Michael Cristofer’s Man in the Ring, having its world premiere in Chicago, is play about boxing with a dark and riveting under card.

Opera Philadelphia is leading the way in America, as it presents adventuresome new operas by contemporary composers exploring subjects of interest. Breaking the Waves is the most ambitious in its complex subject matter. The director, composer and librettist have joined forces to present a wrenching work which is very much embedded in opera tradition, but stretches the form musically and dramatically.

‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ now on the boards of the Mark Taper Forum is fabulously acted and brilliantly staged by Tony winner Phylicia Rashad.

“A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay about the Death of Walt Disney,” by playwright Lucas Hnath, turns upside down the positive image of the man popular culture has ingrained in our minds.

In ‘The Cocktail Hour’ A.R. Gurney hits the vanishing cultural nail of privilege right on the proverbial head.

During our recent visits including a residency at the Gloucester Writers Center we encountered the author Peter Anastas. He is an activist and author of novels based on Gloucster. In particular we are interested in his relationship with Charles Olson and his influence on the rich literary culture of Cape Ann. With permission we are reposting an excerpt of a long interview between Anastas and Karl Young.

The cutting edge, Dutch director Ivo Van Hove has transferred his stark and riveting production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge from Broadway to LA. With cast changes there is the same stark staging that reworks a classic Miller play.

Traveling with friends is fun. So is stopping along the way and having spontaneous picnics and impromptu meals together. Wine is always important for these events. How do you determine what wine to bring with you when you travel?

The Pasadena Playhouse has produced a lively version of the longest running musical The Fantasticks. Even if you have seen it this is a woderful chance to again be enchanted and "Follow, Follow, Follow."

Inspired by the presence of Fashion Week in Lincoln Center, the New York City Ballet inaugurated a Fall Fashion Gala. Fashion Week was kicked out of the arts center by the New York City Parks Department, complaining among other issues about the number of spike heels. Although the event left, the Fashion Gala continues. A wonderful case is made for the use of high fashion costumes in ballet.

I happened on the Berkshire Theatre Company production on East 13th Street in New York and was entranced. Packed into a small stage and directed to perfection by Bob Moss, the intimate setting works perfectly for this musical portrait of an oversized man.

Since 2009 when Freud's Last Session opened at Barrington Stage there have been annual meetings and numerous e mails with playwright Mark St. Germain. We met recently at Dottie's for brunch to talk about current projects. In Pittsfield there is a revival of Camping with Henry and Tom. At TheatreWorks in Hartford is a production of Relativity about Albert Einstein that stars Richard Dreyfuss. He is also adapting Freud, which has had 200 plus global productions, as a screenplay. He ranks at 14 on the 2016 list of most produced American Playwrights. That does not include his global productions.

Bad news continues for the arts community. The Boston Globe has announced that it is elminating Cate McQuaid's weekly gallery column. Kington Gallery is circulating a petition to have the vital coverage reinstated.

Life Sucks is Aaron Posner’s sort-of adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, that often-performed masterpiece in which members of the rural bourgeoisie loll about, falling in love with the wrong people and longing to change their miserable lives. What is the play about? Love, longing and loss, as the characters tell us in their prologue. The basic elements of the human condition.

The plays by the 35-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner, Annie Baker, can be long, and with their pregnant silences, exasperating for audiences. Patience, however, is rewarded by enduring Circle Mirror Transformation which is having its regional premiere at the renowned Area Stage Company in Coral Gables, Florida.

Phaedra is a character who has fascinated through time. Now the fascinating actress Isabel Huppert plays her. Racine best captured Phaedra's sense that neither lucidity nor sincerity is helpful in resolving emotional problems. Consciousness of failure is a noble human trait. Phaedra knows but her knowledge is useless.

Audience members play a pivotal role in any show, but especially this one. That’s because the fate of a musical by characters Doug and Bud rests in the pocketbooks and banks of the producers.

As a part of a week-long residence at Gloucester Writers Center there was a well attended reading. Introduced by multi-media artist, Jay Jaroslav, Charles Giuliano launched his third book of poetry Ultra Cosmic Gonzology. The reading was recorded by Center dirtector and filmmaker Henry Ferrini. We have a link to the reading which is archived by the Center.

Michael Capusso has breathed new life into the New York City Opera and honors its mission and traditions as well. The fall season opened with a double bill: Aleko by Serge Rachmaninoff and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

The Spanish grow tons of Garnacha grapes. The wines from the grapes are perfect, day to day wines, all at affordable prices. Some are as low as $8 a bottle on the shelf. Why not seek a bottle out from your local distributor?

The captivating play Fortune's Ire by Ramon Guillermo is on stage in North Miami’s intimate Storycrafter Studio space, through September 25. It is a finely acted and directed production. It begins with an interesting but seemingly harmless premise: A woman who claims to be suffering from amnesia steps into a psychologist’s office to receive help in figuring out her identity.

The Birds comes to the stage via a Daphne Du Maurier story on which Alfred Hitchcock's classic film of the same title was based. Now it provides the basis for playwright Conor McPherson's innovative play at 59E59th Street Theatres. McPherson has moved his story into a setting that is more reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road than Du Maurier and Hitchcock.

In Sam Shepard's True West the duality of emotion lies in wait in every aspect of our tense two hours with brothers Lee (Joseph Wiens) and Austin (Kevin Viol). They compete and collaborate, love and hate, drink and work, reminisce and prevaricate.

The Wines from Southwest France are expressive and some are experimental. Located adjacent to Bordeaux, these wine are affordable, humble and convivial.

Cerise Lim Jacobs had a dream: to create three operas incorporating myths from the ancient world, using the Ouroboros, the snake that consumes its own tail in order to be reborn, as a recurring motif. The three works were produced together and they turned out to be engaging, even moving, with music that didn't pander to the audience while also not leaving it out. We'd love to hear it, at least "Madame White Snake" again.