Tag Archives: Central Square Theater

Aug 08

Not A Leftover: DOG PADDLE (Or, Struggling Inelegantly Against Drowning)

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Photo by Andrew Brilliant

Photo by Andrew Brilliant, from Facebook.

Presented by Bridge Repertory Theater
By Retro Finger
Translated by Lily Sykes
Directed by Guy Ben-Aharon

August 4-20, 2016
Studio Theater at Central Square Theater
Cambridge, MA
Bridge Rep on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Cambridge, MA) Dog Paddle (Or, Struggling Inelegantly Against Drowing) is a brisk 55 minutes long. It is brief, packs a wallop, and, to be blunt, is just short enough that one can still run errands or what have you before the day’s exhaustion catches up. Dog Paddle is an opportunity to enjoy cranial, abstract theatre without wearing one out for the rest of life. It’s perfect. Continue reading →

Apr 20

Two Reviewers, One Play: ARCADIA

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The Cast of ARCADIA. Photo: A.R. Sinclair Photography

The Cast of ARCADIA. Photo: A.R. Sinclair Photography

Presented by Central Square Theater & and the Nora Theatre Company
Written by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

Current-May 15, 2016
Central Square Theater
Central Square, Cambridge, MA
Central Square/Nora Theatre on Facebook

Noe and I attended this performance together. We were impacted differently so we both wrote reviews. One follows after the other below.  Continue reading →

Oct 14

Poetic License: “Einstein’s Dreams”

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A.R. Sinclair Photography

A.R. Sinclair Photography

Presented by Underground Railway Theater
Part of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT
Based on a book by Alan Lightman
Adapted and Directed by Wesley Savick

September 24 – November 15, 2015
Central Square Theatre
450 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA
Central Square Theatre on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Cambridge, MA) Even as I sit here staring at a blank page, I am having trouble putting into words the experience of seeing Einstein’s Dreams at Central Square Theatre.  What I know for a certainty is that I can extend to the piece the highest comment that this reviewer can give: it sparked discussion, and it made me think. Continue reading →

Oct 14

Hysterics of “Polish Joke” are no Joke

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photo credit: Evgenia Eliseeva

photo credit: Evgenia Eliseeva

Presented by Titanic Theatre Company
By David Ives
Directed by Sarah Gazdowicz

October 8-18, 2015
CST Studio at the Central Square Theatre
Titanic Theatre Company on Facebook

Review by Travis Manni

(Cambridge, MA) I’ve never been overwhelmed with the desire to make the spontaneous, probably unreasonably rash, decision to move to another country just from watching a play. But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t ready to catch the next red-eye to Poland after witnessing the Titanic Theatre Company’s production of Polish Joke. Continue reading →

Jul 15

Dances with Agnostics: SAVING KITTY

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Alexander Cook and Jennifer Coolidge; photo credit: A.R. Sinclair Photography.

Alexander Cook and Jennifer Coolidge; photo credit: A.R. Sinclair Photography.

Presented by The Nora Theatre Company
Written by Marisa Smith
Directed by Lee Mikeska

July 9 – August 2, 2015
Central Square Theater
Cambridge, MA
Central Square Theater on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel (who could use some saving of her own)

(Cambridge, MA) Marisa Smith has written a very good script. Saving Kitty is so good that, if logistically possible, She should get a second production on its feet ASAP. This is because the Nora Theatre Company’s current production stars Jennifer Coolidge. Coolidge’s well-deserved star power overwhelms Smith’s writing (and the stage). It is inappropriately likely that patrons will remember Ms. Coolidge did a show in Boston that one time. They are less likely to remember whose show it was, what it was about, or who the supporting actors were. That’s a damn shame.    Continue reading →

Jan 24

“At the Mountaintop” Delivers Unexpected, Unwelcome Twist

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Presented by Underground Railway Theater

Presented by Underground Railway Theater

Produced by Underground Railway Theater

By Katori Hall
directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian

January 10 – February 3, 2013
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Central Square Theater Facebook Page

Review by Gillian Daniels

(Cambridge) Sometimes, there’s a moment in a show that can make or break it. When that moment comes, the audience will divide accordingly. Maybe this turn is cheesy, too scary, or just a little off-kilter with the rest of the story. When it happens in At the Mountaintop, and the audience will know when it does, it redefines the sort of narrative being watched. The show starts out smart but softens into a peculiar if interesting mess.

Katori Hall’s two-man play concerns the late and well-loved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Maurice Emmanuel Parent) and his conversations with a hotel maid, Camae (Kami Rushell Smith). Like A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher, performed by The Salem Theatre Company last year, Central Square Theater’s At the Mountaintop concerns two personalities bouncing off each other in a contained space. Also like A Picasso, one happens to be famous and respected while the other, an intrigued woman, has slipped
through the cracks of history. Continue reading →

Sep 17

“No Room for Wishing” Makes Room for All

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No Room for Wishing
Performed and written by Danny Bryck.

Photo credit: “No Room for Wishing”

Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

Co-produced by Company One and Central Square Theater, supported in part by a Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Black Box Fellowship.

Playing at the Boston Center for Arts, 9/13 – 9/22
Playing at Central Square Theater, 9/30 – 10/9

No Room for Wishing Facebook Page
No Room for Wishing Website

Review by Kitty Drexel

“But I hear the boys the boys and girls are coming up up up from the underground… You can find ‘em there, they’re all fired up in Dewey Square… you can call them what you want, you can call them what you need, you can call them what you want but there’s no room for wishing in revolution.”  – Ruby Rose Fox, “Dewey Square”

(Boston) No Room for Wishing is a compilation of interviews and live recordings from the Occupy Boston Movement. The production was written and performed by local actor, Danny Bryck. It is directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

Bryck’s tour de force performance is a must see for Occupy Movement supporters and sympathizers. It offers a personal perspective of Occupy Boston that was not captured by local media during 2011. It is also a must see for those who opposed the movement.  This bare bones production lionizes the individual reasons for protesting while disassembling the stereotypes associated with the majority of activists. Bryck’s characterizations personalize the movement and the many people that the media had neglected; the moderate and the revolutionized. Continue reading →

Jun 25

ADHD NPR – CAR TALK: THE MUSICAL

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The cast in a scene from Underground Railway Theater’s and Suffolk University’s co-production of Car Talk: The Musical!!! running from June 14 – August 12 at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. Tickets & Information: 866.811.4111 or CentralSquareTheater.org. Photo: A.R. Sinclair Photography.

Car Talk: The Musical, book and lyrics Wesley Savick, original music by Michael Wartofsky, Underground Railway Theater & Suffolk University, Central Square Theater, 6/14/12-8/12/12, http://www.centralsquaretheater.org.

Reviewed by Craig Idlebrook

Charisma can carry a show a long way. Just look at what it did for Tom and Ray Magliozzi, a pair of goofball (and genius) brother-mechanics who talked their way into a hit show on National Public Radio. For 35 years, the pair has giggled their way through thousands of calls from car owners with mystery questions, strewing terrible puns and corny humor on the road as they went.

And now, on the eve of the brothers’ retirement from “Car Talk”, they have gotten themselves involved in a musical, written by Wesley Savick, with music by Michael Wartofsky. Continue reading →

Feb 23

Photograph 51: A Slighted Discovery

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Becky Webber as Rosalind Franklin and Nick Sulfaro as Ray Gosling in Photograph 51 performing through March 18 at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. Presented by The Nora Theatre Company. Photo: A.R. Sinclair Photography

Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler, The Nora Theatre Company, Central Square Theater, 2/9/12-3/18/12, http://www.centralsquaretheater.org/season/11-12/photograph-51.html.

Reviewed by Becca Kidwell

(Cambridge, MA) Photograph 51 chronicles Rosalind Franklin’s work, which leads to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.  Surrounded by men, Franklin does not have a chance for her voice to be heard amongst her male colleagues.  Nora Theatre Company’s production presents a truthful historical presentation of the discovery. Continue reading →