Red Like Fruit at Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, NY, was a mesmerizing, offbeat production of this American premiere. An actor reads to the audience the autobiographical story of a woman who is mostly silent. With a lectern, a platform and a chair, the simplicity and the intensity of this play by Hannah Moscovitch was gripping
Penelope at The Ancram Center for the Arts is a dynamic retelling of an ancient myth with modern and knowing insight into the realities of the human condition. It tells the story of Penelope through songs of different styles and intent as she waits for Odysseus to return. Performed by Grace McLean, one of the writers, this is, in effect, a cabaret musical with a five-piece ensemble who occasionally respond to her as they walk around the stage. Each song moves the story or defines the characters that she evokes. She brings the myth to emotional life.
In Sylvia, at Sharon Playhouse, Jen Cody is an absolutely adorable treat as she plays a dog. She won the Berkies award for best actress in a play. At one level Sylvia is an hysterical comedy, thanks to Cody. On an another level, it’s a commentary about human relationships and the purposes of one’s own life. The two levels were beautifully balanced.
fuzzy at Barrington Stage Company is a wonderfully creative theatrical experience. Two of the major characters and two secondary ones are hand puppets who come alive. Being puppets their expressions don’t change, but whether singing or “talking” they are real. Despite being very light-hearted it deals with profound human problems and relationships.
Annie at Sharon Playhouse was an absolutely joyous experience. A dominant feature was the dynamic choreography, especially the numbers by the orphan girls. The heartwarming and comic direction by Carl Andress moved the production so fluidly it was hard to believe the show was over.
John Sowle’s sensitive direction of On Golden Pond at Bridge Street Theatre penetrated to the heart of this poignant play, especially as the time draws near for the Thayers to say goodbye for the season to the home they love in wooded New Hampshire. The love and the conflicts they face were moving as their past lives are remembered and their futures are forged. Carmen Borgia’s set and sound design created a warm, cozy, rustic, memory-filled room, while his soundscape complemented the myriad moods.
Dying Is No Excuse, written by veteran actress Renee Taylor, depicts the courtship between Taylor and her husband, actor Joe Mantegna. The uncertainty of their relationship ultimately leads to a firm and loving understanding. It is a voyage filled with humor and pathos as they realize their dependence on each other. This was a world premiere at the Berkshire Theatre Group‘s Unicorn Theatre. The playwright was in the production as was Nicholle Thom who portrayed the younger Taylor. They appeared together in the sitcom The Nanny.
Mary Jane is a single mother with a two and-a-half year old son who has cerebral palsy. She is the central charter In Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane which received a compelling and beautifully acted production at Catskill, New York’s Bridge Street Theatre. It is the story of her bravery and fear as she reveals her fears to a number of women who play a part in her examination of her and her son’s lives.
In A Case For The Existence Of God at Chester Theatre Company two young men, one black, one white, sit in a cubicle parrying their differing attitudes until they finally recognize their similarities. First, they are interviewer and applicant, then they become comrades as they face their common problems. This was a heartwarming story of humanity.
Where The Mountains Meet The Sea at The Ancram Center for the Arts is the story of a young man following the same path his father followed across America decades earlier. Though leading a different life from his father, he is in search of those energies and values that describe a man he has not fully known.