childhood treehouse belonging to Pipe, the apparent ringleader of the group. But they’re not there to play music, smoke cigarettes (or weed) and talk about boys/girls. They’ve clearly got something more important on their minds. So as one of the girls unfurls a poster to hang on the wall – not one of the Jonas Brothers, mind you, but a mugshot of deceased drug kingpin Pablo Escobar – and another exclaims, “Oh my God, I want to turn this poster into a blanket and lose my virginity on it,” you suspect it’s about to get a whole lot weirder than an “Afterschool Special”. And when the girls anoint themselves with the blood of a small, freshly killed creature as part of a ritual to commune with the spirit of Escobar – those suspicions are pretty much confirmed.

Read more “Off The Grid’s “Our Dear Dead Drug Lord” – Takes Teen Angst to New Levels”