Gloucester Stage Wraps Outdoor Season with Thought-Provoking ‘Reparations’

From L to R: Lisa Tharps, Angela Pierce, Jason Bowen and Malcolm Ingram in Gloucester Stage’s ”Reparations’

‘Reparations’ – Written by James Sheldon. Directed by Miriam Cyr. Creative Team: Jon Savage (Scenic Design); Kat C. Zhou(Lighting Design); Veronica Barron and Christopher Vu (Sound Design); Deirdre McCabe Gerrard (Costume Design); Logan Pitts(Dramaturg). Presented by Gloucester Stage Company at Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, 257R Granite St, Rockport, MA through September 19

By Mike Hoban

If you’re considering seeing the Gloucester Stage production of Reparations, but are wary of being drawn into a staged version of yet another politically charged discussion in our increasingly polarized world, let me say that the title may be a bit misleading. While the play does examine the topics of race and privilege, the 400 years of systemic racism is not necessarily the central theme; instead, Reparations delves into a more universal horror while exploring the intersection of power and evil.

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Gloucester Stage Serves Up a Tasty Comic Dish with ‘Seared’

Jordan Pearson, James Louis Wagner, Matt Monaco, and Emily Bosco in ‘Seared’ at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts in Rockport. Presented by Gloucester Stage Company. Photos by Jason Grow.

Seared – Directed by Victoria Gruenberg. Scenic Design by Anya Klepikov; Stan Mathabane Sound Design by Stan Mathabane; Lighting Design  by Aja M. Jackson; Costume Design by Kathleen Doyle. Presented by Gloucester Stage Company at Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, 257R Granite St, Rockport, MA through August 22

by Mike Hoban

It’s an age-old question. Does making money and achieving a degree of fame from one’s chosen art form somehow diminish the art itself? If your name is Harry, the gifted chef in Theresa Rebeck’s entertaining comedy Seared, the answer is a resounding ‘YES’. After winning praise from New Yorker magazine for a particularly inventive and mouthwatering scallop dish that is boosting business at his struggling restaurant, Harry (James Louis Wagner) immediately goes full-on diva, refusing to make the meal for customers because (ostensibly) the quality of said mollusks at the fish market fail to meet his lofty standards.

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