Marsha Smith

BWW Review: THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT: Regional Premiere at Gloucester Stage Company

Gloucester Stage Company is the first theater in the country to produce THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT following its SRO limited run on Broadway. Based on the 2012 essay/book co-written by John D'Agata and Jim Fingal, the play explores the conflict between an unorthodox author (D'Agata) and the young fact-checker (Fingal) assigned by his magazine editor to vet a groundbreaking piece about a teen's suicide in Las Vegas. GSC mounts its production with local luminary and Academy Award nominee Lindsay Crouse, New York and Off-Broadway actor Mickey Solis, and recent Harvard University graduate Derek Speedy, making his Gloucester debut, under the direction of the estimable Sam Weisman.

BWW Review: THE 39 STEPS: Playing Hitchcock For Laughs

If there's one thing that summer theater should be, it's fun, and Gloucester Stage Company's production of THE 39 STEPS happily fulfills the requirement. Actually, it is more than fun - it is laugh out loud funny, thanks to the witty script, the crisp direction by Artistic Director Robert Walsh, and the antics and split-second comic timing of a quartet of actors who play over 150 characters without going off the rails. Joining them on stage is Malachi Rosen, a Foley Artist who produces a litany of sound effects, allowing the audience to see and hear how every door slam, train whistle, and gun shot happens. The 1935 film was a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but the stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow heaps large helpings of farce and satire atop the story, while maintaining a high level of suspense.

BWW Review: MACBETH at Actors' Shakespeare Project

In Saturday Night's performance of Macbeth at The United Parish Church, Brookline, MA, Nael Nacer as Macbeth, (and in an inspired bit of casting as Macduff's son), was truly outstanding, backed by a strong company of actors. This production of Macbeth is the world premiere of a new verse translation by playwright Migdalia Cruz, courtesy of Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Play on! Project. The result was a truly enjoyable evening of classical theatre, that enhanced the meaning and understanding of the 'Scottish Play', and embraced diversity and non-traditional casting. Other stand-outs in the cast were Maurice Parent as Banquo, Paige Clark, as Lady Macbeth, Ed Hooperman as Macduff, and Kai Tshikosi as Malcom.

ASP Presents MACBETH and EQUIVOCATION

Actors' Shakespeare Project kicks off their 15th Season with Macbeth and Equivocation in rotating repertory at the United Parish in Brookline. Performances September 26 - November 11 (Press Performance for Macbeth: Saturday, September 28, 8:00 PM; Press Performance for Equivocation: Friday, October 12, 7:30 PM), The Sanctuary, United Parish, 210 Harvard Street, Brookline. For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

ASP Presents MACBETH and EQUIVOCATION

Actors' Shakespeare Project kicks off their 15th Season with Macbeth and Equivocation in rotating repertory at the United Parish in Brookline. Performances September 26 - November 11 (Press Performance for Macbeth: Saturday, September 28, 8:00 PM; Press Performance for Equivocation: Friday, October 12, 7:30 PM), The Sanctuary, United Parish, 210 Harvard Street, Brookline. For more information visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

BWW Review: Gloucester Stage Presents N.E. Premiere of CYRANO

Timeless tale re-imagined with contemporary spin by Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers. Jeremiah Kissel makes GSC debut in title role opposite Andrea Goldman, under the direction of Artistic Director Robert Walsh.

RICHARD III is Coming to Harvard Square's Swedenborg Chapel

Continuing its season of The Downfall of the Despots, Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP) kicks off 2018 with Richard III, William Shakespeare's stunning portrait of Machiavellian genius and the murderous quest for absolute power. Under the direction of Resident Acting Company member Robert Walsh***, the original game of thrones comes alive in an intimate staging at the Swedenborg Chapel (50 Quincy Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge) February 7 March 11, 2018.

BWW Review: World Premiere of FLIGHT OF THE MONARCH at Gloucester Stage Company

Gloucester Stage Company presents the world premiere of playwright Jim Frangione's FLIGHT OF THE MONARCH following an overwhelming audience response to a reading last fall. Managing Director Jeff Zinn is at the controls, with a fine pair of collaborators in Nancy E. Carroll and J. Tucker Smith as a pair of middle-aged siblings who rely on each other as ports in the storm of life.

Actors' Shakespeare Project closes its 13th season with the definitive Shakespearean recipe for mirth and magic. Start with equal parts poetry and wit, add one misapplied love potion, stir in a feuding celestial couple, and finish with the most unintentionally awful play-within-a-play ever created, and you get A Midsummer Night's Dream. Directed by Patrick Swanson (Revels' Artistic Director), the production features Resident Acting Company members Steven Barkhimer* (Bottom), Sarah Newhouse* (Puck), and Paula Plum* (Titania) (Picture left by Nile Scott Shots.) Performances are May 10 - June 4, 2017 (Press Performance Saturday, May 13, 2017, 8 PM) at Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second Street, Cambridge. For tickets and more information, visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

MAN IN SNOW, Israel Horovitz's newest play, receives its world premiere at Gloucester Stage in a riveting production directed by the playwright. A full-length stage adaptation of an earlier radio play, the seed of the fictional story was sown from a real-life event in Alaska nearly twenty years ago. A stellar cast, led by a convincing and commanding Will Lyman, fully inhabits their characters, and the design team creates an effective, evocative landscape and soundscape.