by Macey Levin  Chester Theatre Company, Chester, Massachusetts, has built a reputation of producing provocative plays. Their most recent production of Unreconciled, workshopped and given its world premiere at Chester, is about to move to London. The current offering Will Sacrifice by Julie McKee is another premiere. It doesn’t match…
by Macey Levin Four acting hopefuls have enrolled for a creative dramatics class in the imaginary town of Shirley, Vermont. The group, led by the wife of the community center administrator, finds to their consternation, that in spite of the seemingly innocuous and at times mystifying acting exercises, their lives…
by Macey Levin Enduring love requires people to look into themselves in order to realize who they really are or what they have become in relationship to each other. In Loy A. Webb’s riveting The Light at Chester Theatre Company in Chester, Massachusetts, Genesis and Rashad confront themselves and their…
by Macey Levin Two friends banter, argue and dream as they stand guard at the Taj Mahal in Agra, Hindustan in 1653, the year of the monument’s completion. Their relationship is the core of Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph, a complex and compelling drama at the Chester Theatre Company,…
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 Macey Levin Pass Over is a difficult but intriguing play receiving a dynamic production at Chester Theatre Company in Chester, Massachusetts. There are comic moments, emotional confrontations and times of darkness. It is also rife with various symbols and references. The play is a depiction of America’s black minority…
by Macey Levin In a motel room in New Mexico a small group of relatives meet the night before they are to attend a funeral for another family member. Rachel Bonds’ play Curve of Departure draws out the love these people have for each other as they touch upon…
by Macey Levin The audience at Chester Theatre Company is greeted by Julian and Josephine Glockner as they introduce a re-enactment at a tenement museum in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  Something does not ring quite true since Julian has an Eastern European accent and Josephine is very…
