Stagestruck: It’s Not Christmas Yet
Tanya Barfield’s brief two-character play “Bright Half Life,” at Silverthorne Theater, looks at the span of a relationship through a kaleidoscopic lens – not as an arc but in an ever-changing firmament of fleeting moments.
Stagestruck: Identity Crises
Two comedies now playing in the Valley turn on mix-ups and plot twists. “Don’t Dress for Dinner” is a sex farce set in the French countryside. “he Pirates of Penzance” is an operetta set in the hometown of “Arrr!”
Stagestruck: Ah, Wilderness! – race-blind or race-conscious?
Hartford Stage, like so many other theaters across the country, is having a reckoning with the upheavals of the past year-plus and has come to a tardy recognition that Black lives matter, on the stage as on the street.
Back from the Edge – Gateway City Arts almost died last year. Now it’s being reborn.
The 19th-century mill building on Holyoke’s Race Street that’s now home to Gateway City Arts almost died last year, a victim of the pandemic. But it’s now coming back to life. And for artist and co-owner Vitek Kruta, the whole building has become his canvas.
Stagestruck: An Absurdity of Chairs
An ancient couple, known only as Old Man and Old Woman, are living in bleak isolation in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic time in which all of civilization – or at least Paris – has been destroyed. They are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the survivors, an assortment of guests they’ve invited to hear a mysterious “message” from the Old Man that will save the world, or “what’s left of it.”
Stagestruck: Tricky Treats
A Halloween basket of goodies in the area this weekend and next – from ghost stories imagined and real, to plays witchy and weird, plus a one-night Happening.
Stagestruck: Voices on the Wind
WAM Theatre’s press kit includes advice on how to approach reporting on their production of “Kamloopa.” A statement by the playwright, Kim Senklip Harvey, a member of the Syilx and Tsilhqot’in Nation centered in British Columbia, outlines “Protocols for entering the Indigenous Artistic Ceremony” – not only in general but for this play specifically. Top of the list: “Indigenous protocol is to be respected. Period.”
Stagestruck: Taking Off
Mrs. Joe Bradshaw – née Shirley Valentine – is talking to the wall in her working-class Liverpool kitchen. She’s bored, lonely, dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Her kids are grown and gone, and her husband – well, she might as well be talking to the wall.
The solar divide
When it’s right in front of you, like the nine decaying cherry trees on Northampton’s Warfield Place that the city of Northampton recently removed in order to rebuild the road and sidewalk, residents lose their minds. Some likened the tree-cutting “violence” to napalm...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Not perverted, just Italian
When disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed his poor behavior on being Italian, I cringed. To quote Lady Gaga, “I’m Italian-American.” Aren’t there enough negative Italian stereotypes to deal with besides lecherous pervert? We’re supposed to talk with our...
The V-Spot with Yana Tallon-Hicks: Is My Sex Life Dead? Or Is There Hope Yet?
Dear Yana, From your perspective as a sex educator and relational therapist, what are your thoughts about how to know if two people have sexually grown apart due to outgrowing one another sexually or whether a relational sexual reboot is just needed? I guess...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: Bedtime weed to treat insomnia and sleep apnea
Some say it works, and research is being done on connections between weed and sleep.
The virtual parlor room: Live-streamed shows organized by Signature Sounds net musicians $37,000
There are eight more shows scheduled at the moment between April 23 and May 21, including one with Northampton singer-songwriter Heather Maloney and another with Grammy winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien.
The V-Spot with Yana Tallon-Hicks: How do I tell my girlfriend that I’m bisexual?
Hello Yana! I’m curious about my sexuality. I have, for the majority of my life, thought I was a heterosexual male. But at times I have thought maybe I am bisexual. I’m aware that sexuality is a spectrum. I just don’t know where I land on that spectrum. I have a...
The Beerhunter: Road Trip to Southern Worcester County
I thought I should make an effort to put my money where my mouth is, and stop for a while in Central Mass to do some more thorough exploring of my state.
Stagestruck: It’s Not Christmas Yet
Tanya Barfield’s brief two-character play “Bright Half Life,” at Silverthorne Theater, looks at the span of a relationship through a kaleidoscopic lens – not as an arc but in an ever-changing firmament of fleeting moments.
