Sunday, January 22, 2017

ArtsEmerson Presents "Our Secrets" With Béla Pintér And Company - One Last Performance On Sunday


If your Sunday schedule allows you to make your way to Downtown Crossing and the Emerson/Paramount Center, you will not regret it. The widely acclaimed Hungarian playwright and director, Béla Pintér, has brought his company to Boston for an all-too-brief stay to present the timely and poignant play "Our Secrets." The play is performed in Hungarian with English supertitles that are easily read above the stage.

The concept of the show is that a well know Budapest artist has been plagued with difficulties in his marriage, and is haunted by inappropriate attraction to his young step-daughter. He pours out his heart to his therapist, not aware that her office has been bugged, and his secrets are being recorded for political purposes. A Party official eventually confronts him with the information, and presents him with a Godfather offer: in exchange for not sending him to prison and exposing his crime, he must agree to inform on his friends who are publishing an underground newspaper.

The set contains a giant ancient reel-to-reel tape recorder that turns periodically - either to play music, or to indicate that the proceedings are being recorded. The play is timely as it comes to Boston during a tumultuous Inauguration weekend. Mr. Pintér is asking the poignant question: "In a culture of mass surveillance, will our deepest secrets be turned against us?"

In this play, the Party is intent on squelching any news media that will criticize the regime. In light of yesterdays' troubling press briefing by President Trump's Press Secretary, these are not hypothetical issues for America. Our brothers and sisters from Hungary are giving us the gift of decades of reflection on how to survive a totalitarian regime. We are blessed to have them here - albeit briefly - to guide our thinking and questioning along these lines. Implicit in their visit is the message that the arts are crucial in helping us to maintain hope, perspective and focus in the face of growing oppression.

"Our Secrets" by Béla Pintér
ArtsEmerson - The World On Stage
Emerson/Paramount Center
Through January 22nd
Come to see "Our Secrets" on Sunday afternoon to be disturbed, provoked, and encouraged by these gifted guest artists. ArtsEmerson - The World On Stage - continues to contribute to important conversations in our community.

"Our Secrets" by Béla Pintér
ArtsEmerson - The World On Stage
Emerson/Paramount Center
Through January 22nd
ArtsEmerson Website

Al

Friday, January 20, 2017

Lyric Stage Presents A Powerful "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee - The Theatrical Event Of This Season!


If you are a fan of great theater, then there is no question about it; you must make your way to the Lyric Stage of Boston for the current production of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf."

When I learned a few weeks ago that James Earl Jones would be coming to Cambridge to appear in Tennessee Williams' "The Night Of The Iguana," I had one instant thought. "Surely, this will be the theatrical event of the Boston/Cambridge season." Well, after sitting through the gladiatorial contest that is "Virginia Woolf," I have concluded that the folks at the A.R.T. will be hard pressed to present a more riveting evening of theater than the one I experienced at the Lyric this week.

I have been attending plays and musicals at the Lyric for many years, and I have witnessed countless excellent productions. This revival of "Virginia Woolf" is simply the best work I have seen on the Lyric stage. There are three elements that lead to the powerful impact of this show. First, there is the unique voice of Edward Albee. He does with words what Michelangelo did with paint. Then there is the flawless direction of Scott Edmiston and the work of his creative team. Finally, there is the tireless professionalism of the quartet of actors who make Martha, George, Honey, and Nick spring to life from Albee's script. As Albee has written them, the members of the quartet are not playing in the same key, and the result is often verbal and relational cacophony. All three of these artistic elements are woven together seamlessly to create a memorable, impactful, poignant, and stunning production of this classic work of art and social commentary.

Paula Plum as Martha
Dan Whelton as Nick
Erica Spyres as Honey
Steven Barkhimer as George
"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?'
by Edward Albee
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Through February 12, 2017
Photo by Mark S. Howard
The wondrous set by Janie E. Howland tips us off to the chaos we are about to witness, even before the first tumbler of gin has been poured. If one looks carefully at the proscenium and the alignment of the doorways, it is clear that something is off. The angles are not quite 90 degrees. I will allow myself a bad pun here: in a production starring Paula Plum, the set is not quite plumb! The books on the numerous bookshelves are also askew - their tumbling matching the odd angles of the slant of the door frame. We are entering a world that is not quite right.

Lighting by Karen Perlow is superbly effective. There are scenes in which the actor in the spotlight begins to fade into a sort of twilight - a metaphorical illumination of the fact that the lives of these four individuals seem to be fading into some kind of metaphysical vanishing point. It is as if their lives are on a dimmer switch and their lives are slowly fading to black. The Sound Design by Dewey Dellay adds to the sense of impending doom. The Costumes by Charles Schoonmaker help to define each of the four characters. This is especially true after Martha goes to the bedroom to change and re-emerges in full buxomy cleavage mode - ready to make quick work of Nick as her next junior faculty sexual conquest.

Early in the play, shortly after Nick and Honey arrive at 2:00 in the morning for the After Party following a reception for new faculty, the young couple are admiring a painting that hangs - invisible to the audience - on the fourth wall. This painting - I think of it as an etching - serves as a metaphor for me for the play as a whole. Throughout the course of three acts, the four characters, especially Martha and George, spew forth words of such venom - words both acidic and acerbic - that they etch furrows into the souls of each of the other characters. They are burrowing down to the very marrow of one another's existence.

Paula Plum is simply mesmerizing as Martha, the daughter of the college President who married beneath her. She married the George - six years her junior - hoping that he would one day take over the history department and then be elevated to be Daddy's replacement as President. But he never rose to the occasion, and she despises him for his ineptitude and grayness. She chain smokes cigarettes and slugs down a geyser of gin on the rocks, apparently to fuel her steady stream of invective that she hurls at George. It seems to be a blood sport that they have tacitly agreed upon to make up for lack of tenderness or progeny in their marriage. They live in a fake world, and their fantasy is propped up by the perpetual motion machine that is Martha's tongue. Underneath the gin-stained steel exterior of Martha, Ms. Plum shows chinks in the armor - moments of vulnerability and fragility. As tough as she is, she collapses when George puts an end to their shared fantasy when he plays his own verbal games. Martha's fire burns hot and when she breathes her fire onto others, it often scalds those standing too close. This is a performance of consummate professionalism and power. It is gut-wrenching to behold.

Paula Plum as Martha
Dan Whelton as Nick
Steven Barkhimer as George
"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?'
by Edward Albee
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Through February 12, 2017
Photo by Mark S. Howard
Steven Barkhimer is equally Promethean in bringing fire to the role of George. For much of the play, the fire smolders under the surface. George is passive aggressive, standing back and taking Martha's verbal volleys. He is effete - a failed academic biding his time. But then when we least expect it, he pounces on Martha, unloading a tactical nuclear weapon that leaves her hollowed out and extinguished.

Dan Whelton plays the quietly ambitious Nick, newly appointed to the Biology Department, but dreaming of conquering broader worlds. He sees Martha as a key to advancement, and they engage in a mating dance guaranteed to step on more than a few toes. Dan takes abuse and derision from George until he cannot take any more, and then stands on his own two feet, and gives George a taste of his own bitter tonic. Mr. Whelton is perfectly cast in this challenging role.

Finally, Erica Spyres portrays Honey, a seemingly vacuous cipher who comes to life once she has enough brandy in her system to ignite a spark. She has a dark secret that Nick spills to George. Once George has been handed this weapon, he bides his time before choosing to launch it to maximum effect. Ms. Spyres brings Honey on a very convincing arand harrowing arc.

Mr. Albee was a master at using the words and actions of his characters to comment on the current trends in society, the state of academia, the vagaries of marriage and parenthood, the tectonic plates of relationships grinding against one another until the inevitable earthquake is unleashed. He celebrates precise language, and uses it both as a weapon and as a toy. Here is a delicious example. George uses the world "abstruse" in talking with Martha, and she objects. He retorts: "I mean abstruse in a recondite sort of way."

Sitting in the audience for this tour de force of a play and set of performances is a bit like being a spectator at a relational demolition derby. The last one standing and able to drive over the finish line wins. Or not. In any case, you will not be able to take your eyes off of the impending wreckage.

This is theater as it was meant to be - great writing setting the stage for great acting under the steady guidance of a director with a clear vision and a creative team equal to the herculean task of presenting painful truth in an accessible way. Pour yourself a toothful of gin and head to the Lyric. You will not be sorry.

Lyric Stage Website

Enjoy!

Al

Thursday, January 19, 2017

SpeakEasy Stage Company Presents "Hand To God" by Robert Askins - Danger, High Voltage - Handle With Care!


SpeakEasy Stage Company has two high voltage plays running simultaneously at the Calderwood Pavilion. Due to popular demand, they are re-staging their wildly successful production of "The Scottsboro Boys," reviewed in this space on October, 2016: White Rhino Report Review of "The Scottsboro Boys"

Running at the same time is the challenging play "Hand To God," which created quite a buzz last season on Broadway, and garnered 5 Tony Award Nominations. This production is brilliantly directed by David R. Gammons, and features a stunning cast. Be aware that despite the fact that it is a play with puppets, this is not light family entertainment. Imagine that Jim Henson had been asked to write a mash-up of "The Exorcist," "Equus," and "Rosemary's Baby." The result would be something like the feel of "Hand To God." Playwright Robert Askins grew up near the buckle of the Bible Belt in Texas, and clearly is exorcising some of his own personal demons in observing aspects of Fundamentalism that he finds odious - especially repressed sexuality and hypocrisy. He goes after these dragons tooth and nail. The play is ribald, sacrilegious - bordering on blasphemous, and profane. It is not for the faint of heart nor for the easily offended. You have been warned.

Having issued the aforementioned caveats, I will say that this production of this difficult play is superbly well executed. The plot deals with an angry and confused teenager, Jason, (Eliott Purcell) reluctantly taking part in his widowed mother's attempt to find new meaning in life by creating a puppet ministry in the basement of their church. His puppet, Tyrone, takes on a life of his own, spewing forth venom and fomenting violence and chaos everywhere that Jason turns his haunted hand. The playwright is inviting us to ponder whether this is a complex psychological mechanism at work, whereby Jason is expressing his rage over his father's death, his anger at facile Christian answers to deep question, and his repressed sexual awakenings. Or is Tyrone truly possessed of the devil, able to wreak havoc in supernatural ways? Mr. Purcell shows great range in his ability to toggle back and forth between Jason and the voice of the increasingly aggressive voice of Tyrone. His physical, emotional, and vocal agility is on display here. It is a remarkable performance that should not be missed.

Dario Ladani Sanchez as Timothy
Eliott Purcell as Jason/Tyrone
"Hand To God" by Robert Askins
SpeakEasy Stage Company
Calderwood Pavilion
Through February 4
Photo by Glenn Perry

The plot thickens with the addition of several other characters. Timothy (Dario Ladani Sanchez) is another troubled teen, randy and intent on seducing Margery, Jason's bereaved mother, Margery (Marianna Bassham). Ms. Basham's journey from mousy widow lady to raunchy, lustful, and insatiable nymph is powerful and shocking. Mr. Sanchez teases and seduces this older woman with charm worthy of James Dean. Fellow puppeteer, Jessica, (Josephine Elwood) has a hard time digesting all of the strange goings on among Jason/Tyrone and the Odd Couple of Margery and Timothy. The final piece of the puzzle is Pastor Greg (Lewis S. Wheeler), whose loneliness prompts him try to win the "hand" of Margery. Jason/Tyrone sees through Pastor Greg's pious patina, and confronts him violently.

Marianna Bassham as Margery
Eliott Purcell as Jason/Tyrone
Josephine Elwood as Jessica
"Hand To God" by Robert Askins
SpeakEasy Stage Company
Calderwood Pavilion
Through February 4
Photo by Glenn Perry

The fine ensemble cast are helped greatly by a creative team that have assembled a vibrant simulacrum of a tacky church basement, with posters and hand-made signs that scream Vacation Bible School! The set is by Christina Todesco, Costumes by Gail Astrid Buckley, Lighting by Jeff Adelberg, Sound by Andrew Duncan Will, Fight Direction by Ted Hewlett, Puppetry Direction by Roxanna Myhrum, and Puppetry Design by Jonathan Little.

The play will run through February 4th.  When you go, prepare to "fasten your seat belts; it will be a bumpy night!"

SpeakEasy Stage Website

Enjoy!

Al



Monday, January 16, 2017

"Whiplash" by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe - The MIT Media Lab Explains How To Survive Our Faster Future


This book is a MUST READ for anyone who needs to think about innovation and the rapid pace of change leading to an uncertain future. Authors Joi Ito, Director of MIT's iconic Media Lab, and Jeff Howe, a visiting scholar at the Media Lab, have opened a window into the principles that drive innovation and research at the Lab. The structure of the book introduces each of the 9 principles and how they impact the setting of research priorities. The principles are illustrated and elucidated through vignettes that tell how researchers at MIT and beyond have employed the antidisciplinary ethos of the Lab to forge teams of women and men from a wide and disparate set of fields of study and expertise.

The 9 principles are:

Emergence Over Authority
Pull Over Push
Compasses Over MAps
Risk Over Safety
Disobedience Over Compliance
Practice Over Theory
Diversity Over Ability
Resilience Over Strength
Systems Over Objects
Systems Over Objects

I have had some personal interactions with scholars at the Media Lab, so I have had the privilege of seeing these principles in operation on the research bench and in prototypes. Several years ago, I was invited to be an outside set of eyes and ears and voice at the weekly luncheons that were held by the City Science initiative within the Media Lab. The level of creativity and cross-disciplinary innovation (Joi Ito prefers the terms "antidisciplinary") is without equal.

Ito and Howe make the point that much of future innovation will take place in the interstitial spaces - in the white space - between recognized academic disciplines. This book offers a robust examination of how we will get to an era when the walls that keep disciples isolated from each other have dissolved.

The book is appropriate for academics as well as for lay readers who are intrigued with how we will get to the uncertain future that is dawning faster than we can assimilate the changes.

Enjoy!

Al

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

New Repertory Theatre Presents "Thurgood" by George Stevens, Jr. - A Scintillating One Man Performance By Johnny Lee Davenport - And a MUST SEE!


New Rep Theatre has started off 2017 with a bang. The current Black Box production of George Stevens, Jr.'s "Thurgood" left me speechless and in tears. This one man play allows superb actor Johnny Lee Davenport the freedom to spend two hours weaving a tale of Thurgood Marshall's journey from the slums of Baltimore to a seat on the bench on the highest court in the land. It is an extraordinary performance recapturing the life of a man who made history during several crucial and tumultuous decades of the 20th century.

The play is part of New Rep's "Prophetic Portraits" series, and is not to be missed. I thought I knew quite about about the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, but this play filled in many important gaps. Mr. Marshall described himself as stubborn and hard to handle - even as a young boy. He refers to ancestors from whom he inherited these traits. Some of these progenitors are shown in photos that make up the backdrop of Ryan Bates' set design. As part of Bridget K. Doyle's lighting design, these pictures are illuminated as the actor talks about the person in question. Action is often punctuated by sound effects that are part of the sound design of Dewey Dellay. When the play was first written, it was a rather static piece, with Mr. Marshall sitting and addressing a group of Howard University students in a lecture hall. Mr. Davenport and Director Benny Sato Ambush have added some dynamic elements that help to sustain the audience's attention during the two hour one act play. The character moves within the lecture hall space that is the set, using a portable lectern to depict Marshall reading briefs to the court, climbing steps to gain a different perspective, sitting on a pile of legal documents in one corner of the space to address a different part of the audience, relaxing in his leather chair. It all flows together seamlessly and with a well considered sense of pace.

As a young boy, Thurgood's tendency to drive adult authority figures crazy led him to be often banished to the boiler room with instructions to read from a copy of the U.S. Constitution until he could get himself together enough to behave. The result of this creative punishment was that he memorized virtually the whole document. It lived with him for the rest of his life and was the driving force in his legal career - particularly the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Before ascending to the Supreme Court, Marshall made a name for himself as the lead attorney for the NAACP Defense Fund. He argued and won the landmark 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that ordered the end to segregation in public schools. He spent many years thereafter fighting to ensure that southern states were forced to obey the law despite ferocious opposition from governors and state legislatures in the former Confederate States.

An interesting part of the play was Marshall's description of his interactions with Martin Luther King, Jr. Marshall pointed out to Martin that Marshall fought for racial equality by using and enforcing the law, while Martin chose the route of civil disobedience to the law. The play makes it clear that Justice Marshall was no plaster saint, fighting a career-long reputation for womanizing and imbibing. But this flawed human being boldly addressed flaws in our nation's application of the principle of Equal Justice Under The Law.

Johnny Lee Davenport as Thurgood Marshall
"Thurgood" by George Stevens, Jr.
New Repertory Theatre
Mosesian Center for the Arts
Through February 5, 2017

Mr. Davenport's performance is egregiously good - depicting the aging of Mr. Marshall throughout the course of the narration of his life's journey as his posture and vocalizations evolve and devolve. He uses the supple instrument of his voice with power, subtlety and grace to create moods of tension, fear, anticipation, disappointment, rage, anguish, hope, and euphoria.

Thurgood Marshall left a legacy that inspires. And as we stand on the brink of an era which threatens to hurl us back into the Dark Ages, we need anchors like Marshall's life story to encourage us not to despair and not to give up hope.

Go see this play and be reinvigorated.

New Rep Website

Enjoy!

Al

Saturday, January 07, 2017

"What Got You Here Won't Get You There" by Marshall Goldsmith - How Successful People Become Even More Successful


I always learn new things when I read Marshall Goldsmith's books. "What Got You Here Won't Get You There Is No Exception." In this book, he draws from his several decades of experience in coaching top business leaders to offer practical guidance to anyone who wants to become more successful. He offers a very helpful list of twenty bad habits that must be broken before an individual is ready to move on to the next level of success. He follows that  section of the book with chapters that outline positive steps and attitudes that will lead to dramatically improved levels of productivity and success. These later chapters include topics like Feedback, Apologizing, Advertising, Listening, Thanking, Following Up, and Paying It Forward.

In addition to offering principles that help to shape a new approach to growth and success, Dr. Goldsmith offers concrete examples from the experiences of those he has worked with- individuals who either struggled putting these principles into practice, or successfully applied them. It is the combination of the theoretical and the  practical that makes this book so useful.

Enjoy!

Al

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Apollinaire Theatre Company Opens 2017 Strong With "Brilliant Adventures" by Alistair McDowall - In Search of Lost Time


Do not lose any time in getting to the Apollinaire Theatre Company in Chelsea before January 21st to check out the scintillating play by British playwright Alistair McDowall. "Brilliant Adventures" is totally intriguing from beginning to end, with outstanding writing by Mr. McDowall, visionary directing by Danielle Fauteux Jacques, and flawless acting by a top notch cast of six actors.

The themes of the play all revolve around time. Brilliant young Luke (Sam Terry) has tinkered together a time machine from the parts of vintage computers and other electronic devices. He is reluctant to use it for fear of impacting the past, present and future. His big brother Rob (Michael Underhill) is a low level drug dealer in their rundown section of a town in northern Yorkshire, England. Rob is alternately bullying and protective of Luke, who has a speech impediment that makes him reluctant to communicate. Rob is working for a drug lord, Ben (Brooks Reeves), who is intent on setting up shop in Luke's humble council flat. He also tries to coerce Luke into selling him the time machine, making increasingly lucrative and then darkly threatening overtures that lead to a crisis for all concerned. Rounding out the dramatis personae are Greg (Geoff Van Wyck), a hapless friend of Rob and Luke who is desperate to be seen as a person of worth. The Man (Dev Luthra) is revealed to be the enigmatic father of Rob and Luke, to whom something catastrophic has occurred. And finally a second Luke (Eric McGowan).

Each of these characters has been perfectly cast, causing us to sympathize with them, despise them or wonder at them. Sam Terry is believably fragile as Sam, yet able to show remarkable strength of character when pushed to the limit by Ben. Michael Underhill walks a fine line as Rob between coopting Luke and his scientific cleverness for his own gain on the one hand, and looking for ways to protect his little brother on the other extreme. Brooks Reeves is simply frightening as Ben, pure sociopathic evil intent on getting his own way at all costs. Mr. Reeves appeared as Hamlet this past summer in the Apollinaire production; in this role he is pure pernicious prince of darkness. Geoff Van Wyk is appropriately pitiable as Greg, peering at a world through dark framed glasses that make his act and appear as an outsider looking to find a way into the world that others inhabit. Dev Luthra plays two very different roles. In the first act he is led around in an almost catatonic state by Rob. He opens the second act in a flashback (the playwright again using time as a theme), directly addressing the audience as a younger man fully in control of his faculties, and filling in an important backstory about an incident involving a fishbowl that happened when his boys were young.  That same fishbowl sits prominently in Luke's flat. Finally, in a bit of perfect casting that allows the audience to suspend disbelief, Eric McGowan is a second Luke. I will allow you to figure out that plot device on your own when you come to see the play.

Dev Luthra as The Man
Brooks Reeves as Ben
Sam Terry as Luke
"Brilliant Adventures"
by Alistair McDowall
Apollinaire Theatre Company
Through January 21st
Not only is the time machine an object of conflict and drama within the piece, but it is clear that each character, in his own way, is wasting time - time that cannot ever be recaptured. Or can it?

Kudos to Dialect Coach Christopher Sherwood Davis for helping these fine actors present themselves credibly as men of Yorkshire. The Set Design by Nathan Lee perfectly depicts the down at the heels nature of Luke's existence. Costume Design by Kate Devorak helps to define each character, and Sound Design by David Reiffel enhances the feel of the place.

Playwright, Director and Actors have conspired together to offer a subtle literary clue as to the nature of the play's themes. I will not spoil it for you, but I will offer a few clues. Take note of the name of the fish, and see if you can catch the title of a book that Luke reads when he is alone. Have fun playing literary Sherlock Holmes!

Dev Luthra as The Man
Michael Underhill as Rob
"Brilliant Adventures"
by Alistair McDowall
Apollinaire Theatre Company
Through January 21st

Unlike the characters in this play, you will not be wasting your time if you make your way to Chelsea to check out "Brilliant Adventures." Now through January 21st.

Apollinaire Theatre Website

Enjoy!


Al