BWW Review: Luminous Production of FIREFLIES Opens Good Theater Season
The Good Theater opens its 21st season with a luminous production of Matthew Barber’s poignant 2017 play about the flickers of late-life romance, expertly directed by Brian P. Allen, starring Valerie Perri in a nuanced, delicate and incandescent performance.
FIREFLIES, as the title and central metaphor suggest, draws a subtle portrait of the sparks that simmer repressed in a lonely woman’s soul, only to be kindled by the attentions of an erratic, but appealing drifter who comes into her life and enables her to shake off decades of claustrophobic expectations. Barber draws his four characters with great insight and empathy, and though the ending may be fated from the start, keeps the audience guessing as to the directions the principal pair will choose. His dialogue is wry, laced with a warm wit and tender pathos, and he manages to infuse every moment of the week-long action with palpable emotion.
FIREFLIES Comes to Good Theater
Good Theater has announced FIREFLIES by Matthew Barber as the opener of the company's 21st season. Learn more about the show and find out how to get tickets here!
Warm, Wacky, and Wonderful: Good Theater's Revival of YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s classic, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, is eighty-six years young, and the latest revival at Portland’s Good Theater makes a strong case for the work’s perennial appeal. Directed by Brian P. Allen and featuring a cast of eighteen, most Good Theater veterans, this delightfully zany script, filled with wacky but loveable characters, delivers a timeless message about family and the secrets to true happiness.
Rep Stage Presents The Tennessee Williams Classic, THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Rep Stage, the professional regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College, presents Tennessee Williams' classic play, “The Glass Menagerie,” April 28 through May 15, 2022. Directed by Rep Stage's Producing Artistic Director Joseph W. Ritsch, this exciting production explores how ghosts of the past continue to haunt.
Rep Stage to Present THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Rep Stage, the professional regional theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), presents Tennessee Williams’ classic play, “The Glass Menagerie,” April 28 through May 15, 2022. Directed by Rep Stage’s Producing Artistic Director Joseph W. Ritsch, this exciting production explores how ghosts of the past continue to haunt.
ICE THEATRE OF NEW YORK, INC is Set to Host 2022 City Skate Pop Up Concerts
Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) is set to present 2022 City Skate Pop Up Concerts as part of Kids Week at the Rink at Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park on Tuesday, February 22 and Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 9:30 am. ITNY performers include ITNY Junior Apprentice Ella Bauer and three other young skaters from Skating Club of New York. The events are free and open to the public.
Good Theater to Return to the Stage for 2021-2022 Season
Good Theater will return to the St. Lawrence stage with a season of new works, recent Broadway hits, and the long-awaited Maine premiere of the critically acclaimed off-Broadway musical DESPERATE MEASURES, a production which has been on-hold since 2020, when its run was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Rep Stage Announces In-Person Productions for the 2021"2022 Season
Rep Stage will return to in-person staged productions with its 2021–2022 season. Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World” will launch the season September 30–October 17, 2021, followed by the world premiere of Dane Figueroa Edidi’s “Ghost/Writer” February 17–March 6, 2022.
BWW Review: Clauder Prize Winner Premieres at Portland Stage
Portland Stage presented the world premiere of a work they brought though their prestigious Clauder New Work Competition, READ TO ME. The play, selected among 170 scripts, is written by Brendon Pelsue and directed by his brother Rory - both Yale Drama School Graduates. The result9ng work is ambitious and fully in keeping with Portland Stage a?oemagical realism a?oe them for the season.
The subject of READ TRO ME is potentially well chosen a?' filled with deeply searing drama- a child dying in a children's hospital with adults trying to make sense 0f this absurdity. The subject matter is dense with possibility, which, regrettably in tis production is never fully realized.
Good Theater Presents WHO'S HOLIDAY!
Good Theater ushers in the holiday season with the Maine premiere of WHO'S HOLIDAY! by Matthew Lombardo. The production opens November 9th and plays through November 30th, 2019 at Good Theater's home, the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information, please call the Box Office at (207) 835-0895 or visit www.goodtheater.com.
BWW Review: SOUVENIR at Rep Stage in Columbia - You'll Laugh Till It Hurts!
It was exactly ten years ago I first saw Stephen Temperley's SOUVENIR at Baltimore Center Stage which starred Tony Award winner, Judy Kaye. I could not imagine seeing a better version of it ever. But, I was wrong. The Rep Stage version is just plain spectacular and the two actors who perform here, Grace Bauer and Alan Naylor are just plain marvelous.
Portland Stage Studio Series Presents WE CAN EAT LOVE
After a sold out run of last season's The Roommate, Director Eileen Phelan brings We Can Eat Love to Portland Stage Studio Series. Written by Maine native, Margie Castleman We Can Eat Love, A New Play with Heart, Soul, and a Little Music will run March 22-31 for eight performances with music by Wilder Zoby and Little Shalimar, and performed by Portland actors Grace Bauer, Whip Hubley, Khalil LeSaldo, Erik Moody, and Casey Turner.
BWW Review: Oscar Wilde Proves Perennial Master of Wit
Portland Stage's antidote to the winter doldrums is a new production of Oscar Wilde's incandescent classic of comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. More than a century after its creation, this quintessential comedy of manners proves a delicious and refreshing confection of perfectly crafted playwriting. For well over two hours Wilde regales his viewers with one bon mots after another, with pithy and poetic, wise and urbane, cynical and silly dialogue that delights with its energy and acuity.
BWW Review: Loveable Characters and Lots of Laughter in Good Theater's HOMER BOUND
For the second offering of the Good Theater's ambitious 2018-2019 season and its one hundredth production in the company's existence, Brian P. Allen has mounted the world premiere of a new play by Maine writer Karmo Sanders. Homer Bound is a rollicking, folksy comedy populated by loveable characters and guaranteed to have the audience split its sides with laughter. Directed with panache by Sally Wood and performed by six excellent actors, Homer Bound is a romp from start to finish!