Hartford’s TheaterWorks is a crown jewel in New England’s cultural scene, known for over 30 years as a theatre company that showcases non-traditional plays and new works that are far from mainstream. At TheaterWorks this past season, Richard Dreyfuss starred in Relativity, a new Mark St. Germain play about Albert Einstein; food chef Rossi was profiled in Jacques Lamarre’s deliciously funny Raging Skillet; and audiences were treated to a sensitive production of the award-winning musical Next to Normal, a poignant story of a family’s dealing with bipolar disorders. Even the holidays get a different twist with the annual Christmas On The Rocks, a series of playlets that turn traditional Christmas tales into hysterically funny non-traditional laughs.

Rob Ruggiero, the visionary producing director of TheaterWorks since 2012, and a member of the theater’s artistic leadership for 24 years, has put the intimate downtown Hartford theater on the national map. He’s directed over 50 productions for TheaterWorks, and stewards the theater’s other plays and musicals.

The road to TheaterWorks began in Milford, Massachusetts, where Ruggiero grew up. He attended Stonehill College. After school, he started as an actor, but held a variety of jobs, from running a frame shop to working at a nursing home, to starting a non-professional theatre. But, he wanted to direct, so he went to Rutgers. He was teaching at Rutgers and directing in regional theatres, building a solid free-lance career, when he met TheaterWorks’ founder, Steve Campo. He was invited to Hartford. He kept coming back, until he moved to Hartford in 2010.

Rob Ruggiero on the set of Next to Normal, photo by Lanny Nagler.

Ruggiero’s artistry extends beyond Hartford. His Broadway credits include Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony-nominated performance) and High (starring Kathleen Turner). Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed the original musical revue Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn. Ruggiero conceived and directed the world premiere musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Ella, which has been seen on more than 24 regional theater stages nationally. His production of Stephen Sondheim’s landmark musical Follies won awards in St. Louis this year.

Ruggiero is also a familiar face at Goodspeed Musicals, down river from Hartford in East Haddam, Connecticut, where he’s staged La Cage Aux Folles, Fiddler on The Roof, The Most Happy Fella, Carousel, and Showboat. He received Connecticut Critics Circle Awards and Broadway World Awards for those musicals. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization now licenses his version of Showboat for regional theater productions.

The cast of Goodspeed’s The Most Happy Fella, directed by Rob Ruggiero. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.,

Currently, Ruggiero is working on his 10th production at Goodspeed, a revival of Rags, the famous musical flop of 1986. Featuring a book by Joseph Stein, who wrote Fiddler On The Roof, music by Charles Strouse of Bye Bye, Birdie fame, and lyrics by Wicked’s Stephen Schwartz, Rags told the story of European Jews trying to make a new life in America, after arriving on Ellis Island. The musical starred Teresa Stratas, an acclaimed Metropolitan Opera star making her Broadway debut, alongside veteran Broadway actor Larry Kert, and up-and-coming star Terrence Mann, who’s now Artistic Director of Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s Nutmeg Summer Series. Rags closed after a handful of performances, but a cast recording was made. The musical developed a cult following because of its exquisite score, and Goodspeed, masters of reviving musicals that deserve a second chance, are reworking Rags, with Ruggiero at the helm.

“We are completely revisiting Rags, with Stephen Schwartz and Charles Strouse actively involved in the process. David Thompson is revising the script penned by the late Joseph Stein. We’ve refocused the role of the leading lady, dropped some characters, rewritten or added others,” says Ruggiero, who added that Goodspeed, known for giving neglected musicals a second chance, has been working on it for months. Rags runs October 6 through December 10.

Rob Ruggiero–Artistic Director, TheaterWorks
Hartford, Connecticut
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Goodspeed Musicals
Haddam, Connecticut
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Top image: Christiane Noll and David Harris from Ruggiero’s production of Next to Normal, photo by Lanny Nagler

The post The Man Behind the Curtain appeared first on Take Magazine.

This August, Strange Attractor has a new pageant planned that includes gathering 100 singers on Easton’s Beach in Newport for a choral performance. Their audience? The sea itself. The occasion? A rather remarkable solar eclipse. The pageant begins as the moon begins its creep between the Earth and the sun, and the performance continues for the duration of the eclipse, about two hours.

Those of us in New England will only see a partial eclipse on August 21, but it’s the first total eclipse since 1918 that will stretch across the entire United States. The sun’s rays will be totally blocked from central Oregon to South Carolina. If it’s not too cloudy, the whole sky will be sunset-colored, even in the Northeast.

Pageant rehearsals have just begun, and most details are still being ironed out, but Strange Attractor organizers Rebecca Noon and Jed Hancock-Brainerd have some guidelines for what the event will be. “The only criteria for performers is that people have feelings about the ocean,” Hancock-Brainerd says, “since the audience is the ocean.” Adds Noon, “We only want things that the ocean wants. No confetti, no plastic, and no stepping on the dune grass.”

Hancock-Brainerd originally conceived the sea pageant, explaining that 100 participants seemed like a good number for the event. “It’s more reasonable than a thousand,” he says.

Noon and Hancock-Brainerd are half of Strange Attractor, a company that’s split between Rhode Island, Philadelphia and Juneau. The four Americans met in graduate school in London, and each member uses the Strange Attractor moniker for projects that involve one or more of the other members.

“Usually Jed dreams up an idea that’s totally crazy,” explains Noon, who handles directing and producing duties, “and I say, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’ And then some time goes by and we start to develop it.” This is the fourth show in seven years that the two have conceived in this way.

The pair are currently wrapping up a year-long residency at the Providence Athenaeum, where they researched the complicated historical relationship between Rhode Islanders and the ocean. They’ve also been learning more about the ocean itself and about remarkable eclipses.

Strange Attractor’s most recent piece, Sans Everything, was performed in Providence and Boston before showing this February at Philadelphia’s FringeArts. Conceived by Aram Aghazarian–Strange Attractor’s Philly member–and directed by Noon, the show imagines a post-human future where artificial intelligence units are compelled by outside forces to perform Shakespeare as they travel through space.

Roblin Davis, Aram Aghazarian, Rebecca Noon and Jed Hancock-Brainerd, A Terrific Fire, photo by Shea’la Finch

That’s actually one of the group’s more traditional offerings. Their Rhode Island events have included a gothic Christmas pageant staged in the middle of July at the home that Hancock-Brainerd and Noon share. Another performance required audience members to wear sweatpants and sing on the street. Entitled Before We Begin, that show included a lengthy introduction after which the duo put paper bags over their heads, allowing uncomfortable audience members to leave without being seen.

The sea pageant is a one-time event, but a reprisal may be possible: it’s only seven years before the next total solar eclipse.

Rebecca Noon and Jed Hancock-Brainerd–founders, Strange Attractor
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Top Image: Before We Begin: Jed Hancock-Brainerd and Rebecca Noon, photo by Stray Creatives

The post Strange Attractions appeared first on Take Magazine.

In a former lifetime in which the person inhabiting the Oval Office had an actual vision based on facts, the arts were recognized as an integral measure of our society. President John F. Kennedy, for instance, said this about the arts: “We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda. It is a form of truth.”

Truth, of course, has taken a hit since 45 took office. That whole “alternative facts” bit. But numbers, or so the saying goes, don’t lie. So with that in mind, we took a quick look at the potential math implications of 45’s federal budget.

First the overview:

• Number of programs and agencies due for elimination: 62
• Number of programs within the Environmental Protection Agency alone: 50

Other programs due for funding cuts—or outright elimination—focus on everything from literacy to low-income home energy improvements to investigating chemical accidents. The enormous breadth and scope of impact on those least able to manage without these programs is breathtaking.

But since we’re an arts and culture magazine, we’re going to focus our hyperventilation on the potential impact of these devastating cuts to art and culture in New England. The proposed budget calls for eliminating all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts ($152 million) and the National Endowment for the Humanities ($155 million).

What NEA funding means to New England:

For fiscal year 2017, New England states received $2.591 million in NEA grants overall, according to the NEA website. Here’s who got what:

• Connecticut: 15 organizations, $310,000
• Massachusetts: 62 organizations, $1,672,000
• Maine: 11 organizations, $242,000
• New Hampshire: 6 organizations, $120,000
• Rhode Island: 9 organizations, $152,500
• Vermont: 4 organizations, $95,000

But the math adds up even less when you look beyond straight grants. Ann Wicks, communications manager for the New England Foundation on the Arts (NEFA)—one of six regional arts organizations funded by the NEA and private donations—explains. Arts organizations can potentially receive NEA dollars in three ways:

• an outright allocation of a grant the organization applies for itself
• an allocation from NEFA through NEA dollars provided to NEFA
• from NEA dollars given to state arts organizations, such as the Massachusetts Cultural Council

Wicks says about 15 percent of NEFA’s annual budget comes from NEA dollars. Beyond grants, NEFA uses those dollars to support artists in other, less direct ways, Wicks says. The Creative Ground Directory, for instance, is a free resource that lists artists and other creators around New England so that it’s easier to find appropriate collaborators for projects. In FY2016, NEFA made a total of 462 grants equaling $3.4 million. New England states received $829,947 of those NEFA grants.

In other words, the loss of funding to New England arts and humanities organizations could be even larger. “NEA support is very important to New England and the creative sector,” she says.

It’s a point that is echoed nationally. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), a national nonprofit that assists state arts agencies, offers this math about how NEA dollars improve the economy at large:

• The arts return $22.3 billion in tax revenue to federal, state, county, and municipal governments.
• Rural areas, low-income communities, and schools would feel the effects of this funding loss disproportionately from reductions. State arts agencies (using state and federal funds) award more than 25% of their grants to rural areas, 54% to low-income communities, and 45% to arts education projects.
• Every NEA dollar leverages more than $9 in matching funds, meaning that the impact of the NEA loss is just the beginning of the potential financial loss for arts organizations.

Cutting the NEA and NEH seem especially confusing given this math offered by NASAA: The NEA receives 0.004% of the total Federal budget, which is less than ½ of one hundredth of a percent.

That math also doesn’t add up when you consider the numbers presented by The Guardian. The British paper reports the following expenses incurred by taxpayers less than 50 days into 45’s residency:

• $56.6 million (or a cool $500,000 a day) to protect Trump Tower. That was through March 1. Assuming that Mrs. 45 stays until June for Mini-45 to finish school, that dollar amount could add another $46 million, bringing the total to $102 million.
• $3+million estimated cost for EACH weekend jaunt to golf work at his Mar-a-Lago Resort (a place where he doubled entry fees from $100,000 to $200,000 the day after he was elected).
• $97,380 for hotels for Secret Service to protect Eric Trump (that would be his son on those business interests 45 still hasn’t divested himself of) while he visited a condominium development in Uruguay. This is just one trip.

And finally this statistic: 45’s proposed military spending increase in his federal budget? $54 billion.

Something definitely doesn’t add up.

Does this irritate you as much as it does us? Here are a few links if you want to #TakeAction. See you on the streets.

Pen.org
artsactionfund.org
Change.org
The Official White House Petition to Save Arts Funding
Contact Your Representative
Arts Advocacy Day – Washington, DC
#SaveTheNEA

Top image courtesy Royal Talens

The post #TakeAction: Doing the NEA Defunding Math appeared first on Take Magazine.

If you’re looking for classical art, this isn’t it, and that’s exactly the point. ToUch Performance Art is making the classics accessible by yanking them from the theater and throwing them down on the dance floor of a pulsing night club. It’s sexy, it’s interactive, and it’s all based on classical art. Imagine sipping a beer and shaking your booty while a *hot* aerialist twists and slides to electronic music from silks above your head, and a trifecta of go-go dancers makes symbolic love to a conductor on the other side of the room. Makes that worn, velvet-upholstered, slightly musty auditorium seating at the symphony seem a little less appealing, doesn’t it?

The two ultra talented girl-bosses behind this organized madness are Marissa Rae Roberts and Elizabeth McGuire. They’ve been dead set on revolutionizing the way you experience theater since they met while working towards their BFAs at the Boston Conservatory of Art at Berklee. Although coming from two very different worlds of performing art—Marissa from musical theater and Liz from dance and choreography—the two shared an insatiable urge for the immersive, for meshing their art forms together to create a truly dynamic, visceral outcome. “We needed to create something where we could honor the classics and also break the rules,” says Roberts, “and put it into a context that a contemporary audience would really enjoy, and be inspired to listen to an opera or watch a ballet after our show.” Six years later, ToUch is reinventing your fine art experience to be electric, interactive, booze-infused, and, frankly, way more fun.

Photo courtesy of ToUch Performance Art

ToUch’s claim to fame is their six-years-running show, AcousticaElectronica, a strobe-light-glitter-encrusted intersection of old art, contemporary vices, and timeless tropes in classical theater. The AcousticaElectronica storyline draws inspiration from a number of pieces and symbols in classical art, theater, and music, while integrating modern dance and electronic music in a club setting with a full bar. Arnold Schöenberg‘s Pierrot Lunaire, Oscar Wilde‘s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Georges Bizet‘s Carmen are just a few inspirations for Acoustica that the average classical theater and opera buff might notice. Unfamiliar with the revered work AcousticaElectronica draws upon? No problem. The delightful sensory overload of music, lights, and performers whirring around you begs you to succumb and indulge anyway. “One of our goals was to bring classical art to a group of people that wouldn’t normally experience or see it,” says Roberts. “From the beginning, we’ve had people who are fist pumping at an opera singer who have no idea what opera she’s singing, but they’re enjoying it.”

Much like a favorite bar or club, this show is deserving of more than just one go. “It’s like Cubism,” McGuire says. “In a sculpture that’s Cubist, there’s 360 degrees of something. And that’s how AcousticaElectronica is. You come once, you’re gonna see many faces of that sculpture, but you’re not gonna get it all. That’s part of the reason people love to come back and should come back.”

Photo courtesy of ToUch Performance Art

It’s not all glitter and roses for the ToUch folks, however: they’ve come up against some challenges gaining popularity. “It’s hard to own a theater company in the United States,” explains Roberts. “We don’t have the financial support from the government that a lot of other countries have, so our decision to be a for-profit arts company was a risk. I think we had to work really hard to crack the code of what would make us financially sustainable, but also allow us to create the work we want to create. Through collaboration, we solved that puzzle. What we came up with is art and immersive theater that takes place in a commercial setting, in a nightclub where people can drink. It’s not a theater setting.”

In a deliberate pursuit to reject the “starving artist” stereotype, Roberts and McGuire founded a sister company of ToUch Performance Art to supplement and support their livelihoods as creators, called ToUch Events. So far, this immersive event design company has created custom event experiences for The Trevor Project, Boston Lyric Opera, and the Breast Cancer Research Fund, among others. “We’ve been engaging in philanthropic events more and more,” says McGuire. “We did a fall fundraiser event with The Trevor Project, which is an LGBT outreach organization, and that really inspired us. So I think we’re trying to turn our focus to those philanthropic events that we believe in, and that we feel are really important.”

BLO Gala 2015: La Traviata | photo courtesy of ToUch Performance Art

ToUch Performance Art is like seeing the symphony, opera, and ballet combined, where you can bust a serious move with a glow stick hanging from your neck and a craft cocktail sloshing onto the floor from your hand. It’s classical art that stays true to its origin while going out of its way to appeal to the modern consumer. Touch them and they’ll ToUch you back.

AcousticaElectronica has returned to its favorite local haunt, Oberon of the American Repertory Theater. Upcoming show is one June 2nd. Reserve your tickets here.

ToUch Performance Art – theater company
Boston, Massachusetts
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Top photo courtesy of ToUch Performance Art

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Past Take Magazine subjects and New England-based artists Lauren Fensterstock, Anna Hepler, and Roberto Lugo are among the 46 recipients of the prestigious United States Artists (USA) 2016 fellows. A panel of experts in music, theater, visual art, dance, and literature have the difficult task of choosing the winners, but they’ve once again risen to the occasion. In addition to being recognized and nominated by their peers in their respective artistic arenas, they are each awarded an ‘unrestricted’ financial reward of $50,000.

Blind Spot, 2015 | Photo by Mike Fleming

“By supporting American artists, USA is supporting creativity, free expression, and a strong diverse culture. Our Fellows cross all ages, ethnicities, and stages in their careers,” said United States Artists Interim President & CEO Sunny Fischer. “Each has a unique artistic voice that expands the creative environment of the United States. It is an honor to support these artists, contribute to their financial security, and to facilitate future works. We are encouraging the best of what American artists can achieve.”

Lauren Fensterstock | Forays and Follies, 2015 | Drexel University | Photo Constance Mensh

The Fellowships allow artists to use the unrestricted funds for whatever they need most, and so to take risks and push their careers forward. Although we’ll assume they’ll use some of it to attend the big party in Chicago celebrating all of the recipients. The 2016 USA Fellows will be celebrated at USA’s annual Artist Assembly in March 2017.

We’re so happy for all the artists on this list. Grants like these make it possible for artists to do their important work that ultimately builds creative communities that benefits all of us.

Steve Paxton and Vivian Beer – we’re looking forward to meeting you! Talk soon!

Top image Kenek Photography | Courtesy of the Wexler Gallery

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Many impressive visitors have walked The Yellow Brick Road to Oz and Broadway from The Wiz to Wicked. The Wizard of Oz’s fabled movie’s star Judy Garland has been a character in The Boy From Oz to End of The Rainbow. Goodspeed Musicals’ new musical, “Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz” tells the story of Judy Garland before she became the international legend in movies like A Star is Born, and Meet Me in St. Louis, and in concert.

Conceived by Tina Marie Casamento Libby, with book by Marc Acito, and period music adapted by David Libby, “Chasing Rainbows” tells about Garland’s early days appearing in vaudeville as a family act, before being discovered by MGM as a teen, and paired in two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney, before playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at age 19. In Acito’s script, a conception of Tina Marie Casamento Libby, Garland is portrayed as the girl-next-door with the big voice, captivating and ready for stardom. There are also hints of the Garland-to-be, with the low self-esteem and the victim of studio manipulation, where she’s given diet pills to slenderize her and energy pills to keep her on her toes.

Acito’s book is solid, and the period music adapted by David Libby, beautifully orchestrated by Dan DeLange, uses some period music to great effect, from the expected “Over The Rainbow” to an unexpected version of “If I Only Had A Brain”. Michael O’Flaherty’s music direction is terrific, and some of the old chestnuts sound vibrantly fresh. Tyne Rafeali’s staging is fast-paced, and Chris Bailey’s choreography.just swings with style, particularly in the first act’s “All Ma’s Children” and the second act’s rousing “Swing Mister Mendelssohn”.

Ruby Rakos as Judy Garland, Michael Wartella as Mickey Rooney, and Berklea Going as Lana Turner in “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz.” | Photo by Diane Sobolewski

Ruby Rakos is an astounding Judy Garland, with a huge voice. Ella Briggs was delightful as a very young Garland. The cast is a mix of veterans, like Karen Mason as L.B. Mayer’s secretary, and Michael McCormack as Mayer and some up-and-coming talents like Kevin Earley as Garland’s father, a troubled man, who turns the song “Chasing Rainbows” into one of the show’s several tour de force moments. I liked all of the performances and the smooth moves of the ensemble.

Michael Wartella, as Mickey Rooney, gave one of the best musical theater performances I’ve seen this year. He’s a nimble dancer, smooth singer, and total charm. He’s also a Western Massachusetts guy who learned his craft in area theaters, which made his first class performance even more special to watch.

Kristen Robinson’s sets are simple, and they slide about the tiny Goodspeed stage effortlessly. Elizabeth Caitlin Ward’s costumes shine, and Ken Billington’s lighting was great.

Goodspeed Musicals and the creators of “Chasing Rainbows” have high hopes that this production will move on to other theaters, with Broadway in sight. It has a future, especially if Ruby Rakos, Michael Wartella, and Kevin Earley stay with the production. Those three could keep the lights of Broadway shining brightly for a long time.

Ruby Rakos as Judy Garland and Michael Wartella as Mickey Rooney in “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz.” | Photo by Diane Sobolewski.

Goodspeed Musicals presents “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz.” Book by Marc Acito. Through November 27. Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam, CT. For tickets: 860-873-8668 or goodspeed.org.

This review originally ran in the Westfield News Group

Top photo (left to right) Claire Griffin, Ella Briggs, Kevin Earley, and Piper Birney as The Gumm Family in “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz.” | Photo by Diane Sobolewski

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Linda McInerney is standing on the set of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale directed by John Bechtold, a recent immersive theater project of Eggtooth Productions in the five-story Arts Block in Greenfield, Massachusetts. McInerney is at the heart of Eggtooth, a nonprofit theater company based in Greenfield. She wants you to be unsettled. “We have to become comfortable with extreme discomfort,” McInerney says, beaming warmly.

With roughly forty years of theater experience as an actor, director, writer, and producer, artistic director McInerney has the practical know-how of staging performances and a unique, creative insight for developing new work by experienced artists and newcomers. “What I love to do,” says McInerney, “is to provide opportunities to people with dreams and vision and there’s become a community of people who are resources to those creators. My job is almost like a matchmaker or conduit.”

“One of Linda’s many strengths,” says cross-artform artist and scholar Terry Jenoure of Greenfield, “is that she’s able to sense what is needed. She’s great at that.” Jenoure created a theater piece, “Honey Bees, A Communion,” for Eggtooth’s Full Disclosure Festival in June 2016. The festival paired artists with climate scholars to develop new work. Jenoure’s Communion was a sensory incantation, punctuated with the addicting, harmonic buzz of her violin and real honey on the tongues of the audience.

Terry Jenoure performs with drummer Bob Wiener in the Full Disclosure Festival | Photo by Michael Bannon

“I will say I have a particular interest in placemaking and what art does to a place,” McInerney says. “What people’s experience of art in a place does to the people in the place, and what that impact is over time and what’s the collective incremental, you know, when that pebble gets dropped in the pond, how far out can those rings go?”

Indeed, place itself is an important component to the ethical underpinning of art for McInerney. How people develop their relationship to where they live and how art prompts a reexamination of that connection is something very much on her mind. To that end, Eggtooth has invested in commissioning new work that focuses on place, incorporating local spaces in their downtown and other unconventional venues.

Lindel Hart performing in his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein | Make-up by Joe Dulude II

The commission of the reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Lindel Hart, of Greenfield, in the former First National Bank building, was very much a piece of theater about place as a reflection of the philosophical themes at the center of the literary work. Hart’s adaptation made thoughtful use of the grand and torn cavernous space, simultaneously bringing in an audience for a gripping piece of theater and nudging interest in the building itself. That production went on to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015, where it earned high praise.

“Audiences are hungry to be excited, to be shaken up, to be surprised, to be filled with wonder and awe and that’s a real blessing in this area. We sell out almost everything we do. … There’s nothing passive about the way work happens in this valley. It’s very active. That comes from the business community, that comes from people who share their venues, that comes from the audiences,” McInerney says.
Asked why she feels particularly compelled to reach out and shake up an audience, her embrace of discomfort, as she calls it, McInerney responds quick and dead-serious: “Because it makes you woke. It makes you aware of what’s going on around you. … you gotta be here now. Because if you’re not, you’re not working with what’s here now. And that’s the wonderful thing about this kind of theater,” McInerney adds.

“You’re living in a world of what’s possible, and it’s endless.”

Top photo: Lindel Hart performing in his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein | Make-up by Joe Dulude II

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Berkshire Theatre Group, one of the foundations of quality theater in Western Massachusetts, has partnered with the ambitious upstart, WAM Theatre to produce the American premiere of the Canadian play, Kate Cayley’s The Bakelite Masterpiece at Berkshire Theatre Group’s intimate Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge. It’s a partnership of note.

David Adkins and Corinna May in The Bakelite Masterpiece | Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware

WAM, under the leadership of Kristen van Ginhoven, calls itself “Theater for everyone that benefits women and girls”. It’s known for employing women as playwrights, directors, actors, and production people. It donates a percentage of its box-office proceeds to non-profits that provide programs and services to women and girls.

Van Ginhoven, Canadian-born director, is bringing one of the best representatives of contemporary Canadian theater to the Berkshires. The subject matter of The Bakelite Masterpiece, set in Holland, resonates with Van Ginhoven, since her family survived World War II in The Netherlands.

In this taut 90-minute drama, punctuated by solid writing, thoughtful staging, and two outstanding performances by David Adkins as an artist and Corinna May as an investigator working to repatriate Holland’s art masterpieces which had been looted by the Nazis, there is a fascinating story told to perfection. At the close of World War II, an artist is about to be prosecuted–and ultimately executed for selling a priceless Vermeer to a Nazi officer. The investigator, an art student, may have witnessed the sale, but the artist claimed that he’d copied Vermeer and created a fraud. She basically says “If you did, recreate another Vermeer that can’t be told apart from an original.” Kate Cayley’s play combines strong characters with elements of a thriller, and director Kristen Van Ginhoven fuses the performances and production values with satisfying results.

David Adkins and Corinna May in The Bakelite Masterpiece | Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware

David Adkins and Corinna May are much-respected actors on the Berkshire theater scene. They work together in synch, and both deliver superb performances. There are sequences in which Adkins takes center stage with no dialogue to render breathtaking artistry. May has subtle transitions in her performance that are equally splendid.

Juliana Von Haubrich’s Dutch prison set is effective, and it’s well-lit by Lily Fossner. Brad Berridge’s sound design is top quality, as are Deborah A. Brothers’ costumes.

The Bakelite Masterpiece is one of the best plays and productions that I’ve seen this season, and seeing WAM and Berkshire Theatre Group in collaboration is a partnership that I hope continues in years to come. Add the polished performances of David Adkins and Corinna May to the mix, and The Bakelite Masterpiece is a great reason to savor some good theater on a frosty Berkshires autumn night.

The Berkshire Theatre Group and WAM present The Bakelite Masterpiece by Kate Cayley. Directed by Kristen van Ginhoven. Scenic design by Juliana Von Haubrich. Costume Design by Deborah A. Brothers. Lighting design by Lily Fossner. Sound Design by Brad Berridge. Cast: David Adkins as Han Van Meergeren and Corinna May as Geert Piller.

Through October 23
The Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre
Stockbridge MA.
For tickets: 413-997-4444 or berkshiretheatregroup.org

This review originally ran in the Westfield News Group

Top image: David Adkins and Corinna May in The Bakelite Masterpiece | Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware

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Western New England has enjoyed a wealth of theatrical world premieres, both plays and musicals this year. All of the shows featured top-notch performances, staging, and production values. Some of them were propelled by stars. Some won’t seem to have future lives. Some of the plays, like Hartford Stage’s The Body of An American and Barrington Stage’s American Son, are so intense, vital and fascinating, that I’ve thought about them in depth long since their performance runs ended.

Hartford Stage’s season opener, Queens For A Year joins the list for its provocative subject matter, exceptional writing, polished performances, staging and production values, and subject matter that will keep you thinking about the drama long after the curtain falls.

T.D. Mitchell has written about a group of women, all Marines, some currently in service and some veterans. As Mitchell’s play unfolds in a Virginia farmhouse in 2007, with tours of duty in Iraq and Camp Lejeune, we learn the stories of why the women joined the Marines–some because of family tradition, the desire to see the world, the desire to get an education, and how they were treated by a heterosexual male institution in transition, hesitant to give women in the military equal rights, and unequipped to treat women soldiers’ post-traumatic stress disorders, their sexual objectification, harassment, and rape. Mitchell explores some really difficult themes, although she’s written some great characters, and snippets of military life and occasional bits of humor to balance the material.

Vanessa R. Butler | Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Most of the creative team involved with this production are making their Hartford Stage debuts. Lucie Tiberghien’s direction is taut, and working with an exceptionally well-designed set by Daniel Conway and lighting design by Robert Perry, she’s able to give the play an almost cinematic pacing. Victoria Deiorio’s sound design and Beth Goldenberg’s costume design are spot on. The production elements pull together explosively during Queens for A Year’s cataclysmic finale.

The cast of eight offer a great ensemble performance. Vanessa R. Butler, who will be familiar to Hartford audiences for her performances with HartBeat Ensemble and Capital Classics, was a stand-out for me in a challenging role of being an officer trying to uphold the Marine code of ethics, while feeling real compassion for a woman in her command. Sarah Nicole Deaver masterfully played a private who had been assaulted and is in need of help. Alice Cannon, who was a Broadway musical theater ingenue in the 1960s and 1970s, was the right spot of humor as a grandmotherly vet.

Hartford Stage began the year with a premiere, The Body of An American, about the effects of war on a photojournalist covering these events. Barrington Stage’s American Son asked difficult questions about race in America. Queens For A Year reveals tough realities about women in the military and about our misunderstandings of veterans’ needs. These are not “date night” theater events for those looking for a little light fare. Good theater can tell a strong story, can plant the seeds for discourse and debate, and bring an intensity that movies and TV just can’t. I’ll be thinking about Queens For A Year for quite a long time.

This review originally ran in the Westfield News Group.

Charlotte Maier | Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Hartford Stage presents Queens for A Year by T.D. Mitchell. Directed by Lucie Tiberchien. Scenic design by Daniel Conway. Video and Projection Design by Aaron Rhyne. Costume design by Beth Goldenberg. Lighting design by Robert Perry. Sound design by Victoria Deiorio.
Cast: Heidi Armbruster, Mary Bacon, Vanessa R. Butler, Alice Cannon, Sarah Nicole Deaver, Mat Hostetler, Charlotte Maier, Jamie Rezanour.

Through October 2nd
Hartford Stage
Hartford CT
For tickets: 860-527-5151 or hartfordstage.org

Top image Jamie Rezanour, Sarah Nicole Deaver | Photo by T. Charles Erickson

The post Review: “Queens For A Year” Premiere @ Hartford Stage appeared first on Take Magazine.

Opera can be a tough sell even in an urban setting. Put it in a New Hampshire town with a population of 13,000 and some might think that very ill-advised indeed.

But Opera North, located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, has been defying the opera odds for years. And now with a new director, the multi-talented Evans Haile, who joins Artistic Director Louis G. Burkot (who’s been at Opera North since 1987), the venue’s future is looking even brighter. This summer’s season features a trio of musical theater offerings: Mozart’s comic The Abduction from the Seraglio; Copland’s coming-of-age-in-the-Great-Depression opera The Tender Land, and Bernstein’s West Side Story, a musical equally at home on the Broadway and opera stages.

Evans Haile | Photo courtesy of Opera North

Before joining Opera North this spring, Haile was the producing artistic director of The Cape Playhouse from 1999 through last season. His credits include a similar stint at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts. A Juilliard-trained pianist and conductor, he’s been music director of the Gainesville Orchestra in Florida since 2000, and dramaturg for Florida Grand Opera.

Haile was attracted to Opera North because it’s a professional company that has attracted the best young opera singers such as Nathan Gunn. “We’re an American opera company committed to producing American operas like The Tender Land [and] American musicals like West Side Story alongside the classics,” Haile says in our phone chat. He was in Cincinnati previewing Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera Morning Star, which Haile would like to produce at Opera North.

Opera North has a budget of a little over $1 million. Haile would like to double that. “Last year, over 6,000 people came to see our three shows, and our performance schedule is structured so people can see three different productions over a weekend,” he says.

Evan Pappas | Photo courtesy of Opera North

Evan Pappas, the Broadway musical theater star best known for his performances in A Chorus Line, My Favorite Year, Parade, and the London production of Follies, makes his Opera North directorial debut with West Side Story. Several years ago, the much-sought-after actor turned to directing when an auto accident sidelined him for a year. He’s directed West Side Story before, and he and Haile collaborated when Pappas was directing in Florida. “My Tony and Maria come from the opera world, my Bernardo and Anita come from Broadway, and my cast comes from musical theater,” says Pappas. “This is Opera North’s first collaboration with the Boston Conservatory and choreographer Cathy Young, the conservatory’s director of dance, who has turned the chorus of singers into dancers.”

Opera North had its beginnings as the Light Opera of Norwich, which started performing operetta as an adjunct to a community theater. Founder David Strohmier joined forces with Burkot, a voice teacher at Dartmouth, to begin producing opera with musical theater. By 1988, it was a full-fledged opera company. Opera North performs at the 800-seat Lebanon Opera House, built in 1924 and renovated in 2001. It features the largest proscenium theater in the Upper Connecticut River Valley.

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