Corey Gagne News

Mad Horse Theatre Company presents LIFE SUCKS. BY Aaron Posner March 14-31, 2019 at Mad Horse Theatre Company, 24 Mosher Street, South Portland, ME.

Marking its 45th season Portland Stage opened with Richard Strand's 2014 drama about the Union General Benjamin Butler's unintentional, but heartwarming sheltering of fugitive slaves during his command of Fort Monroe, Virginia, at the start of the Civil War. In a well-cast, elegantly produced staging the company offers a quirky, witty, often whimsical look at four characters who cross ideological swords and skirmish for high stakes not on the battleground but with a war of words, cleverly turned logic, solipsisms, and wittybadinage - all of which result in a remarkable turn of events that defies stereotypes, race, and convention.

Maine State Ballet brings some Spanish spice to summer with a two-week run of Don Quixote, the classic comedic ballet based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, August 10 through August 19, at Maine State Ballet's Lopez Theater.

Mad Horse Theatre's 2018 has certainly pushed the envelope in repertoire choices, fearlessly programming provocative, often dark, edgy, but always intensely human plays. Its last selection of the season, Anne Washburn's 2012 Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play, coming on the heels of The Nether and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, brings this adventurous season to a stirring conclusion.

When you think of post-apocalyptic heroes, Mad Max or Snake Plissken might immediately come to mind. But Bart and Homer Simpson? Ay, caramba!

Portland Stage opened its 2014-2015 season with a probing and poignant production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first of Simon's so-called 'Eugene Trilogy.' The 1983 autobiographical reminiscence tells the story of a Jewish boy growing up in a colorful, often dysfunctional extended family in Brooklyn during the Depression. That Simon's play retains so much of its original impact is a tribute to his gifts as a playwright, especially his ability to mingle humor and pain in the crucible of memory. Portland Stage has mounted an attractive, atmospheric production which owes no small measure of its appeal to Brittany Vasta's sprawling, multi-tiered set, comprised of small eclectically cluttered cubbies evoking the straitened family circumstances. Director Samuel Buggeln makes imaginative use of the space as he draws taut, expressive performances from each of the seven actors, who are all virtually note perfect in capturing the Brooklyn accents.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson runs now through October 20, 2013 at Portland Stage. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!