Martha Mason

BWW Review: BIRDY: Timeless Story of War and Friendship Achieves Liftoff at CommShakes

Pigeon keepers are an interesting and unique, albeit diminishing, subset of humans, and within that group is a subset, presumably small, of people who identify with the birds. Taking it one step further, Birdy, the protagonist in Naomi Wallace's adaptation of William Wharton's novel BIRDY, identifies, not with, but as a bird. Strange as it sounds, it may be the most sane response to an insane world in this drama that toggles back and forth between a pre-World War II Philadelphia suburb and an Army hospital in post-war Kentucky. It is a war story that plays out on the battlefield of an intense, intimate friendship, where the psychological wounds are more damaging and enduring than the physical ones. Steve Maler's skillful direction unleashes a dazzling palette of colorful performances, each actor contributing a broad brush stroke to the communal masterpiece.

Maggie Siff Cast In Liz Duffy Adams's OR, Previews 10/29 At Women's Project

Women's Project, truly on a roll in its 32nd year (and not looking a day over 29!) of producing plays written and directed by women, has signed Maggie Siff, one of the acclaimed ensemble of actors in the hit, third-season TV series 'Mad Men,' to play Aphra Behn in Liz Duffy Adams's three-hander Or, directed by Wendy McClellan.