Author Archives: Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Nov 19

Frothy, Fun, and Farcical: “Emma”

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Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Fady Demian, Josephine Elwood, and Liza Giangrande in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s production of Emma. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project
Play by Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Jane Austen
Directed by Regine Vital
Scenic design by Saskia Martínez
Costume design by Nia Safarr Banks
Lighting design by Deb Sullivan
Sound design by Anna Drummond
Dramaturgy by Kristin Leahey
Featuring: Alex Bowden, Fady Demian, Josephine Moshiri Elwood, Liza Giangrande, Jennie Israel, Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Dev Luthra, Mara Sidmore

Tickets and Information Here
November 14 – December 15
The Multicultural Arts Center
41 Second St., Cambridge, MA 02141

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center theatre is already ornate, bedecked with colorful railings, intricate carvings, and a soaring ceiling. It is a perfect fit for any Regency-era play, but especially for Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Emma, which is positively dripping with femininity.

Scenic designer Saskia Martínez has draped virtually every surface with soft florals and pastels, cozying up the otherwise cavernous space and inviting audiences (some of whom are seated onstage with the actors – be prepared for audience participation) to settle in for a spot of tea and gossip. Costume designer Nia Safarr Banks paints with the same aesthetic brush: the dresses, stockings, and hats are varyingly anachronistic, with plenty of nods to modern fashion trends, but everything is pulled together with a palette of watercolor blues, pinks, and yellows. Continue reading →

Nov 04

The Power of Radical Imagination: “On the Eve of Abolition”

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Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

Presented by Arts Emerson
Written by Papel Machete
Directed by Jorge ‘Cano Cangrejo’ Díaz Ortiz
Directing team: Deborah Hunt and Sugeily Rodríguez Lebrón
Selected voices by Rob Thelusma, Krystal Clark, Mumia Abu-Jamal
Puppet and mask design and direction by Deborah Hunt
Lighting design by Luis Felipe Rivera Santiago
In community partnership with Prison Radio and Sisters Unchained

October 31 – November 3, 2024
Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage
559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111
Tickets here

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Content advisory: flashing lights, strong language, gun violence

BOSTON — In Papel Machete’s On the Eve of Abolition, an ensemble of multi-talented performers demonstrate the power of imagination on two levels.

For one, there is the majesty of inventive storytelling. Papel Machete presents an ever-unfolding series of theatrical surprises: doll-sized prison doors open to reveal cells where marionette revolutionaries bide time until their uprising; pop-up book scenes of abolition camps and prisons are displayed simultaneously on stage and through video projection; characters appear in a variety of awe-inspiring configurations, from tiny figurines trapped in paper prisons to life-sized dancers in detailed, expressive masks. Continue reading →

Sep 30

A Love Song to Ephemerality: “February House”

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Shira Cahn Lipman, Matt Finn, Shai Wolf, Todd Sandstrom, Travis Karas, Em Sheeran, Todd Yard. Photo credit: Val Tracy

Presented by The Treehouse Collective
Music and lyrics by Gabriel Kahane
Story by Seth Bockley
Directed by Katie Swimm
Music direction by Jeff Kimball
Costume design by Marc Capizzi and Christina Petrillo
Set/props design by Britt Ambruson
Lighting design by Dan Clawson
Stage management and sound design by Dannie Smith

Featuring: Todd Sandstrom, Em Sheeran, Todd Yard, Shai Wolf, Travis Karas, Matty Finn, Sean Donnelly, Shira Cahn-Lipman, Devin Bean, Maggie Post

September 27 – October 13
Plaza Theatres at Boston Center for the Arts
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02131

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON — I didn’t find myself humming snippets from February House on my rainy walk back to the train station last night, because Gabriel Kahane’s score isn’t particularly catchy. The music is memorable, to be sure, but not in the brash, ear-wormy way that one might expect from a musical.

Instead, my memories of February House felt quiet and fleeting, like the smell of an old house or the footsteps of a once-familiar companion. As George Davis (the titular house’s den mother and the musical’s narrator) explains, love is not about possession, but about letting go, and to that end, the Treehouse Collective’s quiet but piercing production of this musical is resoundingly successful. Continue reading →

Sep 24

The Voice of a Movement: “Is This America?”

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The ensemble. Photo by by Kathy Wittman.

Presented by White Snake Projects
Composition by Mary D. Watkins
Libretto by Mary D. Watkins and Cerise Lim Jacobs
Stage direction by Pascale Florestal
Music direction by Tianhui Ng
Projection design by John Oluwole ADEkoje
Scenic design by Baron Pugh
Program art by Dr. Nettrice R. Gaskins
Featuring Deborah Nansteel, Eliam Ramos, Nina Evelyn Anderson, Joel Clemens, Carina DiGianfilippo, Isabel Randall, Chris Remkus, Naila Delgado

September 20th – 22nd
The Strand Theatre
543 Columbia Rd
Boston, MA 02125

Information here

Content Warning: Is This America? contains very strong, racially-loaded language, and references to violence.

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON — Early in Act Two of White Snake Project’s new opera, Fannie Lou Hamer stands proudly before the Democratic National Convention, demanding a seat at the table for Black citizens. She testifies to the violence and dehumanization she has faced as a Black woman in the mid-twentieth century deep south: “I question America, the home of the free and the brave… They make our lives Hell! Hell, Hell! Is this America?”

Hamer’s famous speech (adapted by co-librettists Cerise Lim Jacobs and Mary D. Watkins and sung with grandeur and ferocity by mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel) was not met with polite applause during the performance I attended last night. Instead, a spectator a few seats to my right was moved to spontaneously respond – “Get it, girl!” – followed by cheers and uproarious applause.  Continue reading →

Sep 10

Parents Just Don’t Understand: “Romeo and Juliet”

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Rudy Pankow (Romeo) and Emilia Suárez (Juliet), credit: Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall.

Presented by American Repertory Theater
Play by William Shakespeare
Direction by Diane Paulus
Movement direction and choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Scenic design by Amy Rubin
Costume design by Emilio Sosa
Lighting design by Jen Schriever
Sound design by Daniel Lundberg
Original music by Alexandre Dai Castaing
Featuring: Terence Archie, Sharon Catherine Brown, Brandon Dial, Terrance Mann, Rudy Pankow, Clay Singer, Emilia Suárez, Nicole Villamil

August 31 – October 6
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle Street
Cambridge MA 02138
Tickets here

Article by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Shakespeare’s most ubiquitous tragic romance hinges on the duality between love and hate. In Director Diane Paulus’ program note, she expresses a desire to tip the scale toward love, but this A.R.T. production is most successful in its exploration of another duality: that of tradition and rebellion; the tension between one generation and the next. Continue reading →

Aug 31

Linguistically Witty but Needs Workshopping: “A Neufaust”

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Photo credit: Christian Kelley.

Presented by the Cunning Folk Theatre 
Adapted by Catherine Alam-Nist from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Urfaust
Directed by Catherine Alam-Nis
Stage Managed by Aaron Mesa
Lighting, Projection, and Sound Design by Catherine Alam-Nist
Costume and Prop Design by Zel Tracey
Featuring: David J. Kim, Mari Elliot, Emma Weller

August 23-25
Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA
Information here

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON — The Cunning Folk is a new theatre company interested in old stories: myths, legends, and fairy tales that at once fascinate and disturb, told anew through the adaptive craft of live performance. So far, they have produced Selkie Play, an exploration of Irish mythology by Kara O’Rourke, Measure for Measure, arguably Shakespeare’s thorniest problem play, and now A Neufaust, a new adaptation of the classic Enlightenment play.

This version, adapted and directed by artistic director Catherine Alam-Nist, is a riff on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Urfaust: an early draft of Faust: Part One. Audiences (including myself) are likely more familiar with Goethe’s later version, but most of the basic plot beats are still there: the demon Mephistopheles tempts Faust – a brilliant, learned, and ultimately mortal man – with worldly pleasures, namely the beautiful and innocent Gretchen. Tragedy ensues.  Continue reading →

Aug 27

“Let’s Misbehave:” A Gay Old Time

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Lydian Meloccaro (HE/THEY) & Adriana Alvarez (SHE/HER). Photo by Tobias Bond-Richardson.

Presented by Pansy Rampant Productions
Play by Lawrence Gullo
Co-facilitation by Liz Diamond and Jo Michael Rezes
Costume design by Sherman
Scenic design by Ellie Gillis
Lighting design by M Berry
Hair/makeup design by Em Salzman
Featuring: Mandy Jo Bemis, Sebastian Crane, Leanna Hieber, Lydian Meloccaro, Justin Peavey, Matti Steriti

August 23-25, 2024
The Foundry
101 Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
Information here

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The not-so-roaring-2020s are a struggle-full time, particularly for queer folks who just want to exist in peace. Playwright Lawrence Gullo’s labor of love, Let’s Misbehave, transports us back in time almost a full century, not as a form of escapism, nor to prove that one era was crueler or kinder than the other, but to simply remind us that trans people have always existed – not only existed, but thrived. There’s profound hope in that simple sentiment, especially right now.

Gullo’s play has been simmering for over a decade, evolving from a TV pilot to a Zoom reading to this summer’s Boston stage premiere, and in that time, its characters have clearly had time to grow into their own. Fittingly, the play has something of a sitcom feel, featuring a merry band of friends who more or less just like hanging out together – except that these friends are queer social outcasts living in London in the 1930s. Continue reading →

Aug 07

“The Suppliant Women:” When We Shout, We Wake the Gods

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Photo by Danielle Fauteux Jacques.

Presented by Apollinaire Theatre, in collaboration with Teatro Chelsea and the City of Chelsea
Play by Aeschylus, adapted by David Greig
Music by John Browne
Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Choreography by Audrey Johnson
Music Direction by David Reiffel
Accompanied by Aneesh Kashalikar, Laura Jordan, Stephen Guerra
Featuring Paola Ferrer, Brooks Reeves, Andres Molano, Parker Jennings, Pearl Scott, Charleen Andujar

August 2 – 17, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays @ 7:30pm
Pre-show starts at 6pm, featuring music from members of the ensemble and beer and food from local vendors
Content advisory for mentions of sexual violence.

The Playbill

Free at Port Park
99 Marginal Street, Chelsea MA
Information here

The production is Bilingual, English/Spanish.

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

CHELSEA, Mass. — Last month, the Healey administration announced a new policy that caps overflow shelter stays to only five days. Days ago, just before the policy went into effect, the administration relaxed the guidelines for individuals who meet certain criteria — but many migrant families are still facing the very real, very immanent threat of having nowhere to go. It’s heartbreaking, made even more so because it’s barely a blip on the news cycle’s radar.

“The worries of women and exiles are endless,” the titular suppliant women of Aeschylus’ 2,500-year-old play exclaim, in this eerily prophetic production by Apollinaire Theatre Company. Over and over, the women plead for compassion from kings and citizens who are more concerned with consolidating their own power than opening their doors to those in need. Continue reading →

Apr 30

“Mermaid Hour”: A Tender Tale, Not Quite for Our Times

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Photo by Molly Shoemaker.

Presented by Moonbox Productions
Play by David Valdes
Direction by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary
Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland
Lighting Design by Deb Sullivan
Costume Design by E Rosser
Composition by Kai Bohlman
Sound Design by Kai Bohlman and Anna Drummond
Dramaturgy by Wenxuan Xue
Featuring: Brenny O’Brien, Phil Tayler, Monica Risi, Alex Goldman, Clara Tan

April 26 – May 19
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tickets here

Article by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Content advisory for transphobic language such as misgendering, as well as mature content such as swearing, references to anatomy, and sexual activity. Recommended for ages 12 and up.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In the early 2010s, when Mermaid Hour was written, trans visibility was on the rise and Internet discourse was largely concerned with pronouns and representation. In David Valdes’ play, Pilar and David are searching for information about terminology and puberty blockers to support their trans daughter, Vi. Their efforts are earnest; they make mistakes; then they learn and adjust and move on. They love their kid, and that’s enough. Continue reading →

Feb 13

Love Against All Odds: “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”

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“Mr. Popper’s Penguins” cast: (l-r) Russell Garrett, Lisa Kate Joyce, Michael Jennings Mahoney, Kristian Espiritu, Yasmeen Duncan, and Todd McNeel. Photo by Jake Belcher.

Presented by Wheelock Family Theatre
Book by Robert Kauzlaric
Music and Lyrics by George Howe
Based on the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater
Direction and Choreography by Ilyse Robbins
Music Direction by Dan Rodriguez
Scenic Design by Janie E. Howland
Costume Design by Bethany Mullins
Puppet Design by Alex Vernon
Featuring: Yasmeen Duncan, Kristian Espiritu, Russell Garrett, Lisa Kate Joyce, Michael Jennings Mahoney, Todd McNeel

February 10 – March 3, 2024
Wheelock at Boston University
180 Riverway
Boston, MA 02215

Run Time: 70 minutes with no intermission

Recommended for ages 3+

Review by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

BOSTON, Mass. — After a long afternoon at work and a particularly sluggish MBTA ride, I was in a grim mood when I finally walked into the Wheelock Family Theatre last night – but my spirits were almost instantaneously lifted at the sight of Captain Cook (the first of many heartwarming creations by puppeteer Alex Vernon), a full-sized penguin puppet, complete with waddling feet, flapping wings, and expressive, blinking eyes. Continue reading →