In the face of increasingly fewer lesbian and dyke bars in Boston, the show recreates the rare space with the help of community elders First in New Orleans, Last Call’s Alleged Lesbian Activities comes to Boston to examine the closing of lesbian bars through theater. DigBoston spoke with the co-directors of the show, […]
REVISING HISTORY: PHOTOGRAPH 51 AT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER
★★★★☆ Shattering the glass ceiling, a phrase often inundating the media to praise women blazing a trail in their field—and a phrase decades out from its coining to describe situations just like Rosalind Franklin’s getting shafted in the accreditation of the discovery of the DNA double helix—perfectly describes Central Square Theater’s spring show. […]
BOOK REVIEW: SEA PEOPLE
Western science gradually catching up to Polynesian oral history On Hawaii’s Napo’opo’o pier, Christina Thompson’s husband, Seven, walks over to one of the “big Hawaiian guys with tattooed calves” overseeing the kayak rentals. Seven asks, “how much for a kayak?” “Thirty dollars,” says the man, then, “twenty for you, brother.” This nameless […]
SPAMILTON TOO NICE FOR SATIRE
★★☆☆☆ As far as Boston theater goes, Hamilton is out and Spamilton is in. Of course, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical juggernaut about the founding fathers is (sadly) far from leaving the public consciousness anytime soon but, a few months after its months-long residency came and went, a new show from the creator of the […]
THE LITTLE FOXES CREW MAKES CASE FOR HELLMAN
Lyric Stage considers Lillian Hellman’s opus and legacy The Little Foxes cuts straight into the heart of American morality at a time when the nation is at a turning point. With women striving for recognition, shifting racial politics creating visible friction and powerful businesses taking over smaller ones through unsavory deals, 1900 was […]
POEMS, LIKE BAROQUE LASERS
Sally Wen Mao’s Oculus, a call for celebration There are two title poems—poems entitled “Oculus”—in Sally Wen Mao’s second collection, Oculus: The first poem elegizes a “nineteen-year-old girl in Shanghai who uploaded her suicide onto Instagram”; the second reflects, ekphrastically, on a performance by Solange Knowles. The poems rhyme. That is, Mao’s obsession […]
AT NEW REP, HEARTLAND FAILS TO SHOULDER ATLANTEAN BURDEN OF MESSAGE
★★☆☆☆ The impact of American propaganda on Afghani children is admittedly a difficult subject to understand and explain, let alone capture in a 105-minute play. This doesn’t stop Heartland, a Gabriel Jason Dean play directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary, from giving it a shot. But it seems that, just like the conflict […]
SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS
Director Bevin O’Gara Speaks About Play With No Talking For a play in which the characters aren’t allowed to speak, Small Mouth Sounds says a lot. The play, by Bess Wohl, follows its characters on a comedic and poignant journey in self-reflection and mutual understanding at a spiritual retreat. Director Bevin O’Gara, a […]
BOOK REVIEW: ANXIETY AND THE EQUATION
It’s not a textbook, but there’s “something you can learn from it” Ludwig Boltzmann was an excruciatingly anxious person and also one of the best scientific minds of his generation. Boltzmann’s revolutionary work on entropy paved the way for Einstein’s quantum revolution of the early 20th century, and yet he still spent hours, […]
IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
Winter People at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater ★★☆☆☆ It’s a particularly East Coast feeling—the eeriness of a summer resort in winter, when February winds blow through the dormant wooden roller coaster at the amusement park or an empty plastic bag blows across the frozen, barren beaches of New Jersey. Laura Neill’s new […]
