Margaret Melozzi

What did our critic think of THE OLDEST PROFESSION at Burbage Theatre Company?

Lynne Collinson, WomensWork's Creative Director says, “Last Lists of My Mad Mother, ticks all the boxes for the type of play WomensWork wants to explore:  a well written script, meaningful material, and a story told from a woman's point-of-view that features women over the age of 40 – an underserved on-stage demographic. The play takes us on an emotional journey of discovery that's ultimately simple, true, and relevant for anyone who has been a caregiver or watched the decline of a loved one.

WomensWork Theatre Collaborative opens its Season of Madness on October 26 with LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER, by Julie Jensen, a poignant and poetic look at how a primary caregiver struggles to hold on to her humor and humanity as her mother's mind rapidly deteriorates, and as her sister phones in advice from afar.

WomensWork Theatre Collaborative will present a trio of plays about madness in 2019-2020, the Collaborative's first full season of programming. 

Juliet was traditionally played by a boy. A man played Medea. For centuries, women have been consigned to play lesser parts in the creation and production of theater. And even as progress is being made, gender and age parity, onstage and off, continues to be a major issue in the theater. 

According to Artistic Director Ed Shea, the two most frequently produced playwrights at 2nd Story Theatre are Moliere and Charles Busch: apparently these people like to laugh. The current offering from Busch is the outrageous DIE, MOMMIE, DIE, which is running in rep with I HATE HAMLET thru August 28. Charles Busch is shameless enough to write plays in which he can play the leading lady. He does not hold back-this is campy, frankly sexual, insightful, absurd and hilarious.

The two shows currently playing at 2nd Story Theater in Warren, RI were not originally scheduled as part of this year's season. They are both replacement shows, chosen by Artistic Director Ed Shea, who is quoted as saying that he wanted audiences to "have fun" and leave the theater "feeling joyful." Though I haven't seen the show playing in the DownStage space, Shea has certainly achieved that goal with the UpStage production, Becky's New Car, a play that, regardless of some faults, provides an evening of undeniable entertainment.

George Bernard Shaw once said, 'Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.' At 2nd Story change is constant and audiences have learned to expect and embrace Artistic Director Ed Shea's programming adjustments. This season, for a variety of practical reasons, Shea has decided to upend the season finales in both the UpStage and DownStage theaters.

Recently, a friend mentioned his girlfriend's exciting new "big promotion and raise." Providing more details, he added that she would now be making close to thirty-five thousand per year. This could not help but make me wonder about the state of our country's current economic and employment crises. It is clear that a "new normal" has been established in the United States, where the vast majority scrape by, just surviving, mostly by working hourly-wage, low-paying jobs. Where once the dream was a comfortable, secure, middle-class or even upper-middle-class-life, that life no longer exists for many, if not most. It's been replaced by a much less secure or comfortable existence that fewer and fewer have the hope to climb out of. This predicament is perfectly brought to very real life by David Lindsay-Abaire's play Good People, playing at the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) stages the Rhode Island premiere of Good People, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's tough, tender and seriously funny play about class divisions and the shrinking American Dream. Directed by Rachel Walshe (Anne Boleyn, Mauritius), Good Peopleruns from tonight, November 7 through December 8 at The Gamm Theatre, 172 Exchange St., Pawtucket, RI. Check out a first look below!

Kaufman and Hart's charming drawing room comedy plays at the Warren, RI theater through August 2nd

Kaufman and Hart's charming drawing room comedy plays at the Warren, RI theater through August 2nd

2nd Story Theatre in Warren, RI may have exceeded its artistic reach with the second in a summer series of plays.

State of the Union, which is the Warren, RI theater's second summer production runs August 10 - September 1.