AUDIBLE.COM — In April, the Williamstown Theatre Festival announced that it was presenting its seven productions planned for its 2020 season in partnership with Audible, the Amazon streaming service. Below are reviews for A Streetcar Named Desire and Photograph 51.
Additional reviews of Animals by Stacy Osei-Kuffour and Chonburi International Hotel & Butterfly Club by Shakina Nayfack will post next week.
Happy Streaming!
A Streetcar Named Desire
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Assistant directed by Nicholas Polonio
Sound design by Lindsay Jones
Dialect coaching by Dawn-Elin Fraser and Deborah Hecht
Intimacy direction by Claire Warden
Featuring: Joel Reuben Ganz (Doctor), Joe Goldammer (Steve Hubbell), Carla Gugino (Stella Kowalski), Carmen M. Herlihy (Eunice Hubbell), Sullivan Jones (Harold Mitchell), Brian Lucas (Young Collector), Audra McDonald (Blanche DuBois), Stacey Raymond (Nurse), Cesar J. Rosado (Pablo Gonzales), and Ariel Shafir (Stanley Kowalski)
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for a play that first premiered on Broadway in 1947. We assume that readers will have a working knowledge of this Tennessee Williams classic.
This radio drama version of Streetcar requires a listener to engage with it. It’s not something to listen to while driving or finishing a project. The listener will miss out on the actors’ subtleties and new takes on this classic. Audra McDonald, Carla Gugino, and Ariel Shafir use their voices as instruments. They fill silence with artistic nuance. Doing anything more complicated than idle hobby work will take away from the experience of their performances. Continue reading →
December 14 2020 Streamed live on Zoom via Youtube ArtsEmerson on Facebook
Review by Afrikah Smith
ZOOM — In the “Live Town Hall with the Davids: In Conversation With Claudia Rankine,” ArtsEmerson artistic director David Dower and executive director David Howse discuss with Claudia Rankine her latest publication Just Us: An American Conversation. They unpack the issues of normalizing whiteness, staying in the room, and the importance of holding conversations around human problems. A lot is said about the current politics in the theatre world that Boston area theatres and artists can benefit from by listening.Continue reading →
Tuesday, Dec 1, 2020, 7 PM Streamed Live via Youtube Boston Cultural Council on Facebook FPTC on Facebook
Review by Diana Lu
YOUTUBE–Cyrus McQueen used to be just your everyday standup comedian of Last Comic Standing fame. In the Age of Trump, he’s also become Twitter-famous as a cultural critic, offering race and politics analyses and wisecracks 280 characters at a time. He’s developed his experiences over the last four years into a first book, Tweeting Truth to Power: Chronicling our Caustic Politics, Crazed Times, & The Great Black & White Divide, which is supposed to be equal parts memoir and political discourse.Continue reading →
The Mount Auburn Plays By Patrick Gabridge Friends of Mount Auburn 2020 198 pgs Paperback (color) Digest (5.5 x 8.5 in / 140 x 216 mm) ISBN: 978-0-9986982-4-3 $21.95 Purchase HERE
Virtual Book Launch with Playwright Patrick Gabridge September 30 @ 6:00 pm Registration is FREE! (donation suggested)
Review by Kitty Drexel
Watertown, MA — This review is to support the Sept. 30 virtual book launch of The Mount Auburn Plays by Patrick Gabridge. I was gifted a copy of the book by Gabridge (with a fancy author’s signature. This means I can sell my copy for bazillions of bitcoins in approximately 30 years when it’s no longer in print). It’s good to be the Queen.
This book is a collection of Patrick Garbridge’s plays inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetary written during his 2018-2019 artist residency: The Nature Plays, The America Plays, and Moonlight Abolitionists. Before each play, there is a handy history of the play with casting, audience, and location information. Color production photos placed between. Continue reading →
Vital Voices Series
Presented by Free Soil Arts Collective
Moderated by Christa Brown
Free Soil Arts Collective on Facebook
FSAC on Youtube
Article by Kitty Drexel
LOWELL, MA – On September 10, the Free Soil Arts Collective announced that it will launch its Vital Voices digital series this month in presentation with Enterprise Bank. Vital Voices is a six-part series that features in-depth discussions with local artists of color. They will be moderated by Free Soil Founder Christa Brown.
“Enterprise Bank is proud to be the presenting sponsor of Vital Voices – a unique digital series presenting our community’s artists of color,” said Enterprise Bank CEO Jack Clancy in the Free Soil Arts Collective press release.
“There are so many amazing artists of color right here in our own backyard who are talented, dynamic, and eager to engage with a broader audience. Enterprise Bank’s support allows us to support these artists during this time,” said Christa Brown.
Featured artists include (chronologically) Veronica Holmes, Illustrator & Storyteller (Lowell), Marlene Marmolejos, Co-founder & Motion Designer of Motion Mami (Lawrence), Henry Marte, Owner of Marte Media (Lowell), Sam Stevquoah, Creative Director at Mill City’s Finest (Lowell), Princess Moon, Poet (Lowell), and Thaddeus Miles, Author & Photographer (Lowell).
Each episode of the Vital Voices series will air live on Facebook & YouTube via Zoom on the third Saturday of each month from September 2020 through February 2021, with the first episode airing on September 19th. Visit freesoilarts.org to RSVP.
The Lineup
SEPTEMBER – Veronica Holmes, Illustrator & Storyteller
OCTOBER – Marlene Marmolejos, Co-founder & Motion Designer of Motion Mami
NOVEMBER – Henry Marte, Owner of Marte Media
DECEMBER – Sam Stevquoah, Creative Director at Mill City’s Finest
JANUARY – Princess Moon, Poet
FEBRUARY – Thaddeus Miles, Author & Photographer
Other supporters to date include Studio 26 Associates and BRM Production Management.
The Free Soil Arts Collective is an arts organization with a mission to amplify and strengthen the voices of local artists of color. Since January 2019, Free Soil leads these efforts by producing creative works, offering educational programming, and curating events. Free Soil operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Greater Lowell Community Foundation. Learn more at freesoilarts.org
Orson Welles, 1938. Shown in rehearsal, standing, center background: director Orson Welles; seated, right: composer Bernard Herrmann NB: directing his Mercury Theatre of the Air troupe, such as created panic on the CBS radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, October 30, 1938
Article by Kitty Drexel
The pandemic has sparked a greater interest in radio drama.
In May, the New York Times shared a great article by Alexis Soloski that named multiple Broadway podcast radio shows called “For Your Ears Only: Broadway’s New Stage Is a Mic.” It references the Great Depression (as we head into another recession), quotes recording actors like James Monroe Iglehart, and then details their podcast projects.
Kelli O’Hara, Annaleigh Ashford, Iglehart, and others answer pertinent questions such as “How do you develop a character using just your voice?” Their answers are excellent advice to actors making podcast theatre during the pandemic. It’s a good read. Continue reading →
Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company Dream Boston: A New Series of Audio Plays The 54th in ’22 by Kirsten Greenidge McKim by Brenda Withers Overture by Kate Snodgrass By the Rude Bridge by Melinda Lopez
Online now for free on the Huntington Theatre website
Huntington on Facebook, Twitter Please remember to donate! Donate now so theatre can still exist later.
Critique by Noelani Kamelamela
STREAMING – I appreciate theatre makers using online platforms to present pre-recorded work or livestream theatrical content. In these times, when it is prudent for people not to be in theatres or congregating outdoors for a concert, the creation of work that can be digested at home or even on a lunch break is a political act beyond taking general responsibility for the health and welfare of a community by cancelling in person productions.
Dream Boston is easy to digest in four separate audio plays and can be listened to with an internet connection on someone’s phone for less than ten minute stretches. The playwrights and the directors for Dream Boston are women. Continue reading →
New Focus Recordings presents John Aylward’s Angelus
Conducted by Jean-Philippe Wurtz
Release Date: April 24, 2020
Genres: Classical, Contemporary Chamber Music
Text translations and adaptations by John Aylward.
Performed by Ecce Ensemble: Nina Guo, voice; Emi Ferguson, flutes; Hassan Anderson, oboe; Barret Ham, clarinets; Pala Garcia, violin; John Popham, cello; Sam Budish, percussion
Disclaimer: Classical music is #whiteculture. While reading this critique please consider the impact white culture has on Black and Brown bodies. Right now is an excellent time for we white artists to figure out how to even the playing field. Black lives still matter during times of peace.
Critique by Kitty Drexel
Digital Recording/Streaming — On the cover of Ecce Ensemble’s recording of Angelus is a reprinting of Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus. A glorified stick figure in beige and mulled yellow, this humanoid seraph bares conical, gapped teeth at observers that look ready to snap. Its wings are elongated fingers with nail beds. Its feet are stunted three-pronged talons. Klee’s angel is no sentimental rendering of a chubby baby in sheets. It is more Biblical destroyer than Anne Geddes. This image prepares the listener for the ethereal violence of Aylward’s work. Continue reading →
Black Lives Matter to the New England Theatre Geeks. They matter to us through violent protests and during times of relative peace.
We Geeks are unapologetically supportive of the BLM Movement’s need to resist in the ways they deem best. Even the “problematic’ ways. We will continue to show up and shut up for the movement.
We ask all readers to remember that Black Lives will still Matter after the riots are cleared and your local government begins repairing the damage its police have wrought in its communities. Fuck the police.
No one is saying that white lives don’t matter. But, there sure are a lot of white people saying that Black Lives don’t Matter with their words, actions and hashtags. Police are the ones showing up with guns, tasers and pepper spray to nonviolent protests and inciting violence.(I’m not linking to that filth. Find it your damn self.)
June is Pride Month. As we step into this month of celebration, never forget that Black transwoman Marsha P. Johnson and Latina drag queen Sylvia Rivera started the Stonewall Riots. Pride is for everyone, not just the rich, white corporations that can sell it today and hypocritically pander to homophobic interest groups the next.
The New England Theatre Geek platform is available to the resistance to spread messages of justice and equity. Our resistance will stop when the bigotry stops.
Black Lives Matter
Trans Lives Matter
Native Lives Matter
Brown Lives Matter
LGBTQIA+ Lives Matter
Immigrant Lives Matter
Fuck the Police
Resist. Resist. Resist.
All my love,
Kitty
Queen of the New England Theatre Geeks
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Fresh Ink Theatre — All aboard for a digital staged reading of MAIDEN VOYAGE by Cayenne Douglass, streaming June 8-14! http://freshinktheatre.org/maiden-voyage
For a limited time only, we are bringing a digital staged reading of Maiden Voyage by Cayenne Douglass from the depths of the ocean straight to your computer screens! Don’t miss this maritime new play following the exploits and adventures of the first all-female patrol aboard a U.S. submarine.
Emmanuel Music — During this time of high anxiety and uncertainty, we hope that you will find solace, meaning, and beauty through the music of J.S. Bach. Over the coming weeks and months, our staff looks forward to engaging you further through complementary online resources, including video interviews, written reflections, program notes, and translations. We hope that we will see you as soon as restrictions are lifted and we can resume presenting live programs.
History At Play — In this presentation of Victorian Gossip Girl: Annie Adams Fields, History At PlayTM, LLC Founder and Artistic Director Judith Kalaora is Annie Fields, the Boston literary scout, author, and philanthropist. Mrs. Fields had an incredible influence on literary decisions at her husband’s Tremont Street publishing house – Ticknor and Fields (the forerunner to Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company) – and had a great ear for gossip! A LIVE LIVE-STREAMED PERFORMANCE DIRECT TO YOUR HOME!
FRIDAY, JUNE 5 – 7:30 PM ET (GMT-5)
VIA PAY-PER-HAP FACEBOOK VIP WATCH GROUP
$5-$25 (Pay-What-You-Can) or $100 for a 2020 Season Pass
Schedule: June 5: Victorian Gossip Girl: Annie Adams Fields/ June 12: Tinseltown Inventor: The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, Hedy Lamarr/ June 19: CHALLENGER: Soaring with Christa McAuliffe/ June 26: Chit Chat with Dolley Madison / July 3: [No program] July 10:World War Women: The Unsung Heroines of WWII / July 17:Rendezvous with Rachel Revere with Special Guest!/ July 24: Educational Lecture: Building a Business out of History/ July 31: A Revolution of Her Own! Deborah Sampson
Improv Boston — Starting at 8pm on June 5th, ImprovBoston will be hosting The ImprovBoston Virtual Marathon. 40 hours of live art and comedy to support the arts and save a theater. The event will be a telethon-style fundraising broadcast, live-streamed for free in its entirety at ImprovBoston.com/virtualmarathon. The event will conclude at 12pm on June 7th. DONATE HERE.
Goals for the event…
Perform 40 hours in honor of our performers and stages at 40 Prospect Street;
Collect 620+ donations in honor of our students and teachers at 620 Massachusetts Avenue; and
Raise $114,000 in honor of our staff at 114 Bishop Allen Drive.
Liars & Believers — Introducing the next Pandemic Play, Entitled.
This dark little morsel is from our friend Peter Snoad (who also wrote The Greening of Bridget Kelley).
Entitled, Written by Peter Snoad. Directed by Lindsay Eagle.
Dobbin – Meredith Saran
Mr. Gross – Bob Mussett
with Sarah Gazdowicz as Linda
On May 25 (yesterday), Massachusetts began the first of fourth phases to reopen. Exact information on the plan and all four phases can be found at https://www.mass.gov.
Mass Creative created a super helpful graph that represents the artistic community’s participation in reopening. The phases for arts organizations are:
Image credit Mass Creative.
Phase 1 (May 25th): Zoos, outdoor gardens, public installations, and drive-in theaters
Phase 2: Some outdoor performances, maybe some outdoor venues
Phase 4: Large venues (arenas, stadiums, night clubs—in process of defining large venues)
All our love from six feet away,
Kitty Drexel
Queen of the New England Theatre Geeks
P.S. This post is a late due to mental health/personal reasons. It is important that we take care of ourselves at all times but especially now. Life is stressful for all manner of reasons. It’s okay not to do the thing, all of the things, or any of the things. It is okay not to be productive. Our health must come first.
American Repertory Theatre — American Repertory Theater at Harvard University announces upcoming free virtual conversations and events. Conversations are open to the general public, though advanced RSVPs are required. 1776 IN DIALOGUE TONIGHT—Tuesday, May 26 at 6PM
With Diane Paulus, director of 1776; Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Professor of History and Literature at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and Core Faculty at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government; and Oneika Phillips from the cast of 1776. Register for 1776 in Dialogue here
CITIZENSHIP 1776 – 2026: APPROACHING 250 YEARS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Monday, June 1 at 4PM
With Annette Gordon-Reed, Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School; Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, it is worthwhile to consider what it means to be a citizen of the country that was created in 1776. Harvard Professor Annette Gordon-Reed explores the questions of how citizenship is expressed in this modern context, how we kept the republic, and what might the future hold for our republic. Register for Citizenship 1776 – 2026 here.
THE SHOW MUST GO SEAN
Tuesday, June 4 at 6:30PM
The 2020 Tony Awards were postponed, but the celebration goes on! Join A.R.T. for The Show Must Go Sean, a special Tonys-themed trivia night hosted Broadway aficionado and A.R.T.’s Assistant Director of Membership and Donor Relations, Sean Cummings. Bring a team of your favorite theater enthusiasts for an interactive evening of merriment and multimedia trivia—teams of any size and participants of all ages and knowledge levels are welcome! Register for The Show Must Go Sean here.
LUNCH WITH LUNSFORD
The A.R.T continues its Lunch with Lunsford series with guests announced for the month of June. Hosted by Artistic Producer Mark Lunsford, the Tuesday noontime webinar features curated conversations with artists in A.R.T.’s orbit, followed by interactive audience Q&A. Learn more and RSVP for Lunch with Lunsford here.
Apollinaire Theatre Company — Apollinaire Theatre is excited to invite you to join us for Apollinaire at Home, a free online play & film script reading gathering! Apollinaire at Home is hosted by your Apollinaire favorites, and the cast includes You. Readings will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30, and Sunday “matinee” at 3:00.
We’ll post the schedule for each week at the beginning of the week (check on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning).
Huntington Theatre Company — Huntington Theatre Company announces their annual Spotlight Spectacular Gala will take place virtually on the Huntington’s Facebook and YouTube channels Monday, June 15, 2020 beginning at 7:30pm. More info about the gala is HERE.
Liars & Believers — The Greening of Bridget Kelley, by Peter Snoad. It features LAB company member Jesse Garlick and our friend, Aislinn Brophy, who was in A Story Beyond.
A New Normal: A Zoom play by David Perkinson — Written by David Perkison, A New Normal is a dryly comic look at 3 friends trying to cope during the pandemic. A one act performance recorded entirely in one take using Zoom recording software. Follow the YouTube link to watch!
Vital Voices Series
Presented by the 
Goals for the event…
