Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Exploring gender and body positivity on stage
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate This summer three outstanding shows in the Berkshires demonstrate that the performativity of gender has broken free from traditional gender-based casting in some places. In this edition of Theater Matters, we explore how some...
Stagestruck: Two Schools, Worlds Apart
In the early 2000s, teachers and students at two U.S. schools – one student body predominantly Black and Latinx, the other white and Asian-American – were caught in wholesale cheating on mandated exams. May Treuhaft-Ali’s world-premiere play “ABCD,” at Barrington Stage Company, is molded by these incidents, but she’s motivated by the knowledge that they were not outlier instances.
Stagestruck: Once, Upon a Stage
“Once,” the 2011 musical based on the 2007 film, calls for 13 performers who can sing, act and play an instrument, all of them to a high standard, plus do a passable Irish or Czech accent. Berkshire Theatre Group’s production pretty much checks all those boxes, with delightful results.
Stagestruck: B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching
“I see someone who wants to be told who they are, so they don’t got to ask it of themselves,” the photographer/savior says. “You’re so darn scared of feeling pain, you just don’t feel nothing at all.”
Stagestruck: Bodies of Evidence
Social/political themes are abundantly present in “The Equality of Night and Day,” a world-premiere work at Jacob’s Pillow from the Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE dance company.
Stagestruck: Hot-Weather Hits
After shutting down two years ago, then edging back with skeleton seasons last year, theaters in the region are back at full capacity this summer. Here are some of the shows I’m looking forward to seeing up and down the Valley.
Stagestruck: Annotated Austen
“Pride@Prejudice” (that’s @, not &) is a cyber-take on Jane Austen’s novel, a condensed rendering of her classic dissection of manners and morals, now playing at Chester Theatre Company. But it’s also inlaid with questions and comments mined from Internet chat rooms as students assigned the book in English class reach out for help in navigating the shifting currents of plot and personnel.
Stagestruck: Out and Proud
It’s Pride Month, and two Valley theaters are celebrating with out-there musicals. “Blood & Water” is a world premiere, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” a cult classic that’s as raunchy and outrageous as the night it first pranced onstage.
Stagestruck: The Artist and the Rebel
Andy Warhol visited Iran in 1976. What if, in the ferment that preceded the Islamic revolution in 1979, the presence of the world-famous artist had inspired an insurgent group to kidnap him in order to gain publicity for their cause – their own 15 minutes of fame?
Stagestruck: Calling the Ancestors
“Will You Miss Me?” at Double Edge Theatre takes place during a rather peculiar funeral for a decidedly unconventional corpse. It’s part of the troupe’s all-summer RITES festival.
Stagestruck: Complete Works and Half Life
After two-plus years, the ghost light has been turned off and Ghost Light Theater steps – or rather, runs – back onstage in Holyoke, this weekend and next. And WAM Theatre, the Berkshires’ peripatetic feminist/activist troupe, touches down at Mass MoCA this Sunday...
Sessions
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Staff Picks: Mill River Rounders, Skate or Paint 2019, Indian classical music, and a ‘Diversity in Art’ exhibit
The Mill River Rounders will be bringing its blend of banjo, washtub bass, and guitar old-timey/bluegrass stylings to Easthampton’s Mill 180 Park this Friday night.
The V-Spot: How Do I Introduce My Girlfriend To Polyamory?
Putting the pressure on our partners to force relationships with other people is generally tied up in other baggage. For example, will it reduce your guilt around seeing other people if she’s doing it, too?
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Stagestruck: Ripped from the Headlines
Three plays now on area stages were inspired by real-life events: a superpower scrimmage, a mass shooting, and a nuclear disaster. These timely dramas humanize the headlines and highlight the power of theater to hold a mirror up to our best and worst natures.
