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  • American Players Theatre

    ATCA Conference at Spring Green, Wisconsin

    By: The Cordells - Jul 19th, 2018

    American Players Theatre (APT), a highly respected outdoor repertory company, hosted the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) to several top-flight theatrical performances and well-organized extracurricular activities during ATCA’s annual conference at Spring Green, Wisconsin, in July, 2018.

  • On A Clear Day at Irish Repertory Theatre

    Charlotte Moore Keeps Lerner Alive!

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 19th, 2018

    On a Clear Day You Can See is running at the Irish Repertory Theater. Charlotte Moore adapts and directs this musical in an intimate production. The story has been pared down and shaped to display the lush score of Burton Lane. The cast has been reduced to 11 and the chamber orchestra four instrumentalists multi-tasking on cello, harp, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, violin and viola. The result is delightful theater.

  • Spring Green Wisconsin

    Conference for American Theatre Critics Association

    By: Nancy Bishop - Jul 19th, 2018

    Spring Green is an arts center in nearby south central Wisconsin that’s easily accessible to Chicagoans interested in theater and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. In a long weekend, you can see classic theater at the American Players Theatre (APT) on a hilltop in Spring Green and tour Taliesin, the home, studio and school built, rebuilt and rebuilt again by Frank Lloyd Wright, his apprentices and family.

  • A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydou

    Farce at Westport Country Playhouse

    By: Karen Isaacs - Jul 19th, 2018

    As in typical French farce fashion there are misunderstandings, sexual innuendo, doors which lead to near collisions and misidentifications. The play is set in the late 1800s during what is called “La Belle Epoque.” It involves upper middle class people; infidelity or the appearance of it plays a major role.

  • Queens by Martyna Majok

    At La Jolla Playhouse

    By: Jack Lyons - Jul 19th, 2018

    With the current production “Queens”, the La Jolla Playhouse mounts a powerful drama about the plight of both legal and illegal immigrants, and their desperate drive to remain in the United States, in order to make a better life for themselves and their separated families, some of whom remain back in the countries they fled.

  • Eureka Springs, Arkansas

    Known as ‘The Stair Step Town’

    By: Susan Cohn - Jul 18th, 2018

    In the beginning, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was all about the healing waters. In 1880, the area’s numerous naturally flowing springs were credited with restoring the sight of a woman who had been blind for years.

  • On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

    Musical at Irish Rep in NY

    By: Karen Isaacs - Jul 18th, 2018

    On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, the Alan Jay Lerner/Burton Lane musical, is getting a delightful production at the Irish Rep under the skilled hand of director (and adaptor) Charlotte Moore.

  • The Wedding Singer

    At The Palm Canyon Theatre

    By: Jack Lyons - Jul 17th, 2018

    “The Wedding Singer,” the stage musical is based on the Adam Sandler movie of the same name that debuted in 1988. The current ‘Wedding Singer’ stage musical now on the Palm Canyon Theatre stage has been updated with a total of 20 musical numbers; some of which are new. The PCT show also retained some the original songs written in 2006.

  • A Doll’s House Part 2

    Hnath Updates Ibsen at Barrington Stage Company

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 16th, 2018

    Ibsen premiered The Doll's House in 1879. That was two years after Leo Tolstoy published Anna Karenina another tale of a society woman who abandoned her marriage and children. We know of Anna's tragic end but the fate of Nora is left uncertain. With A Doll's House Part 2 Lucas Hnath provides entertaining but improbable answers. The award winning Broadway hit is having a run at Barrington Stage Company with Laila Robins in the role which won a Tony for Laurie Metcalf. Christopher Innvar plays Torvald.

  • Intersectionality of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

    Elevated Threat Level of Fractus V at Jacob’s Pillow

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 15th, 2018

    The week of performances by the Belgian based company Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/ Eastman featured a single work Fractus V (2015). In the spirit of intersectionality which informs the cutting edge of performance art it conflates the dance and musical traditions of its diverse members.

  • Steve Nelson Gettin’ Home

    An Odyssey Through the ‘60s

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 13th, 2018

    Gettin’ Home: An Odyssey Through the ‘60s by Steve Nelson adds to a growing interest and understanding of the couner culture, arts and media of Boston in the 1960s. Rather well along in this memoir he became the manager of the rock club The Boston Tea Party. He promoted a mix of British bands, groups from San Francisco, blues legends and local bands. The saga begins with a summer in Peru with a group from Cornell. He arrived in Cambridge for three years at Harvard Law School and a post grad one. Staying in school had the advantage of staying out of Vietnam. Unlike many Nelson remembers a lot about the 1960s often with stunning detail.

  • Love's Labor's Lost at the Mount

    Enthusiastically Perfomed By a Youthful Cast

    By: Maria Reveley - Jul 13th, 2018

    Shakespeare demonstrates how an earnest effort to self impose structure and separation from the world is counter to our real natures. Fun and folly ensue in this perfect setting as we watch love conquer all. Through August 18 Love's Labor's Lost at the Mount.

  • Impact of ICA Expansion to East Boston

    Continued Neglect of Community of Artists

    By: Philip Gerstein - Jul 11th, 2018

    The ICA has a major problem not just with East Boston artists, but with most local Boston-area artists, and it's due primarily to 3 factors -- mistaken policies, mistaken attitude, and mistaken curatorial direction. The author is an artist.

  • Casting, Equity and Where to Go from Here

    Responding to “Boo Yellowface!” Protests During St. Louis Conference

    By: Chad Bauman - Jul 09th, 2018

    A couple of weeks ago, theater leaders from across the country authored a statement asking colleagues to reexamine their casting policies in light of recent incidents in which white actors were cast to portray people of color. Since that time, nearly 800 theater artists have signed and there is a working group actively discussing next steps so that we can end this pervasive practice. Because, as managing director of Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Chad Bauman signed the petition, he withdrew from publishing this commentary in American Theatre Magazine. It is reposted from his blog with Bauman's permission.

  • Universal Robots by Mac Rogers

    Based on Karel Cepek's1921 Sci Fi Play

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 07th, 2018

    In 1921, Czech playwright Karel Capek wrote a seminal science fiction work set in contemporary time entitled Rossum’s Universal Robots. It introduced chilling possibilities of an out-of-control future. In it was coined the very word robot (robota in Czech). Mac Rogers’s revision updates that work by a generation to include the rise of Hitler and World War II.

  • Lang Lang Soars at Tanglewood

    Triumphant Return for Injured Pianist

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 07th, 2018

    Since April, 2017 the superstar pianist, Lang Lang, has been recovering from an injury to his left arm. In a scheduling coup he returned to performing last night during Opening Night of the BSO's 2018 season at Tanglewood., He was adored by the audience which was rewarded by sublime encore of Copin. Andris Nelsons conducted an evening of Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

  • $400,000 Raised At S & Co. Gala

    50,000 School Children and Actors Benefit

    By: Philip S. Kampe & Maria Reveley - Jul 06th, 2018

    For Forty years, Shakespeare & Company have proved to the locals what theater is about. Benefactors, galore, turned out in droves to help the theater company that gives back to the community. An achievement focus about Michael A. Miller was the highlight of the evening that benefited from music from some of the members of the Silkroad Ensemble. A sit-down dinner followed by a local DJ followed.

  • How NY Times Is Harming Regional Theatre

    Trashing Barrington Stage Production Not an Isolated Incident

    By: Mark St. Germain - Jul 06th, 2018

    We have posted an opinion piece "End of The Royal Family of Broadway: NY Times Review Spikes Barrington Stage Production." That evoked an e mail from playwrite Mark St. Germain which is posted with his permission. In his view the attack on a developing musical is not an isolated incident. Under its current policies the Times is now inflicting more harm than doing good for regional theatre.

  • James Taylor Is Alive And Kicking

    Another July 4th At Tanglewood

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Jul 05th, 2018

    The traditional James Taylor July 4th Concert was like a high school reunion. Fans returned to see JT and his All-Star Band at Tanglewood. Yet again he was knee high on the Fourth of July and as corny as Kansas in August.

  • Support Group for Men at Goodman Theatre,

    By Melancholic Ellen Fairey

    By: Nancy Bishop - Jul 05th, 2018

    For 95 minutes, Ellen Fairey explores current social issues and angst from gender identity to aging and loneliness, cultural appropriation, men in crisis and the #metoo movement. This takes place in mid-2017 in a second-floor Wrigleyville apartment above an alley where all sorts of shit happens.

  • Knot an Opera by Constantin Basica

    Freshly Squeezed Opera Provokes

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 03rd, 2018

    Knot an Opera is an amusing and provocative presentation by Freshly Squeezed Opera. The company is committed to genre pushing new works of the highest caliber that explore the depths of the opera form.

  • The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp

    Williamstown Theatre Festival PremieresTwo Plays

    By: Astrid A. Hiemer - Jul 01st, 2018

    The Williamstown Theatre Festival started its 2018 season with two new plays on June 26/27, both billed as World Premieres. 'The Closet,' a comedy or farce, is presented on the main stage and 'The Sound Inside,' a two person drama, fills Nikos Stage. Mary-Louise Parker plays the protagonist, Bella Baird, and Will Hochman is Christopher Dunn, her 'curious' student.

  • Everyone's Fine with Viriginia Woolf

    Kate Scelsa Re-constructs Martha at Elevator Repair Service

    By: Rachel de Aragon - Jun 30th, 2018

    Elevator Repair Service is presenting Kate Scelsa's Everyone's Fine with Virginia Woolf. This production at the Abrons Art Center is a re-construction of Martha in Edward Albee's play. Director and company founder John Collins takes us seamlessly back into the world of Albee, Tennessee Williams and Samuel Beckett to deliver an hilarious and scathing 21st century production.

  • Pilobolus at Jacob’s Pillow

    Taking Nature Back Inside

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 29th, 2018

    Recalling seeing Pilobolus over the years one readily recognized its DNA but with the realization of how it has evolved and remained fresh. Just when you think that you know what Pilobolus is about, with a tool kit and vetted skill set, they do something different. You are challenged to revise and update assumptions as an audience or critic.

  • Van, Van the Used Up Man

    Berkshire Museum Director Shields Retires

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jun 28th, 2018

    In a tersely worded press release, offering no explanation, the Berkshire Museum announces parting ways with its controversial director, Van Shields. He was hired in 2011 and presided over the decline and potential extincton of the museum. His strategy to sell key works from the permanent collection and launch his New Vision was met with protest and global media attention. Some will praise him for "saving" the museum and endowing its future. For others he leaves behind a pariah shunned by other museums. His departure and potenial board restructuring are essential as the museum mends fences and fine tunes drastic plans for renovations and gimmicky reinstallatons.

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