Two major Toronto companies are telling cancer stories right now. Nightwood’s HER2 is an ensemble of women participating in a drug trial to treat a deadly form of breast cancer known as HER2. Collecting the 7 women in a single treatment room over the course of many weeks, playwright Maja Ardal’s story looks at the […]

 

One dysfunctional family. A murder that no one talks about. A small, black box containing the biggest secret of all. Brian Watkins’ new play Wyoming, currently playing at the Theatre for a New City, explores concepts and themes of love and loss that are inherently unremarkable, but that are weaved together beautifully to create a […]

If you missed it at the Toronto Fringe, you can breathe easy. Toronto, I Love You, an unconventional, improvised love letter to the city of Toronto from the Bad Dog Repertory Players (BDRP), is back for a two-week stint at Bad Dog’s west end theatre. This unique, surprisingly intimate show fits perfectly in the wood-paneled […]

The Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, written by Christopher Durang and directed by Jessica Stone (based on the original Broadway direction of Nicholas Martin) is a fun modern romp peppered with Chekhov references and further seasoned with tomfoolery and nostalgia.   Two siblings, Vanya (Martin Moran) and the adopted Sonia (Marcia […]

 

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s at once conventional and bizarre western romance opens with a strapping cowboy named Curly singing about what a beautiful day it is. The first act proceeds down a very charming road from there, full of banter and whimsy, meant-for-each-other lovers, fun dance routines, showy solo numbers and amusing bit parts. Then things […]

 

Chris Abraham knows how to assemble a cast. The Seagull- his latest production for Crow’s Theatre, currently playing at the Berkeley- sports the director’s most perfectly constructed ensemble yet with some of Canada’s greatest actors each playing their strongest notes with a key lack of background noise to distract from Chekhov’s incisive story about art and […]

 

Read Thea’s Reviews and Lorenzo’s Reviews of the NSTF. Graham Clark Reads the Phonebook I loved comedian Graham Clark’s solo show at last summer’s Fringe Festival. So did everyone else, including Fringe head honcho Lucy Eveleigh. So Lucy invited him back for the Next Stage Festival. This, in theory, makes sense (especially considering they have […]

Boston University is loaded with student-run theater groups, and while attending BU I became familiar with plenty of them. I’ve also seen theater productions at Boston College, MIT, Wellesley, Emerson, Harvard, etc. I need not enumerate the number of community theatre groups in and around Boston that I have patronized, and even acted with. Among […]