Eran Kolirin’s “The Band’s Visit,” onstage through December 17 at Boston’s Huntington Theatre, which is co-producing the play with SpeakEasy Stage, is a very polished, very melodious presentation of what can happen when two marginalized communities, respectively, Israeli and Arabic, realize that they may have more in common with each other than with the rather frigid embrace of their two ethnicities. It’s not an instant embrace, and not one without thorns, but the point is made believable, in many small and greater instances that one’s ‘family’ is an elastic concept. I’m on Page 22 of this musical’s program where the two principal actors, Brian Thomas Abraham and Jennifer Apple, stare at each other with visible tension from opposite ends of a wooden bench. Mr. Abraham is in the smart blue military uniform of his Egyptian band, while Ms. Apple, a mature, experienced … [Read more...] about JUBILATION FOR “THE BAND’S VISIT” AT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE
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EMOTIONALLY AMBITIOUS: ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT’S INTENSELY ENGAGING TAKE OF VOGEL’S “HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE”
Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive” is the powerfully gripping theater of a young woman arising out of an impoverished family and region of America to become abused by her uncle over a long period of time while both neighbors and immediate family look on unknowing and only carelessly, intermittently, caring. The play is being performed by the Actors’ Shakespeare Project through November 25 at the Roberts Studio Theatre at The Calderwood Pavilion in Boston. Uncle Peck, played be Dennis Trainor Jr., betrays, with the aid of this social wreckage, his better self and an innocent niece as a diabolical juggler who cares both too much and too little. Jennifer Rohn plays Li’l Bit, the abused child/woman who wants some control over her life in an environment where a woman’s control over both her social/economic status and sexuality is minimal. Any gains must continuously be wrested with all … [Read more...] about EMOTIONALLY AMBITIOUS: ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT’S INTENSELY ENGAGING TAKE OF VOGEL’S “HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE”
TWO GALLERIES, TWO TELLINGS, ONE HISTORY: THE WOODEN MARVELS OF DONNA DODSON AND ALISON CRONEY MOSES
We were crawling along Mass. Ave. at such a slow pace from Cambridge to Boston’s SoWa Arts District on Harrison Ave. in the South End that I thought my wife, plus myself, driving, would surely disappear in frustration. Then, there we were, sitting in an audience at the promised roundtable discussion between wood sculptors Donna Dodson and Alison Croney Moses, moderated by Dr. Beth McLaughlin, artistic director and chief curator of the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts — an agile moderator, quick to highlight a revealing word or phrase of two mature artists/crafters at the top of their games. And what were their games? Well, as befits talent strenuously, lovingly nurtured with education, mentors and self-discipline not to mention that critical ingredient of all work in the arts and crafts, joy, Dodson’s sculptures evidenced both shining exteriors, first-hand, as well as … [Read more...] about TWO GALLERIES, TWO TELLINGS, ONE HISTORY: THE WOODEN MARVELS OF DONNA DODSON AND ALISON CRONEY MOSES
PROVIDENCE’S LANDMARK CELEBRATION DEDICATION OF PRENTISS’ BANNISTER BRONZE OPENS FRESH DIALOGUE
A life-size bronze statue of painter Edward Bannister (1867-1901) created by Rhode Island artist, Gage M Prentiss, was unveiled in Providence’s Market Square on September 10 in the context of its city-wide celebration of PVDfest. As a figurative bronze with traditional patina, the medium harkens to 19th century monument. It engages controversy in relation to black experience because Bannister was Black and in the context of today “monument” within Black culture is a fraught area. Add to this that Gage M. Prentiss is a white artist, and it begs the question: What meaning is imbued? For insight, I contacted Leora Maltz-Leca: Professor of Contemporary Art, Theory & History of Art & Design at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Curator of Contemporary Projects at Redwood Library and Athenaeum. She has experience with this cultural dialogue and said: “In theory, the race … [Read more...] about PROVIDENCE’S LANDMARK CELEBRATION DEDICATION OF PRENTISS’ BANNISTER BRONZE OPENS FRESH DIALOGUE
A MODERNIZED ‘SHREW’ ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT SHIFTS THE NARRATIVE
“The Taming of the Shrew” is infamously difficult to adapt due to its violent misogyny, but director Christopher V. Edwards flips the script with Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s gender-bending production. The setting is modernized to a red-hued ‘70s Disco with fun and colorful costuming thanks to Ben Lieberson and Chelsea Kerl. The show stays faithful to Shakespeare’s text with only two major divergences that still manage to shift the entire narrative: the character of Sly and the ending. In the original’s often-cut introduction, the drunk Sly is duped into believing he is a nobleman for whom the subsequent play-within-a-play is performed. Here Sly, played by Michael Broadhurst, is instead convinced he is a woman and thrust into performing as Katherine, the titular shrew. Broadhurst has been cast as the only man playing against women and nonbinary actors. Sly is tricked by the Disco’s … [Read more...] about A MODERNIZED ‘SHREW’ ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT SHIFTS THE NARRATIVE
VARIED TEXTURES OF HOME LYNNE KORTENHAUS AT SCHOOLHOUSE GALLERY
Printmaker Lynne Kortenhaus is exhibiting 10 of her pieces at the Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown as an homage to her memories of the past. The theme she says is “homeward.” “It’s rare these days to hear someone say they had a lovely childhood but mine was idyllic,” the artist said. Her Kortenhaus grandfather, a land surveyor, farmed 26 acres of New Jersey land. Lynne helped him, picking (and eating) the fruits and vegetables. (She liked the raspberries best.) Her father ranched mink. She got to nurse babies rejected by mums, and with her father holding on to adults, pet their soft furry middles. The family would head into New York city for museums and to shop. On the way back they’d stop at a blueberry farm (eponymously named) where her mum would get oodles of berries for pies and pancakes. Her grandma and great grandma taught Lynne to crochet, which, with the animals, and the … [Read more...] about VARIED TEXTURES OF HOME LYNNE KORTENHAUS AT SCHOOLHOUSE GALLERY