Dewey Dellay News

Get in the mood for the rapidly approaching holiday season by going to the Lyric Stage Company of Boston's production of THE THANKSGIVING PLAY, a sharp and funny satire by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse that holds a mirror up to reflect the craziness of political correctness on steroids. How does a quartet of white theater artists tell the Thanksgiving story and honor Native American Heritage Month in a 45-minute elementary school play without offending anyone while being historically accurate? Very carefully, and not without numerous false starts, each one more ridiculous than the last, until not to decide is to decide.

From October 25 to November 30, 2019, SpeakEasy Stage Company will present the New England premiere of ADMISSIONS, the winner of the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.

Gloucester Stage Company is the first theater in the country to produce THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT following its SRO limited run on Broadway. Based on the 2012 essay/book co-written by John D'Agata and Jim Fingal, the play explores the conflict between an unorthodox author (D'Agata) and the young fact-checker (Fingal) assigned by his magazine editor to vet a groundbreaking piece about a teen's suicide in Las Vegas. GSC mounts its production with local luminary and Academy Award nominee Lindsay Crouse, New York and Off-Broadway actor Mickey Solis, and recent Harvard University graduate Derek Speedy, making his Gloucester debut, under the direction of the estimable Sam Weisman.

New Repertory Theatre presents BECOMING DR. RUTH, Mark St. Germain's (FREUD'S LAST SESSION) biographical comedy that tells you everything you didn't even know you wanted to know about Dr. Ruth, but were glad the playwright asked. Set in her Washington Heights, NY, apartment with a panoramic view overlooking the Hudson River, the play introduces us to the 69-year old Westheimer in the throes of moving after thirty years in the location. Surrounded by an array of boxes and clutter, the conceit provides a plethora of talking points as she unearths items that serve as important markers in her life story. Anne O'Sullivan reaches through the fourth wall to grab our attention with warmth and Ruth's indomitable joie de vivre.

Two dozen nominations of outstanding actors, directors, designers and ensembles were announced today by The Boston Theater Critics Association (BTCA), with winners to be revealed at the 37th Annual Elliot Norton Awards on Monday, May 20, 2019 at 7 PM, at the Huntington Avenue Theatre.

What does God want, and who truly knows? Who gets to decide what is right? These are just a couple of the questions raised in Hansol Jung's wrenching new play, CARDBOARD PIANO, in its New England premiere at New Repertory Theatre. Set in Northern Uganda at the turn of the millennium, a forbidden love story unfolds with the backdrop of rising civil unrest, setting in motion a series of events that spans fifteen years in the lives of the principals who survive the violence and hostility that is endemic to the African nation. Directed by Benny Sato Ambush with a quartet of outstanding performances from Marge Dunn, Rachel Cognata, Michael Ofori, and Marc Pierre.

The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) today announced the nominees for the 23rd Annual IRNE Awards, which honor the best of the previous year's actors, directors, choreographers, designers and companies across the full spectrum of large, mid-size and fringe theater companies. Moulin Rouge!, a new musical produced by Global Creatures, and An American in Paris, produced by the Ogunquit Playhouse, led with 12 and 11 nominations, respectively, in the Large Stage Musical Category. The Huntington Theatre led all companies with 31 nominations across seven productions, including 11 for Man in the Ring, the story of six-time world champion prizefighter Emile Griffith.

Eighty years after the Broadway premiere of Lillian Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES, the Lyric Stage Company production, under the direction of Scott Edmiston, demonstrates that the classic American drama has lost none of its punch. A titanic team of actors portrays the dynamic within the rapacious Hubbard family and the collateral damage they impose on all who have the misfortune of being in their path. Without exception, the characters are three-dimensional, fully realized, and thoroughly alive, compelling the audience to engage with them on an intensely emotional level.

Actors' Shakespeare Project's 15th Season continues with Nat Turner in Jerusalem, performed at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. Performances January 30 - February 24 (Press Performance: Saturday, February 2, 8:00 PM, Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley St, Boston). For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

Actors' Shakespeare Project's 15th Season continues with Nat Turner in Jerusalem, performed at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. Performances January 30 - February 24 (Press Performance: Saturday, February 2, 8:00 PM, Hibernian Hall, 184 Dudley St, Boston). For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

Renowned British playwright Caryl Churchill is the author of a pair of one-act plays merged into Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's UNIVERSE RUSHING APART: BLUE KETTLE and HERE WE GO, playing through the weekend in the Black Box Theater at Babson College's Sorenson Center for the Arts in Wellesley. A stellar cast, thoughtfully directed by Bryn Boice, and imaginative design choices by an accomplished team, add up to a decidedly unique theatrical experience.

It is probably an unintended coincidence that the Lyric Stage Company's production of Jen Silverman's two-hander, THE ROOMMATE, passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors, even as FUN HOME, based on Alison Bechdel's graphic novel/memoir is onstage down the street at the Boston Center for the Arts. For the uninitiated, the test is a measure of the representation of women in fiction and a passing grade requires that a work feature at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Silverman's play is about a middle-aged divorcee and a lesbian on the lam sharing a big old house in Iowa City, both trying to start over, while negotiating a relationship that is difficult to define. Under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Spiro Veloudos, Paula Plum and Adrianne Krstansky are a dream team operating in perfect synch with each other.

New Repertory Theatre's mission is "to produce plays that speak powerfully to the vital ideas of our time," a statement which they adhere to vigorously. In this season, under the theme of "Awakening," New Rep presents the New England premiere of WE WILL NOT BE SILENT, a docudrama by playwright David Meyers. Based on true events, the play focuses on one young German woman's resistance to Hitler and the Nazi party, her determination to maintain her principles and integrity in the face of grueling interrogation, and the price of her righteousness. Under the direction of Artistic Director Jim Petosa, with ever-increasing tension and drama, Sarah Oakes Muirhead and Tim Spears give riveting performances as the detainee and the detective who holds her destiny in his hands.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, announced the cast of the first production of its 2018-19 Season: Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go, two one-act plays by Caryl Churchill, directed by Bryn Boice. The production runs November 7-18 at the Black Box Theater, Sorenson Center for the Arts at Babson College in Wellesley.

Greater Boston Stage Company has lined up a dream ensemble for their season finale, CALENDAR GIRLS, based on the 2003 Miramax motion picture. Under the direction of Nancy E. Carroll, a formidable actor in her own right, Maureen Brennan, Sarah deLima, Mary Potts Dennis, Kerry A. Dowling, Karen MacDonald, and Bobbie Steinbach tastefully disrobe for a photo shoot to produce a calendar for charity. Cheryl McMahon, Kathy St. George, Jade Guerra, Michael Kaye, Sean McGuirk, and Nael Nacer keep their clothes on, but add to the fun.

Known nationally and internationally for its professional cultivation of vibrant new plays, the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) at Shepherd University welcomes the 2018 company to Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Each July, artists from around the country, including cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, gather in historic Shepherdstown to create the future of American theater.

Calendar Girls is a delightful, heartfelt comedy based on the true story of eleven English Ladies Club members who posed nude for a calendar to raise money for the Leukemia Research Fund. Made famous by the hit 2003 movie, this is a play about friendship, determination and hope; about loss in many forms; about the importance of acceptance; and about knowing when to let go. Directed by Nancy E. Carroll, Calendar Girls boasts a star- studded cast. Performances run May 31 - June 17, 2018.

Director Scott Edmiston has to thank the guy who wrote a taut adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play ANNA CHRISTIE, thus positioning him to lead a seamless production which combines inventive stagecraft, stunning design elements, and a group of actors who seem born to their roles. The fact that Edmiston is that guy who Lyric Stage Company enlisted to adapt the play is a tribute to his depth of knowledge about O'Neill and his ability to stay true to the playwright's themes, while making the work both accessible and relevant to a modern audience.

THE BAKELITE MASTERPIECE is the Boston area premiere of Kate Cayley's two-hander, directed by Jim Petosa, with stellar performances by Benjamin Evett and Laura Latreille. It is based on the true story of Dutch artist Han van Meegeren, a noted forger accused of treason for selling a long-lost Vermeer painting to the Nazis. He can only avoid death by proving that he is guilty of fraud.

Gloucester Stage Company presents the world premiere of playwright Jim Frangione's FLIGHT OF THE MONARCH following an overwhelming audience response to a reading last fall. Managing Director Jeff Zinn is at the controls, with a fine pair of collaborators in Nancy E. Carroll and J. Tucker Smith as a pair of middle-aged siblings who rely on each other as ports in the storm of life.