With promises of visas and relocation to the United States the mlitary recruited interpreters in Afghanistan. That promise was reneged on when America started to withdraw and wind down in 2011. The world premiere play Selling Jabul by Sylvia Khoury focuses on the fate of one individual and his family who was left high and dry.

Acquanetta, the video opera by Michael Gordon, a multi-dimensional composer on the contemporary scene, was premiered as grand opera in Aachen, Germany in 2006. Commissioned in chamber form by Beth Morrison Productions, it now is mounted at Bard SummerScape. Grand or not grand, the sound in this version, with members of the Bang on the Can Ensemble, is big. Loud was the word used in warning. The nature of the production, details of which remain closely held, enables the electronic bass and also the string instruments to resound throughout the hall. The music makes the show, as it should in opera.

On the specal occasion of its annual Gala there was a special treat for partrons and the general audience. The long awaited and much anticipated Verdi’s Requiem Mass was conducted by Andris Nelsons at Tanglewood.

She Shorts is a series of short plays about women, by women.The series was borne out of a collaboration between Miami's City Theatre and Ft. Lauderdale's Thinking Cap Theatre. She Shorts is empowering, funny and thought-provoking. The inaugural series runs through Aug. 4.

To mark the 500th anniversary of the legendary painter Raphael’s death, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will bring together - for the first time – Raphael’s portrait of papal librarian, Tommaso Inghirami, from its collection and a painting depicting an episode in his life from the Musei Vaticani in Vatican City.

Clocking in at three acts and three hours it's a long, tough slog through Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth at Berkshire Theatre Group. Having endured an epic assault on the senses we much appreciated the experience. There is far too much relevance to this grim, Pulitizer Prize winning 1942 play. Then America was facing fascism abroad and now we are confronted by racism and fascism within.

With more that 20 bookings no company has logged more appearances at Jacob's Pillow. For the first time in five years Mark Morris Dance Group & Music Ensemble is back this week. In recent years it has been the only dance company to be featured a number of times at Tanglewood. Now sliding past middle age, however, the choreographer is challenged to maintain pole position on the cutting edge. It was heartening to see a new piece in a program of vintage works.

Mostly Mozart programmers ask the most obvious question at the start. Why a film about Buster Keaton in this festival related to Mozart? Seeing the film, an easy comparison can be made with Papagano, the physical actor/singer in The Magic Flute, which will play in a charming version at Lincoln Center. Yet it is the quality of the work that is truly similar.

Hamlet is tormented to avenge the murder of his father by Gertrude, his mother and her lover Claudius, his uncle. First performed in 1609 they have been scorned by audiences ever since. John Updike's novel Gertrude and Claudius presented their sordid collaboration as a love story. That has been tranformed into a drama directed by Julianne Boyd for Barrington Stage Company. While the production is problematic it is among the best and most intriguing of the many plays of a prolific playwright.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary since his death the Clark Art Institute has organized a scholarly exhibition Renoir: the Body, the Senses. At his best few 19th century masters can match his charm and popular appeal. His greatest works were included in the 1985-1986 blockbuster exhibition Renoir, which was shown in London and Paris before it came to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It broke MFA records with 500,000 plus visitors. The Clark show by comparison is small and uneven.

Cellist Kian Soltani partnered with pianist Julio Elizalde in a late evening concert in Lincoln Center's nightclub in the sky, the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse. Mostly Mozart presented Soltani, who like Mozart, was born in Austria.

The International Contemporary Ensemble started off its 12th annual Mostly Mozart season at the David Rubenstein Atrium in Lincoln Center. The first concert was free and attracted an overflow crowd. Bringing the audience up to date and beyond, Mostly Mozart has offered free concerts of contemporary music in an act of generosity. People appreciate the chance to listen to a new landscape of composers.

Murder for Two is a zany treat at Suburban Miami's Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. Martin Landry gives a tour-de-force performance, playing more than a dozen murder suspects in hit musical comedy mystery. The two cast members prove multi-threats, as they not only act but play the piano like pros.

Anton’s Well’s Artistic Director Robert Estes scored a coup by securing the Bay Area premieres of two one-act plays – Escaped Alone and Here We Go – by Caryl Churchill, who some consider Britain’s finest living playwright.

The spare nature of Orfeo & Euridice is well suited to a smaller opera company. Requiring only three principals, casting is simplified. This small entourage and extensive use of dance by nymphs also make it conducive to the barest of staging. Mikiko Uesugi’s set design of gauzy hanging sheets certainly qualifies.

During graduate study at Boston University photographer Carl Chiarenza was a professor, mentor and friend. We spoke at length about how JFK and the Vietnam War nudged him into studying art history. At Harvard he was the first American to write a dissertation on photography. It was a biography and critical study of then living American icon Aaron Siskind. Now retired from the University of Rochester he continues to create new work.

New York’s Lincoln Center Theater is presenting the American premiere of playwright Chris Urch’s The Rolling Stone. Sensitively directed by Saheem Ali – the play an import from London – is scheduled to run through Sunday, August 25th.

Three great musicians, one small music hall and an overflow lawn crowd made this special concert, a night to remember. Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavados and Yo-Yo Ma turned this marvelous summer night into magical music. It was an all Beethoven programp of three Piano trios.

Another diva season wraps on the main stage of Williamstown Theatre Festival through August 18. A new translation of Henrick Ibsen’s Ghosts by Paul Walsh features Uma Thurman as Mrs. Helene Alving. In 2018 there were mixed reviews for her Broadway debut in Parisian Woman. It was a Beau Willimon rewrite of an 1888 play by Henri Becque.

While easy on the eyes Moulin Rouge! The Musical a pastiche of some 70 songs slogs along at two and a half hours. It is a mongrel cut and paste of other and better material. If you liked the movie than this one's for you.

Irish Repertory Theatre Presents the award-winning Little Gem by Elaine Murphy. This piece about three Irish women won the Fishamble New Writing Award in 2008 and the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award in 2009. The density of her language and the poignant humor of her vision captivates.

Last night, attending the world premiere of Before the Meeting by Adam Bock at Williamstown Thatre Festival, felt like an historic occasion in contemporary American theatre. This new play will surely make the rounds of regional theatres after a likely New York run. The success of future productions will entail finding a greal actress like Deidre O'Connell to perform the soon to be classic monlogue of Gail a recovering alcoholic.

It was our first visit and participation at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During the four days we experienced eight performances. The Festival attracts thousands of visitors every other year. It was a complex production, where a series of buses would transport audiences to a many theater and auditoriums all over two towns. The Marriott Hotel in downtown Winston served as the focal point and it was buzzing!

Yang Liping has created a dance drama in such startling colors and designs that the audience is swept into the single Ancient Pipa melody of the same title. The tapping of swords, soldiers cries and horses whinnying and snorting are all suggested as the song portrays the end battle of the war for control of China in 205 B.C. The armies of the Chu and the Han face off in dance. Blood has never been so beautifully suggested, as a mass of red feathers fly through the air, some streaking the bodies of soldiers.

Juke box musicals with butkis for plots have become the norm. Kudos to Barrington Stage for its world premiere Fall Springs which actually has a compelling book. But fracking, the musical, oh my goodness! While it has entertaining moments this creation by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb and Niko Tsakalakos is a whacky long shot. It's more than just a town that sinks in the sludge.