Andrew Child - Page 5

Point: For many theatres, a pandemic has meant that they need to find new ways to create and present productions. While that is certainly easier said than done, at this juncture, recurring themes, practices, and platforms have arisen.

A native New Yorker, Dr. Donatella Galella admits to a past as a theatre snob. a?oeI was like, a??Does it even exist outside of New York City?a??.a??

Amidst our recent heatwave, Dr. Heather Nathans, a theatre professor, practitioner, and writer raised by two historians, felt a particular physical connection to the stuffiness eighteenth century Bostonians would have undoubtedly experienced in theatres during the summer.

In March, Charlotte M Canninga??s historical commentary on American theatre during the 1918 flu epidemic made the rounds on social media as newly-furloughed industry professionals struggled to find solid footing amidst a global wave of trepidation.

Following their 2017 documentary theatre project exploring the impact of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, Finish Line, Boston Theatre Company has commissioned a new piece of documentary theatre about the varied experiences of the LGBTQ+ community, The Gay Agenda.

With director Vahdat Yeganeh and a team of artists streaming in live from around the globe, Boston Experimental Theatre has perfectly divined that piece of performance art that neither begrudgingly embraces its virtual form nor coyly alludes to its obvious limits, but rather exists in a way that could never wholly be replicated in another medium.

TC Squared's Volume Up series of virtual one act plays is posed to convince audiences they are up for the task of taking their programs to the digital realm for the time being. After logging in to their YouTube stream, one is met with a smooth, animated countdown set to a quiescent techno beat by Kadahj Bennett.

Summer L. Williams, associate artistic director and co-founder of Company One Theatre is, among other goals, using this time as a chance to reset. She ponders, a?oeHow do I take advantage of this chance to reimagine the way I think or work? I am finding things that I thought were internal pressures that are actually external pressures.a??

AATAB is not a theatre company. They were originally founded in 2018 as a social collective connected by a Facebook group. In response to Boston's need to embrace local Asian American artists she explains she would rather see established organizations do the work to welcome and elevate members of the community than see an individual company formed.

When Kate Snodgrass was asked by the Huntington Theatre's director of new work, Charles Haugland, to contribute to a series of short audio plays called Dream Boston, she jumped at this new opportunity. a?oeI have always been fascinated by radioa??, she grins at me via Zoom.

In Women Behind the Curtain, Michael Lin weaves a narrative about a French spy, Renee, on a mission in Cold War Moscow. When a suspiciously-invested secretary, Aleksandra, joins her in her covert travels, the two are set on an action-packed journey through mistrusted informants, double agents, and scenarios that raise questions

a?oeThis project wouldn't neatly fit into any of the niches I'm really familiar with in Boston theatre. Black actors are still discussing permission. How is permission granted? Who gives out the permission? I realized there is really no permission needed throughout this process.a??

With all of the violence being inflicted on the Black community right now, Friday, June 19 (Juneteenth, the celebration of the date that word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally made it to Galveston, Texas) has a lot of offerings from Black artists in the Boston theatre community.

Toshi Reagon didn't go to college herself, but when her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, was tapped by Toni Morrison (yes, that Toni Morrison) to teach a creative course at Princeton, Bernice explained that she would accept the position if her daughter could teach collaboratively alongside her.

My immediate response to this reading of the play, which had its premiere at Tufts University unfortunately canceled, is that I would love to see how it would change were the actors cast actually artists who use they/them pronouns in their lives.

The score is catchy, folksy, and declamatory in a way that fuses rock sounds with medieval sensibilities, and Kaedon Gray as the prophet, Samuel, begins the show with an expository narration worthy of a mystery play. The stage is set and we launch into the familiar story of King Saul, Jonathan, David, and Goliath from the Book of Samuel.

Beginning in darkness with the sounds of the sea, we launch into a film that directly serves as a companion to a well-constructed soundtrack. Seattle-based director and creator Clyde Petersen opens the autobiographical work with a delightfully familiar reimagining of a coming-of-age story cliche.

Audience members with beers in hand sit down at brewery benches looking toward a set of 8ft tall poles suspending wine-red sheets. A white curtain nestles between them, with black painted text reading In The Belly Of The Mother. A brass band plays a set, against large metal brewing tubs, dressed in monochrome red. We bang out the last bars of a?oeOld Town Road,a?? the crowd cheers, and I grab my rat mask. Sliding it over my face, I can see crescent moons of the crowd past my pointy nose. Through new eyes I see our leading player, Brigid, crumpled over their limbs on the floor.

The ART's club venue Oberon Theater goes dark. A moment of anticipation hangs in the air before the band begins the opening bars of a?oeChosen,a?? the first original song in the new faithfully adapted queer Biblical musical, Beloved King. Before long, we hear a rich voice, powerful and authoritative as it rings out over the house. It takes several seconds for us to realize that the voice is coming from the balcony above the bar. We turn and see a man with long, stark-white hair dressed in a cloak that seems to be stitched together from scraps of fabric and old rags. He holds a staff with a mysterious disc attached to it. On the disc is an inscription in paleo-Hebrew which translates to a?oeHoly, of the house of the Lord.a??

A muslin curtain hides the stage, what world could be living behind it? The audience is isolated from each other - two chairs here, three over there, a single person sits in the corner. Is thata??is that a coffin in the corner? Without any warning, a blackout occurs. A video begins to play, featuring scenes from the original 1922 film. And we hear: Well it's Halloween again And LA is a bore...