What is it precisely about social media and the advent of incessant and overbearing forms of constant communication that have led to the breakdown of meaningful long distance relationships? Shouldn’t the ability to maintain interpersonal communications allow two individuals to grow together? Or, is there some truth in the old adage that absence makes the […]
There was unmistakable and exasperated scream on the other end of the phone. “What?! Are you serious? How is that possible?” You would have thought that I had told my mother that I was pregnant with quintuplets. But no. That was my mother’s reaction when I let slip that I have never seen the movie […]
I have wanted to see a performance of Tribes since I missed Speakeasy Stage Company’s production earlier this season. It fetched some stellar reviews for the way that they presented incredibly challenging material. Unfortunately, Epic Theater Company’s production at the Artist’s Exchange in Cranston, Rhode Island didn’t rise to that challenge. Nina Raine’s script focuses […]
A. R. Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour is a witty, boozy comedy that shines a light on the many flaws and subtle delights of one WASP-y household in Buffalo during the 1970s. This autobiographical play centers on John (James Waterston), a repressed, neurotic publisher moonlighting as a playwright. John visits his parents in their twilight years […]
If you have ever taken public transportation, congratulations, you have shared a common life experience with a handful of complete strangers. For a brief moment, your lives collided in transit. Like a good New Yorker, I generally live in my own headphone-generated musical bubble on the subway, but, unlike most New Yorkers, I do not […]
It may be widely known that I don’t like original shows. I feel they’re often underrehearsed, poorly cast, and underrealized. That includes a script for which the playwright needs a few more rewrites. However, I was blown away by the Boston Playwright Theatre’s production of “Burning” by Ginger Lazarus. I can’t quite understand why everything […]
The Empty Room’s current production of RC Sherriff’s World War I drama Journey’s End is so much better than it seems on first reflection. When broken down for parts, 98% of it is in fine, working order. Some of that 98% I would even call excellent (Joshua Stodart’s steel-nerved scamp of a Mason, for example, not […]
The law is reason, free from passion. Point taken, Aristotle. The law is neither sympathetic nor scornful. Everyone is theoretically equal before the black letter of the law. Philosophy is all well and good, but let’s get real for a second. While the law may be free from passion, humans are anything but. This simple […]