Laura Eason’s “Sex With Strangers” explores the concept of public versus private behavior and much more.  At first, it seems that this may simply be an amusing story, but the longer it plays, the deeper it gets, exposing many provocative layers, peppered with humor and conflict.  San Jose Stage presents a sensationally acted and directed production of this powerhouse two hander.  

Earle Montrose Pilgrim (1923-1976) was an American artist whose work is within the stylistic milieu of Abstract Expressionism and Figurative Expressionism.Working in the early 1950s until the mid 1970s, Pilgrim's style is characterized by figuration informed by abstraction.The artist fluctuated between epic, large-scale compositions and intimate canvases and worked with a variety of media.

We met in Chicago in 2012 as new members of American Theatre Critics Association. Since then critic Jack Lyons and I have shared a decade of theatre. He generously reposted to this site reviews first appearing in Desert Weekly News in Palm Springs, California. At the ripe age of 91 he passed recently. With credits in writing, producing and directing, he was a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild.

“Dialogues” is based on the true story of 16 Carmelite nuns of Compiègne who were guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror because of their unwillingness to compromise their faith. Historically, the nuns’ singing as they ascended the gallows quieted the bloodthirsty crowd that gathered at these beheadings.  In less than two weeks, Robespierre’s degenerate reign ended with his execution at the guillotine.

We The Innumerable is an opera created by the Iranian/American composer Niloufar Nourbakash with libretto by Australian aborigine Lisa Flanigan. Sara Jobin, who is committed to works which bring about peace and global understanding, conducted. National Sawdust staged. The opera tells the story of a woman who protects the truth at all costs  It is set during protests in Iran after a contested election in 2009. It echoes in today’s protests.

Known as the nation’s foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music, Grammy Award-winning BMOP/sound announced the world premiere recording of the revised version of Anthony Davis’s seminal opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Director Bundy and René Augesen and Dan Donohue as Martha and George, manage to convey that these two people – as dysfunctional as their relationship may be – truly and deeply love each other.  In other productions this often  gets lost in the fighting, obscenities, insults and lies that they hurl at each other. Because of this, the play in this production ends on a more optimistic note.

The impresario Andrew Ousley is deeply in touch with audience needs in the 21st century. In selecting dramatic and unusual settings for concerts which range from the most formal performances of classical music’s iconic and ineffably beautiful Goldberg Variations to a completely improvised concert, he helps a new audience open their ears and hearts, and more traditional concert goers to hear works anew. 

If you think spending an evening with Hamlet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is not your best choice for a fun experience, think again. This production is a hoot.  Pure pleasure.

During the Depression years Mitchell Siporin found relief and commissions through the mural program of the WPA. In 1939 he traveled to Mexico and drew inspiration from the muralists. Recently discovered negatives from that trip led to an exhibitiion by his daughter Rachel Siporin at Bowery Gallery in New York. Siporin founded the studio program at Brandeis University.

In response to these difficult times, artist Justin Freed, former owner and programmer of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, has created An Evening of Jazz and Healing with live music, photography, drawings, projection and film.

Murder!  Mystery!  Mayhem! are the order of the day (er – night) as Center Rep takes on the classic trapped-in-a-scary-mansion who-dunnit?  Did the butler do it?  In a play that relies on style rather than gravitas, Director Nancy Carlin pulls all the right strings to make for a fluffy and entertaining ninety minutes.

This is a big show for TheaterWorks Hartford with a cast of nine and a band of seven. Under Rob Ruggiero’s sure hand, it comes together to create a thought-provoking and moving play.

We The Innumerable is an opera created by the Iranian/American composer Niloufar Nourbakhash with libretto by Lisa Flanagan. Sara Jobin, who is committed to works which bring about peace and global understanding, conducted. National Sawdust staged. The opera tells the story of a woman who protects the truth at all costs It is set during protests in Iran after a contested election in 2009. It echoes today’s protests.

When the murderer reveals himself and points the gun at his next victim, I expect to feel some fear. Unfortunately, in the stylish but misguided Hartford Stage production of The Mousetrap (running through Sunday, Nov. 6), not only didn’t I feel fear, I had no sense that the intended victim felt fear.

Dead Center: Chekhov’s First Play has had a jam-packed audience in its run at the Irish Arts Center in New York.  To be sure the city is crammed with actors who play Chekov roles.  This play is a tip to fathoming their secrets.  It is also pure fun for any theater goer.

The downtowns of Pittsfield and Lenox, Massachusetts will be sprawling with live music on the weekend of Nov. 18-20, with the first Berkshires Jazz Fall Sprawl. Artists range from small, local groups to the 17-piece Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and spotlight 16-year-old prodigy Brandon Goldberg, who is making his Berkshires debut that weekend.

Within three months Connecticut theatergoers have seen two excellent productions. In the summer it was produced at Sharon Playhouse. Now ACT-CT in Ridgefield has opened its season with another fine production which runs through Sunday, Nov. 20. Each is well cast, well sung and well directed.

The recipients of the 2022 Boston Artadia Awards are Stephen Hamilton, the Liberty Specialty Markets Artadia Award recipient, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, and Shantel Miller. The 2022 Boston Artadia Awards were also supported by the Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, the Meraki Artist Award, the Artadia Board of Directors, Artadia Council Members, anonymous funders, and individual donors across the country.

One of the most distinctive and creative of all jazz singers, NEA Jazz Master and self-described “Jazz Child” Sheila Jordan is one of those rare vocalists whose voice can be regarded among the great instruments of the music.

Kevin Connors has managed to keep the pace fast and the timing almost perfect. That’s a key to effective farce. Too slow and you lose interest. You can’t have time to really think about what is happening.

George Fifield, founder of the Cyberarts Festival and Boston Cyberarts, curator, scholar, arts administrator, creative mentor, videographer, educator, and a major champion of fusing art with technology, passed away on November 11 at the age of 72 from complications that followed a devastating fall that occurred at his Martha’s Vineyard home early last summer

Kingston Gallery is accepting APPLICATIONS by contempory artists for Associate Member Artist status at Kingston Gallery in Boston’s SoWA arts district. Terms begin in January 2023.

 Four First Prize Winners have been announced following the Finals of the 2022 Young Concert Artists International Auditions:   

The Lord of Cries is a mélange of two classic literary works written two millennia apart: the Greek tragedy The Bacchae by Euripides, and the Gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Set in Victorian London at the fearsome time of Jack the Ripper, the opera begins with its title character – Dionysus, the god of fury – returning to earth. Anthony Roth Costanzo featured.