by Macey Levin Bram Stoker wrote his four-hundred-plus page novel Dracula in 1897. The world’s best-known vampire story has changed considerably on its way to becoming the play that is now in production at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Hamilton Deane, a British playwright, was the first…
by Barbara Waldinger Chester Theatre Company’s mission statement includes two important goals: offering audiences “fresh perspectives on vital issues” and developing and supporting new work. Responding to this, along came Fran Henry, founder of a thirty-year-old organization called Stop It Now!, devoted to preventing “the sexual abuse of children by…
by Barbara Waldinger The Shakespeare & Company production of Hymn by Lolita Chakrabarti feels like two actors and a director searching for a plot. Overstuffed with music, singing, dancing, boxing, changes of costume, set pieces and props (not to mention a ticking metronome) to help fill the 95 minutes, the…
by Roseann Cane To see a well-produced Stephen Sondheim musical is a delight. To see a magnificently crafted Sondheim musical is sublime, especially if that musical is A Little Night Music. In directing her final show as Barrington Stage Company Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd has created a resplendent, mesmerizing event,…
by Macey Levin The intimate Ancram Opera House in Ancram, New York, is producing “Invasion!” by Jonas Hassen Khemiri and translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles, a play that delivers a barrage of themes, witty dialogue, questions and challenges. A talented and vibrant cast of four (Ali Andre Ali, Abuzar Farrukh, Sophie…
by Barbara Waldinger Bravo to the Mac-Haydn Theatre for daring to produce Next to Normal as part of their busy summer season schedule! Imagine a musical about mental health alongside a lineup including A Chorus Line, Urinetown, Kiss Me Kate, The Full Monty, Xanadu and Forever Plaid. Undaunted, Artistic Director/Director…
by Roseann Cane “So many plays in the HIV/AIDS theatrical canon are about white gay men and death and dying. I wanted to add something Black and gay and full of hope. we are continuous is my contribution.” –Harrison David Rivers The phenomenon is all too familiar. We all know…
by Barbara Waldinger It is said that “It Takes a Village” to successfully rear a child. The same may be said about what is required to mount a superior theatrical production. Great Barrington Public Theater’s Things I Know to Be True owes its triumph at the Daniel Arts Center to…
