Review: FORBIDDEN FRUIT at Shaking The TreeMarch 14, 2023This is very intimate theatre, and not just because it’s performed for small groups in small rooms. Every piece deals with an intimate subject – something we don’t like, or don’t know how, to talk about. So, buckle up. And go see it.
Review: WHERE WE BELONG at Portland Center StageMarch 8, 2023Madeline Sayet’s sweeping and poetic one-person play WHERE WE BELONG tells the story of Achokayis, a Mohegan theatre-maker, who in 2015 moves to England to get her PhD in Shakespeare. It deals with issues that we as a country have actively worked to avoid talking about, or at least to relegate them to the past, even when their impacts are ongoing.
Review: YOUNG AMERICANS at Portland Center StageMarch 2, 2023YOUNG AMERICANS a quiet contemplative sort of play. It asks you to reflect on a question -- What does it mean to be an American? -- that has no definitive answer in a way that takes a wide variety of perspectives into account.
Review: WELCOME TO ARROYO'S at Profile TheatreFebruary 16, 2023WELCOME TO ARROYO'S is a moving and must-see play about family, grief, love, art, and the importance of being open to new perspectives and experiences. But more than anything else, it’s about community.
Review: SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK at Broadway RoseFebruary 1, 2023Do you remember those brilliant Kodak commercials way back when that chronicled people’s lives through photographs and seemed specifically designed to tug at every last heartstring? In all the best ways, SNAPSHOTS: A MUSICAL SCRAPBOOK, now running at Broadway Rose, is a full-length musical version of one of those.CAL SCRAPBOOK at Broadway Rose?
Review: LAUGHING WILD at 21ten TheatreOctober 19, 2022Through two unnamed characters – lonely people struggling to find purpose and connection – the play explores how fundamental empathy is to our existence. I give this production my absolute highest recommendation.
Review: F-ING A at Shaking The TreeOctober 14, 2022This play takes you into the darkest parts of human nature and doesn’t give you a path back out, and it forces you to think about what you would do in these situations, where every choice is a bad one. And because of that, it’s must-see theatre.
Review: CHICKEN & BISCUITS at Portland PlayhouseOctober 6, 2022Families, amirite? And where better to experience the whole spectrum of family dynamics than at a funeral! In Douglas Lyons' comedy CHICKEN & BISCUITS, now running at Portland Playhouse, the Jenkins family is gathering for the funeral of their patriarch and pastor.
Review: AN EVENING OF SHORTS at Sowelu DramaticSeptember 15, 2022For the rest of this month, Sowelu is presenting a “mini-season,” which includes this program on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as readings and workshops. They’re one of those companies that doesn’t put on a ton of work, but what they do present is worth paying attention to.