Jan 28

Stuck and Bored at the End of the Line: C1’s “Haunted”

Presented by Company One Theatre produced in partnership with the Boston Public Library with support from the National New Play Network and the Rolling World Premiere Program
Written, directed and choreographed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Quita Sullivan
Fight choreography by Marisa Diamond
Community Advisor: Maria Hendricks

Jan. 24 – Feb. 15, 2025
Rabb Hall at the Boston Public Library, Central Branch
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

Critique by Noelani Kamelamela

BOSTON — Comparisons between Tara Moses’ “Haunted”, Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” are inevitable. So, yes, there are two main characters waiting for something in this play and amusing each other while they pass the time. I admit it. Fine. That’s it, that’s all I’m saying about those connections. 

Below the surface, “Haunted” brings to life two young indigenous ghosts, Ash (Bradley Lewis) and Aaron (Chingwe Padraig Sullivan), who are rooted in one place while it changes around them. They constantly opine and long for freedom. One of their comforts and constants, the well-known hits of the early 2000s, provides emotional escape, but also constant reminders of how stuck and bored they have become. Continue reading

Nov 29

Don’t Trust Colonizers’ Stories: “The Thanksgiving Play”

Ohad Ashkenazi, Jasmine Rochelle Goodspeed, Marisa Diamond* and Johnny Gordon; Photograph: Sharman Altshuler

Presented by Moonbox Productions
by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Kailey Bennett

Featuring: Jasmine Goodspeed, Johnny Gordon, Ohad Ashkenazi, Marisa Diamond
Partnered with the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)

Nov. 21 – Dec. 15, 2024
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Age Guidelines: Recommended for ages 13+

Content Warning: This production contains adult language, mature themes, racism, redface, violence, and unsettling truths of both Massachusetts’ and America’s history.

Review by Noelani Kamelamela

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — I am Kanaka Maoli, and the mainstream Thanksgiving story never felt quite real to me especially once I became an adult, because the watered-down story we were fed in Hawai’i of how our people were betrayed to the Americans sounded very unlike what we knew. So, I sincerely doubted that the sweet, clean story of sharing and caring in the early British colonies was anything like the reality. I don’t expect theatergoers to glean the full story out of Moonbox Production’s run of The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse. I would love to see this show in rep with another biting satirical work Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee. Continue reading

Nov 26

Ample Breast, Moist Leg: “The Thanksgiving Play”

The cast; Photo by Sharman Altshuler

Presented by Moonbox Productions
by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Tara Moses
Dramaturgy by Kailey Bennett

Featuring: Jasmine Goodspeed, Johnny Gordon, Ohad Ashkenazi, Marisa Diamond
Partnered with the North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)

Nov. 21 – Dec. 15, 2024
Arrow Street Arts
2 Arrow St.
Cambridge, MA 02138 

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Age Guidelines: Recommended for ages 13+

Content Warning: This production contains adult language, mature themes, racism, redface, violence, and unsettling truths of both Massachusetts’ and America’s history.

Critique by Kitty Drexel

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Moonbox’s The Thanksgiving Play interprets the white American history of Thanksgiving that MAGA and its ilk want us to forget. Florida’s laws, for example, would keep copies of Larissa Fasthorse’s play out of school libraries just in case a white person might feel sad by its contents. Friends, the purpose of knowing our white, colonialist history isn’t to feel sad; it’s to recognize the white supremacist systems that enabled these atrocities so we can dismantle them. We aren’t responsible for our ancestors’ actions but we are responsible for repairing the damage they caused.   Continue reading