Alan Brinks and Erin Markey in "Green Eyes"

It’s as sexy and dangerous feeling as it gets. A tantalizing bit of voyeurism mixed with first-rate drama.

In their Boston-premier staging of this long-lost 1970 work by Tennessee Williams, Company One takes you to an intimate hotel room several floors up in the historic Ames Building between Downtown Crossing and the Business District.

Seated in one of 25 chairs, you are cordially introduced to your hostess, a femme fatale on her honeymoon (Erin Markey) who soon reveals the naked, bruised body, over which the evening’s argument will be fought.

Why the bruises? That’s what her husband (Alan Brinks), a sullen soldier on leave from Korea, wants to know. Between whiskey swigs, cigarette drags and clenched teeth, he accuses her of slinking off with another man on their wedding night while he was near blotto in a Bourbon Street bar. She parries that the bruises are his doing, and the fantasy, akin to the others he’s been slipping in and out of due to P.T.S.D. Each argument feels persuasive as they roll and tumble for dominance with seduction and violence the alternating currents of their long morning after.

The mortal combat of the sexes is timeless (and dramatized by none better than this master) but “Green Eyes” also zeroes in on 1950’s American gender roles (against which we’re still reacting), by showing the torture a soldier goes through when told he must enact violence against his instincts and without provocation in a foreign land and yet remain restrained and stoic in the face of ultimate provocation in the domestic sphere. Meanwhile, his wife vies for what power she is allowed through mastery of the most powerful weapon at her disposal: her sexuality.

“Green Eyes” is electric and unforgettable—and Company One is really on a roll.

Directed by Travis Chamberlain, “Green Eyes” plays through February 26.

Remember when you blasted into space, as a little kid? Did you make your space ship out of an empty cardboard box, or did you just project yourself inside of a toy space shuttle? Did you ever try to make the fish-bowl space helmet, or tin foil antennae?

Chances are that when you weren’t thinking about politics that surrounded every step of your journey. You were probably more worried about what you would said to the moon men, than the Soviets getting to space before you, and whether or not that meant they could drop bombs on your head.

The two-man cast of One Small Step, mounted by the Oxford Playhouse and presented through this weekend at the Paramount Black Box through ArtsEmerson, worries about all of these considerations, as the they take you through the entirety of the Space Race in an hour, using the sort of props you might find in your parents’ attic.

One Small Step is a step up from simply imaginative and fun because actors Robin Hemmings and Oliver Millingham manage to reveal the fact that they know these are in many way serious events, they just refuse to present them seriously. As if to say these were more naïve times, they view the 60’s through childish eyes, delighting equally in their caricatures of brash and menacing Russians in strangely pointy pillow-case helmets, and the earnest and over-eager Americans, exasperated that they are lagging behind.

The company’s consistent butchering of the accents of both nations (all Americans are southern by the way, right through Richard Nixon), serves as a reminder that the perspective on offer is from a third party, Britain, who never got their own space program off the ground, but watched on eagerly with a horse in the race and an equal view of the moon.

One Small Step is goofy, but it’s meaningful goofiness. A child-like take on an epic event of history that feels far in the past but never grows old as food for the imagination.

One Small Step Plays through October 24 at the Paramount Black Box

Even in clumsy hands, "the Vibrator Play" is a powerful enough instrument to frequently hit the right spot.

Sarah Ruhl’s kinky, funny, feminist sex comedy about the use of vibrators to cure hysteria at the dawn of the age of electricity, barely escapes the misfirings of its mounting by the SpeakEasy Stage Company with its wit and wisdom in tact. The relationships are there, and the strange Victorian mores, and a some situations imbued with a humor that seems invincible, but the pace staggers, and the cast, aided by a campy soundtrack and dramatic lighting effects, stumbles around the needed tone of tragic sincerity, playing for laughs and often overshooting them.

The play takes place in the home of the Givings. Catherine Givings (Anne Gottlieb) rules its drawing room, while her husband, Dr. Givings (Derry Woodhouse) treats psychiatric patients in an adjacent examination room with what proves to be a fatefully porous door. Dr. Givings is obsessed with the technical revolution being wrought by Edison and Westinghouse. But excited as he is by electricity, there seem to be no sparks between this stiff man of science and his languishing romantic of a wife.

When Dr. Givings begins treating hysteria—essentially a catchall disorder used to diagnose women who feel the effects of their repression—with a secret procedure in which an electrical device is used to create a healing "paroxysm," Catherine becomes incurably fascinated and envious.  Feeling neglected, she befriends all who come to visit her husband in the next room. There’s his female patient, Sabrina Daldry (Marianna Bassham) a woman of purported frail constitution who suddenly seems quite rosy, her seemingly reserved husband (Dennis Trainor, Jr.) and then confounding, there is Leo Irving (Craig Wesley Divino), who seems bizarrely to suffer from the female condition of hysteria—although he is an artist.

As Catherine, Sabrina and Leo all struggle to come to terms with the life-changing sensation being had in the eponymous "other room," their already unsettling relationships become complicated by the presence of two more women: there is Annie (Frances Idleboork) Dr. Giving’s assistant, who is sometimes asked to administer the treatment in his absence (and is far more skilled at it for some reasons) and Elizabeth (Lindsay McWhorter), the African American wet nurse, recommended to the Givings by the Daldrys, whom Catherine feels is stealing her baby and Leo feels is stealing his heart.

Each configuration of these characters is complex and highly amusing. If only Gottlieb’s Catherine weren’t so tiresomely exaggerated. Bored and neglected she is clearly, but repressed? It’s hard to see with all of her shouting and line punching, and flitting and flailing.

Woodhouse is more believable in the slightly less challenging role of her overly scientific husband. Meanwhile Bassham’s Sabrina, awakened and halteringly emboldened has some moments of greatness, and the cast is anchored by the realism and pathos of McWhorter’s Elizabeth, who seems to be the most outwardly repressed and inwardly free of the play’s quartet of desperate Victorian housewives.

The real star is the script—full of dramatic irony of what post-modern, post-sexual revelation American will bring, for better or for worse, and full of a longing for romanticism in an age in which machines are perhaps too much depended upon for light and warmth.

"In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play runs through October 16 at the Boston Center for the Arts

CAMBRIDGE–How many ex-mathematicians does it take to write and perform a hit play?

Just one, apparently.

Gioia De Cari’s "Truth Values" opened last year at the Central Square Theater to rave reviews and a week added to the run. One year later, after two sold-out stints in New York and San Francisco, she’s back by popular demand. It doesn’t take a mathematician to analyze those statistics, and De Cari backs it up: this one-woman tour de force blasts through our often unconscious misconceptions of gender and academia with honesty, wit, and energetic exploration of life’s variables.

Although the story is intensely personal, any thinking person will be enticed by its universal themes as well as by De Cari’s effortless impressions of (and interactions with) the 20 plus characters she takes on in the academic circus. An audience largely populated by the MIT community offers a unique context, worth taking advantage of, including cues to laugh at select math jokes (did you know that mentioning "number theorists" is funny?).

What De Cari presents is not a rant against injustice. "Romp," in fact turns out to be accurate. It’s a unique journey of self-discovery with unexpected results that lead her to question the nature of truth. In fact, the concept played with in the show’s title of applying numerical values to truth could have been more directly explored. The show’s greatest strength, the intimacy with which De Cari relates her personal experience, could at times be its greatest weakness. When she gets personal without broadening her points with analysis, she comes off as the kind of funny friend relating a hilarious or heartbreaking anecdote over lunch, whom we care for, but eventually feel a strong urge to walk away from But those parts are few and far between. To apply that description to the whole show would be irredeemably reductive. There is no absence of theatricality in her performance or points of interest in most of her stories.

Lawrence Summers, former Harvard University president, made remarks as recently as 2005 regarding the inferiority of women in the sciences, which De Cari mentions in "Truth Values." I was fortunate to be able to attend the performance after which Nancy Hopkins, the M.I.T. biologist who walked out during that speech, participated in the talkback. She astutely pointed out that "if someone had made those remarks about another minority in the field, they would have been fired immediately." Summers, however, has been promoted to Director of the White House National Economic Council. As De Cari deftly illustrates in her writing and performance, events like these cannot go unaddressed.

For that reason, it is highly recommended to stay for a talkback if possible (September 19, 22, 23). The Boston community is rich with academic anecdotes from all perspectives. "Truth Values" achieves dialogue in a vital and entertaining fashion: precisely what good theater should do.

"Truth Values" runs through September 26 at Central Square Theater.

This Labor Day weekend, in Cambridge, Beowulf is out for revenge.  Worse than endlessly fighting Grendel and his monstrous mom, he’s been hacked to pieces by scholars and critics for centuries, and now he’s coming to the heart of academia to rock everybody to pieces.

This is the premise of "Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage," a SongPlay" created by the experimental theater group, Banana Bag & Bodice, set to play OBERON, A.R.T.’s cabaret/club venue, September 5-6 at 8 p.m.

The group’s unique telling of the epic Anglo Saxon poem about kinship, resourcefulness and man’s contest with nature—a staple of "survey of English Literature courses, "hearkens back to the raw and rowdy style of storytelling in the old Scandinavian mead halls," says an A.R.T. press release, and "combines Weillian cabaret, 40′s jazz harmony, indie rock, punk, electronica, and Romantic lieder into a cacophonous swirl."

The show is listed as appropriate for ages 14 and up due to mature language and themes (how’s that for a stodgy old poem?)  Tickets are $15.

It’s hard to quibble too much about free Shakespeare in a public park under the stars.  It’s a pleasure to join an audience, far more diverse than the average ticket buyers and theater subscribers, in rapt attention to forceful poetry. The laughter, the outbursts of frustration wrought by dramatic irony, and the gasps of recognition are every bit as fun to observe as the "traffic of our stage." "Othello" is a great choice of plays too; No director’s note is needed to argue that Shakespeare’s take on racial politics, manipulation and romantic jealousy is as timely today as the day it was first performed.

Still, knowing how strong the material is, it’s not hard to wish for a production with more luster. While it holds audience attention, trotting at a brisk pace with excellent elocution, this one is too breezy and static. There’s no sense of risk or menace, no emotional heft. It’s a tragedy that feels like a comedy, and in fact, its characters are more often laughed at than pitied for calling the satanic Iago (James Waterston), "honest."

Part of the problem here seems to be a lack of vision from director, Steve Maler. His actors, most of whom speak in their natural accents while others affect an antique faux British formality, are clad in 1940′s dress for reasons that are never made evident. They perform in front large stone-looking wall with an abstract indentation and a blue pallor, suggesting, well, very little really. His main players maintain an even level of emotion, with plenty of shouting and pacing throughout, while his supporting cast seems awkwardly restrained, never quite knowing how much improvised vocalization or freedom of movement is appropriate for the celebration of a military victory or a night out at the bar.

The standout in the cast is the talented Commonwealth veteran and Trinity Rep. member, Fred Sullivan, Jr., who brings a Jacky Gleanson-esque bluster to the role of Barbantio, the bigoted Venetian senator who demands legal action from the Duke (John McGinnis) when upon learning that his daughter Desdemona (Marianna Bassham) has taken up with Othello, (Seth Gilliam), a dark-skinned outsider. The rest are watchable enough, but never seems to swing for the rafters.

"Othello" is an exercise in seduction. The title character has overcome his status as a a distrusted minority to gain the role of general at a time of war and the hand of Desdemona, a graceful beauty from a prominent white family, viewed by Venetians as "perfection." His charm is a mix of confidence and humility that inspires his allies while driving his enemies to hysteria. The audience must love Othello in order to feel the tragedy that ensues when his passions are released from their stoic’s cage and cruelly misdirected by Iago. For his part, the wily Iago must be an even greater seducer. He must woo Barbantio’s wrath, Roderigo’s purse, Othello’s innermost trust and, most crucially, he must woo the audience, who love Othello, as accomplices in the hero’s undoing. How will he do it? Partly by being the one character who takes us into his confidence, partly because he’s just so damned clever, and partly because he revels in his work, and his glee at winning foils Othello’s disciplined restraint.

Commonwealth’s "Othello" is a bit short on seduction. Gilliam’s general is likable enough, but he’s a bit too casual and free to really be commanding or to build to a boil. Bassham’s Desdemona certainly looks the part with her blonde hair and pale, statuesque form wrapped in a golden gown, but her manner is a bit brash for an embodiment of grace. Waterston’s Iago is a bit frantic. He does a lot of cavorting, and, speaking in his voice’s upper register, he squeaks when over-excited. He does a fine job of charming his victims and convincing us of his sliminess, but what he never does, is stop and let us in. This is a problem, because you can’t really grasp what’s so powerfully frightening about Iago if you don’t fall prey to his charm.

So there are plenty of improvements to be wished for, but, in the end, it’s still "Othello," and it’s still offered for free under the stars, on a grassy lawn, in the middle of the city. It’s still not a bad way to spend an August evening in Boston.

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s "Othello" plays on Boston Common through August 15.

Seven dwarves get angsty. Little Red dances between victim and dominatrix. A snake gets beaten, a witch gets shot, a gangster street tot pushes magic baby powder, a mahm from suburban Boston gets wicked clevah and the "Black Bride and the White Bride" gets wicked post-racial in "Grimm," Company One’s collection of updated fairy tales penned by a who’s who of celebrated playwrights.

"Grimm" is a variety show—a themed collage of commissioned one-acts. Contributors include Gregory Maguire, who wrote the novel from which the musical "Wicked" was adapted; Marcus Gardley a young multiple award-winning poet-playwright from the west coast; Melinda Lopez, whose "Sonia Flew" one every award Boston bestows upon playwrights, and past Company One contributors: Lydia Diamond, author of "The Bluest Eye" as well as the Huntington’s recent success, "Stick Fly," John Kutz, the ubiquitous actor and writer whose recent Company One credits include "After School Special" and the Super Heroine Monologues;" John Oluwole ADEekoje, who’s most recent Company One mounted plays were "The Overwhelming" and "Six Rounds Six Lessons;" and Kristen Greenidge the Company One playwright-in-residence whose most recently staged work was "The Gibson Girl."

"Grimm" showcases these stars as much as possible. Each gets a chance to introduce his or her play via recording, further author’s notes are available in the program, and complete "Grimm" scripts are available for sale in the lobby. While much of the fun comes in seeing how different, how characteristic and how unique each adaptation is, the evening is really sold by a ceaselessly energetic and inventive ensemble cast comprised of Company One members Mason Sand and Mark Vanderzee, a collection of non-resident company favorites and a couple of young newcomers from the Boston area. The actors double (or triple) up on roles, slipping comfortably into each varied style and mining each script for it maximum of comedy and drama. Much credit is due here to directors of alternating shorts, Summer L. Williams and Shawn LaCount.

It’s got to be said that in terms of writing, these mini one-acts turn out to be pretty uneven. Greenidge’s play, which adapts an the obscure tale "Clever Else" into a dark comedy about a trio of local moms, locked in a passive aggressive feud as they wait for their daughters to come out of ballet practice, is the most ambitious and well realized. You know these people, and the play’s actors prove that they really know these people, yet as mundane lower-class suburbanites, these women are characters we rarely see on stage. Kuntz’s take on the much-explored "Little Red Riding Hood" offers a very differently daring look at sex roles which keeps you squirming and guessing.

Then there’s Diamond’s overly self-referential reading of a Grimm’s tale with racist and sexist overtones through a lens of political correctness, by actors with think volumes in their laps, and the tales of Gardley and ADEkoje, which are goofy and often hilarious, but ultimately feel a bit more frivolous.

That said, the night’s got a lot going for it. You know these are good stories. You know they’ve got memorable characters. They’ve followed you since you were a child. It’s fun and its’ stimulating to meet them as adults. Especially when they get modern sensibilities to match your own.

District resident and developer Emerson College has just announced ArtsEmerson: The World Onstage, an initiative that will both bring in some of the world’s most celebrated theater artists and also provide space and resources for the development of new works from some theaters most exciting new innovators.

This exciting venture will be programmed by Robert Orchard, Emerson’s new Executive Director of the Arts, a founding member of the A.R.T. who spent 30 years as a managing director and then executive director for the avant garde company in residence at Harvard.

Said Orchard in a statement: "We’ve grouped these artists into two programming streams: legends and pioneers. Legends are established, highly-regarded companies and artists whose work is celebrated around the world, such as The Abbey Theatre, The New York Theatre Workshop, Peter Brook, Tectonic Theater Project and F. Murray Abraham, among others. Pioneers include a new generation of artists whose ideas are redefining theatre, such as Elevator Repair Service, 7 Fingers, Rude Mechs and Basil Twist. We will also host a wide variety of performances for people of all ages. Some of these works will be developed at the Paramount Center for Boston audiences and travel the world."

ArtsEmerson will be housed at the Majestic Theater, and at the newly revamped Paramount Center, a beautiful Art Deco-style former movie house at Downtown Crossing, which now sports a 590-seat theater with an orchestra pit, a 150-seat black box, and a cinema, the Bright Family Screening Room. It also features a new, scene shop, rehearsal studios, a soundstage and nearby apartments for resident artists.

In contrast to the often prohibitively expensive Broadway in Boston series housed in the other glamorous venues in the area, ArtsEmerson is selling season tickets to it’s first season for just $60, with tickets to one show thrown in for free. The season covers a broad range of ground from new comedy, to documentary drama, from the investigative cabaret of The Civilians, to the literary explorations of Elevator Repair Service (who brought us Gatz at the A.R.T.). There will be an Irish Festival, featuring the celebrated Abbey and Druid theater companies. The great Peter Brook will mount some Boston premiers of his work. F. Murray Abraham will take on Shylock courtesy of Theater for a New Audience.

As Orchard said, "It’s an exciting time to be a theater fan in Boston."

Theater Calendar

June 2010

BOSTON

38th Annual Playwrights’ Platform Festival of New Plays

Company: Playwright’s Platform

Genre: New One-Acts

Dates: June 10-17

Venue:

Boston Playwrights’ Theater

949 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
(866) 811-4111

The T Plays

Company: Mill 6 Collaborative

Genre: New Drama

Dates: June 23-27

Venue:

The Factory Theater
791 Tremont Street

Boston, MA 02118

(617)-240-6317

Timon of Athens

by William Shakespeare

Company: Actors’ Shakespeare Project

Genre: Drama

Dates: May 20-June 5

Venue:

Midway Studios
15 Channel Center Street
Fort Point Channel

Boston, MA 02210-1038

(866)-811-4111

M² (Moli¨re Squared)

by Moli¨re

Company: Imaginary Beasts

Genre: Comedy

Dates: Through June 12

Venue:

Plaza Black Box

Boston Center for the Arts

539 Tremont Street

Boston, MA 02116

(617) 933-8600

Prelude to A Kiss

Company: Huntington Theatre Company

Genre: Drama

Dates: Through June 13

Venue:

B.U. Theatre

264 Huntington Avenue

Boston MA 02115

(617) 933-8600

Summer Play Festival

Company: Boston Actors Theater

Genre: New Drama

Dates: June 23-27

Venue:

Boston Playwrights Theater
949 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, 02215

(866) 811-4111

CAMBRIDGE

Johnny Baseball

by Richard Dresser and William Reale

Company: American Repertory Theater

Genre: Musical

Dates: Through June 27

Venue:

Roberts Studio Theater

Boston Center for the Arts

539 Tremont Street
South End, Boston, MA

(617) 426-5000

The Lady with All the Answers

by David Rambo

Company: Nora Theater Company

Genre: New Drama

Dates: Through June 22

Venue:

Central Square Theater

450 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 576-9278

JAMAICA PLAIN

The Pillowman

by Martin McDonagh

Company: Footlight Club

Genre: Contemporary Drama

Dates: Through June 12

Venue:

Elliot Hall

7A Elliot Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

617-524-3200

WATERTOWN

Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red Hot Mama

by Richard Hopkins, Jack Fournier and Kathy Halenda

Company: New Repertory Theater

Genre: Musical

Dates: June 24-July 11

Venue:

Arsenal Center for the Arts

321 Arsenal Street

Watertown, MA 02472

(617) 923-8487

To send corrections or request a listing, contact our Theater Editor at jwrabin@gmail.com

It feels almost as surreal to write: "Timon of Athens," is one of the best plays I’ve seen in Boston this year, as it feels to experience A.S.P.’s fun, innovative, modernist vision of the obscure, "problem play."

Timon cut 5 from Angelica Brisk on Vimeo.

But it’s true. The strange apocryphal genre-bender, thought by many to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and contemporary, Thomas Middleton, turns out to be well worth saving.

A fable about the evils of being a borrower or a lender, "Timon" is as timely as can be, and is mounted with boundless energy by Director/Scenic Designer/Composer, Bill Barclay, and a dynamite ensemble. Led by new artistic director, Allyn Burrows in the title role, the cast features A.S.P. regulars Bobbie Steinbach, John Kuntz and Steven Barkhimer along with first-rate guests, Daniel Berger-Jones, Joel Colodner, Michelle Dowd, and most notably, Will Lyman in an unforgettable turn as  Apemantus, a misanthropic old philosopher with one foot in the court and the other in the wilderness.

"Timon" returns the company to Midway Studios at Fort Point Channel, an industrial-feeling art space tucked away between South Station and the waterfront. Barclay takes his design concept from the ambiance of the space, setting up camp in front of a flimsy facade decked out with a cubist painting, which looms behind a single sandbox-like patch of earth—a piece which serves variously as rustic decoration, sauna, and naked patch of forest.

Artists, senators and creditors bustle about in paint-splattered white coveralls and they wheel around and scurry up and down giant metal stepladders. We’re in the world of arts and fashion, and have the feeling that everything could be papered over or pulled down and replaced at a moment’s notice.

At the head of the scene is everybody’s favorite meal ticket, Timon, an Athenian lord and proud patron of the arts. Timon delights in throwing feasts replete with lavish party-favors for all of the notables of the day, including dashing young army captain, Alcibiades (Daniel Berger-Jones), and even eminent kill-joy philosopher, Apemantus, who’s sole reason for living seems to be keeping his host in check with criticisms and barbs.

Timon thinks nothing of handing out pricey baubles to his dinner guests because, he tells us, his real treasures are his friends, whom he knows owe him everything. So confident is Timon that his connections and social standing make him invinsible, he ignores the warnings of his faithful steward, Flavius (Bobbie Steinbach), that he is spending far beyond his means.

Nobody loves you when you’re down and out. When Timon learns this, he goes a bit mad, renouncing his throne and fleeing to the woods to try his own hand at the Apemantus role of ascetic misanthrope. If he is done with humanity however, they are not done with him. There’s a war on against Athens led by Timon’s old friend Alcibiades who has been angered and ostracized by a draconian senate, and what’s more, there’s a rumor going around that the fallen Timon is actually sitting on a hoarded fortune. Senator, friend or thief, no man who brings a suit to this changed Timon, will leave unscathed.

Nor can we, a modern American audience who has spent the last several years watching our legendary coffers empty, our debt rack up and our friends eye us wearily with hands still outstretched.

Fortunately, scathed though we may be, we can’t help but laugh along the way of this heightened dream vision, replete with physical comedy and poetry in almost equal parts.

Actor’s Shakespeare Project’s "Timon of Athens" runs at Midway Studios, Fort Point Channel, through June 13.

Harry Potter and the $1000 Suit, anyone?

A year after Daniel Radcliffe galloped around naked in the Great White Way’s Equus, the young actor announced he will hit Broadway in a production of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

It’s a powerful role to play, and Radcliffe will be just 21 when the show opens next year. Fifty years ago, the show started Robert Morse, who’s now the ad agency owner on Mad Men. Matthew Broderick did the show in a 1995 revival. The musical is about the adventures of J. Pierrepont Finch, an ambitious young man who dreams to rise from the basement mailroom to the top floors of management for the “World-Wide Wicket Company.”

This play calls for some serious ovaries.

Perhaps the Lyric is seeking to restore balance after staging an all male three-person drama.

But even if I did have ovaries , I’m not sure how captured I would have been by this didactic, low-stakes, historical comedy about women in science, a New England premier from  playwright Karen Zacarias, staged by guest director, Karen Roach.

The cast is not to be faulted here—they are generally a skilled and charismatic bunch lead by Sarah Newhouse and Diego Arciniegas (the long-time Boston actor and Artistic Director of the Publik Theater), as historical figures, ‰mile du Ch¢telet, an under-appreciated Enlightenment-era physicist , and her far more celebrated lover, Voltaire.

The problem with the play has more to do with its structure. "Legacy of Light" switches back and forth between two settings.  Its French Enlightenment plot is based around ‰mile du Ch¢telet’s race to complete a scientific discovery before giving birth to her second child, an act which, given her advanced age and declining health, she fears could be fatal. Its second setting is modern day New Jersey, in which a thematically linked plot emerges around Olivia (Susanne Nitter), a successful astronomer who, unable to give birth herself, hires a surrogate, a quirky aspiring fashion designer named Millie (Rosalie Norris) who needs the money more than she immediately lets on.

Part of the problem is that neither of these "conflicts" involve much conflict. There are some decisions to made, but their results are never really in doubt. There is the possibility that Olivia (or Millie) may turn out to be a bad mother, or that Millie might not give up her baby, but these threats are vague and never pushed very far. We learn that Millie has a secret—but it’s not a particularly damning one. Olivia’s husband Peter (Allan Mayo, Jr.) is threatened at one point—but it’s a threat that lasts a matter of seconds.

There’s the possibility of ‰mile du Ch¢telet’s imminent death, but then, as we are reminded by the characters themselves, they are already dead, their legacies determined. This introduces another serious problem with the play: the treatment of its most compelling characters, ‰mile du Ch¢telet and Voltaire.  Rather than letting her interpretation of these characters unfold, Zacarias faces them outwards, having them introduce themselves and then summarize their lives, feelings and accomplishment, rather than playing them out before us. Similarly, she stages opportunities for Olivia to lecture as well, all but spelling out the connections she sees between science and motherhood.

So there’s not much to grip us here. No mystery to solve and not much room to explore, with the characters reliably informing us both what they think and how they feel.

It doesn’t help matters that the production is set less in the three apartments the script calls for, than in a nebulous region of stay-speckled sky, with a large tree growing prominently from its blue floor. In other words, like the playwright, the designer offers a theme rather than a compelling, complex reality.  It isn’t even a blank space on which to project our imagination—it’s in fact rather crowded, as we learn in the first scene in which ‰mile du Ch¢telet’s lovers fence with long foils across roughly four feet of stage. It’s as awkward an exchange as the love scene that precedes it.

The structure of" Legacy of Light" is reminiscent to that of "Arcadia," Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece about impossible quests for knowledge, which also switches between two historical settings and which features a fictional female physicist who, like ‰mile du Ch¢telet, studies Newton and is linked to a famous historical writer (her tutor’s friend, Lord Byron).   "Arcadia’s" the two plots are not merely thematically linked. Both take place within the same house. The scholars of the play’s modern setting come into conflict while seeking to unravel a mystery that we see revealed in the play’s historical setting. One set of scholars in conflict is studying a second. "Arcadia" is in a sense a play of ideas. It is academic and cerebral. Above all though, it is sold by the intense, complex and moving relationships between its characters, the comedy and pathos of their thwarted romances, as chaotic as the world upon which they try to impose order.

Zacarias’ play is built on some interesting ideas—like the idea that a woman’s natural ability to give birth can both uniquely aid and uniquely thwart her other creative powers—but  she misses the fact that in a play of ideas, the characters and their conflicts can’t also simply be ideas. They in fact have to be almost twice as vital, their struggle, almost twice as urgent, and just as earth-bound, detailed and concrete, as the ideas behind them are lofty and complex.

I am glad that ‰mile du Ch¢telet’s is getting some attention, here, and I hope it so happens that any woman who sees this play will be inspired to be as creative as the best physicists, fashion designers and mothers.

But I’d like to have seen a little more data to support this hypothesis.

"Legacy of Light" plays at the Lyric Stage Company through March 13.

Lyric Stage wants you as their captive. They’ve seen you have some play money and some time on your hands and now you will hear what they have to say.  It won’t all be pretty, but “Groundswell,” directed by Daniel Gidron, will lock you in suspense and release you with your head spinning.

In this psycho-political drama from South African playwright, Ian Bruce, you share the plight of Smith (Richard McElvain), a wealthy white tourist who goes to a remote port town on the South African West Coast seeking a little adventure and a few rounds of golf. Smith finds that he is the only the guest in a small, beachfront inn, run by two characters desperate to raise themselves from the ashes in the dangerous world of post-apartheid reconfiguration. They are the mild-seeming Thami (Jason Bowen), the black gardener and caretaker of the estate and Johan (Timothy John Smith), his menacing white friend, a former policeman with a taste for booze and a hunting knife.

These two want to talk to Smith about making an investment in some projects of theirs concerning the diamond trade — some more formal than others. Outside, a powerful storm is brewing. Whether Smith is interested or not, he won’t be leaving anytime soon, and while inside, there is only one topic up for discussion.

Groundswell is more than a suspense drama. It is a provocative exploration of race relations with roots in the apartheid conflict and resonance everywhere there are deep-seated conflicts between tribes with bloody pasts and pyrrhic victories. Bruce has the master playwright’s gift of distilling large issues down to a conflict between three men with violence in their pasts. Thami, wants to raise himself from poverty with white’s money but will not be seen as a beggar. Johan, determined to prove himself a champion of the oppressed blacks, think he knows what the need better than they do and Smith, who lived an apolitical life of privilege under a cruelly oppressive regime, will not accept his complicity or change his ways in its aftermath.

Each of these characters is acted superbly, with depth, complexity and pathos. These actors have gotten into their heads, and it is a stimulating challenge to try and follow them there—particularly form our vantage in the new "post racial" America.

The New England Premiere of “Groundswell” runs through January 30 at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston in Back Bay.

Punks, goths, hipsters and theatrical eccentrics populate the graffiti-strewn slums of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mounted at Midway Studios on the Fort Point Channel in the South End.

While it may sound dangerous, this Midsummer is actually light and breezy, highlighting freshly updated caricatures of endlessly mockable archetypes: the slick politician, the status-obsessed father, overblown young lovers, self-aggrandizing actors-in-training. The plays’ fairies are made-over amusingly, as creepy yet lovable street toughs with aging punk rockers as their king and queen.

Also at the fore is the poetry. Founding A.S.P. Director, Benjamin Evett is far more conservative than, his colleague across the river, Diana Paulus, who has just made her mark as the new Artistic Director of the A.R.T. with the abstract, spectacle-heavy adaptations of Shakespeare Exploded. In contrast, Evett offers more or less an entire Shakespeare text (such as it is preserved) and a cast comfortable enough to keep it from sounding like a foreign language.

The comedy begins in the court of Theseus, (Curt Klump), who has just conquered the city of Athens and the formidable personage of Hippolyta (Autumn Elise Henry), queen of the Amazons, his soon-to-be-bride. Klump’s Theseus is more of a charmer than a warrior and with his slight frame, slick black suit and permanent slanted-eyes-smile, you wonder if he won Athens with a corporate merger rather than a spear. Nevertheless he orchestrates the plays’ business fluidly, which begins with the case of Egeus (Dayenne Byron Walters) who seeks government enforcement of the demand that his willful daughter Hermia (played masterfully by Mara Sidmore) is wedded to Demetrius (Christopher James Webb) , the man of his choosing, a conservative with the baring of a Soprano. Hermia wants to marry the more free- spirited Lysander, (Shelley Bolman) who points out that Demetrius already has the affections of an obsessive ex, Hermia’s best friend, Helena (Jennie Israel).

Looking at this ensemble, some odd casting choices remind one of why this is an "Actor’s Shakespeare Project" rather than simply ours. Distractingly, the role of Egeus is filled by a woman who plays him as a man. While her characterization of a stern, power-hungry parent is solid, we are not fooled by her gender and no new light is shed on the character by the cross—not to mention the fact that her dark skin and dreads keep her from resembling her fair-skinned, fair-haired daughter. Moreover, we are given a Helena who is oddly outside the age group of the other lovers. She seems a strange companion at least for Hermia, and beyond the adolescent melodrama at the character’s core.

Nevertheless, the play really comes to life when the lovers cross over into "the woods" where Hermia and Lysander plan to elope, followed by Demetrius who, tipped-off by Helena, seeks to foil their plan, and Helena herself, who hopes to corner and seduce Demetrius.

The woods, in this case, are not the forest but rather the inner city. Just why the realm is constantly referred to in pastoral language is not made clear—Evett may have done well to cut some of the script’s "green plots," "bladed grass" and banks of "wild tyme" (particularly with the show’s nearly three-hour length), but the conceit of using the inner city pays off extremely well. It is indeed our version of "the woods," an unsanitized place removed from civilization, rife with danger, but also with freedom. To create this setting, Evett, has recruited a youth team from Artists for Humanity, and the Graffiti artist PROBLACK, to create some beautiful and haunting set pieces. Midway residents Billy and Bobby McClain, leant hip-hop choreography.

Most effectively, Evett has brought in a team of young actors from the Boston Arts Academy to fill-out the ranks of the urban "woods," whose dwellers include a gang of "rude mechanical" craftsmen who fancy themselves actors and rehears a play to perform at Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding, and the gang of fairies who interfere with both the actors and the lovers.

The mechanicals are anchored by A.S.P. resident actors, John Kuntz who plays Peter Quince the carpenter as a fruity artiste out of Waiting For Guffman and Robert Walsh as Nick Bottom the weaver, the egotistical star who, thanks to supernatural entanglements, wears the plays’ iconic ass head and has a romantic run-in with the fairly queen. Both are hammy and hilarious. The young actors filling out the rest of the troupe are equally funny, updating the characters with actor stereotypes they must encounter in class after class—the surly, overqualified, coffee-fetching stage manager (Lenise Farrier as Snout) the effeminate hipster (Trent Mills as Flute) the emo kid (the scene-stealing Karl Baker Olson as Starveling) and the perrenial presence, the stage-fright-stricken newbie (Nelson Martinez as Snug).

Little do they know they are rehearsing on the battlefield of Oberon (Michael Kaye) and Titania (the brilliant and hilarious Marianna Bassham) a punky king and queen of the street who are feuding over a henchman. Sporting a greaser haircut with soul patch and a full-length leather coat with tattoo-like emblazoning, he resembles a young Tom Waits and is tempting to read as a drug lord (although this is never made explicit.) Incongruously, his speech is the most refined of the cast. Far from sounding tough, he revels in the verse. Bassham’s Titania is the best thing going for this production. She is both funny and formidable as an addled, witchy, punk queen, a bit frightening for her flightiness and power. As with the mechanicals, the young actors who comprise their entourage are inspired riffing on the stereotypical bad kids of their generation from gangster to goth girl. Their role model is Oberon’s deputy, the mischievous Puck, who, played by Maurice Emmanuel Parent looks really menacing with bulging muscles and a fierce mohawk, but turns out to be a light-hearted trickster with dancer-like movements and a nimble tongue.

This would be a great first Midsummer for students and newcomers to the play. It’s accessible and engaging and has real charm. It’s a but uneven and at this point, the conflict lacks a bit of urgency bit it offers some memorable performances and a bang-up conclusion that promises laughs and will leave you in a great mood.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through January 24.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri News Bureau — It’s summertime, summertime, sum-, sum-, summertime! For some kids, that means little league, play groups, swim lessons, camping, summer school, dance class and many other activities. But hold on a second! All of those structured activities may be doing more harm than good. A University of Missouri occupational therapist says that toddlers and elementary-aged kids need unstructured playtime during the summer, in part, to help with their emotional and physical development. In fact, a lack of unstructured playtime might be the reason today’s young adults have trouble with problem-solving or critical thinking.

“Play is the vehicle for the development of many major life skills” said Lea Ann Lowery, a clinical assistant professor of occupational therapy in the MU School of Health Professions. “Children can work on simple, basic social skills such as taking turns, interacting with others and following directions and fine motor skills such as dressing, cooking and hand-eye coordination during play time. While some structured play is fine, overly structured play doesn’t encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills.”

Lowery also said that playtime doesn’t need to be expensive. Most children can develop their imagination skills with stuff around the house or old standby games that require no accessories. Empty boxes, plastic bins, cans and lids can become spaceships, drum sets or cages for plastic animals. Other activities include “I Spy” “Simon Says” or “Memory” that need nothing more than an outdoor setting or a deck of cards.

Anecdotally, Lowery is concerned about some trends related to how children are spending their free time. Some of those trends include children becoming reliant on certain objects “" usually electronics “" to have fun; lacking creativity in games or the inability to find other ways to play with toys; needing immediate gratification during activities; becoming too dependent on reinforcement; and becoming bored because they don’t know how to occupy themselves.

“Even children with developmental delays can benefit from unstructured play” Lowery said. “Play isn’t play if there are too many rules, and it’s important to allow children to make messes. Parents also can make playtime out of work time. Preschoolers love to be helpful and can cut fruit with a plastic knife, can help mix ingredients for a cake or clear the table. Many age-appropriate, summer activities “" both play and work “" can help children develop specific skills.”

Lowery said that becoming too focused on drills and practicing academic skills such as memorizing letters and numbers too early in development can cause some bad habits and frustration. According to Lowery, play is the foundation for many life skills and there is plenty of time to focus on academics.

The Miracle at Naples is certainly a play to be enjoyed by all. This old, Italian-influenced play tells a more modern tale about people, young and old, understanding love.

The story is about an acting troupe that travels Italy during the Renaissance. The eldest member and founder, Don Bertolino Fortunato brings the troupe back to his home town in Naples to perform. During their stay, they realize the town is waiting for the miracle of San Gennaro, a tradition in Naples where the statue of Gennaro cries blood as a foretelling of good things to occur.

During his stay, Don Bertonlino runs into an old friend, Francescina who has seemingly peaked his fancy. Unfortunately, for Don Bertolino, however, Francescina is unwilling to settle as his Naples lady friend and make him dinner. Francescina is a strong woman who decided to stay in Naples to nanny the now-fully-grown Flaminia.

Flaminia is approaching woman-hood and is on the search for love. She notices Giancarlo, the lead actor of Don Bertonlino’s acting troupe and immediately falls in love. Meanwhile, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the play, Matteo and Tristano decide to find mischief. These two are clearly the comedic relief of the story, though clearly it is not necessary, given the play in its entirety is filled with laughter and general amusement.

Matteo and Tristano were also looking for love when Don Bertonlino, as to silence them, gave them a fake love potion to help them in their travels. The so-called potion was really an alcoholic beverage, which later got the two inebriated. Intoxicated, Matteo and Tristano found themselves trying to seduce the naive and lovesick Flamenia with the help of their “potion.” Reluctantly, Flamenia drinks the potion in hopes to attract Giancarlo, but rather becomes inebriated herself. The three, drunk looked nothing short of a scene out of bad teen movie. Like students at a frat party, the three start to experiment with the potion and find themselves in an unholy situation between themselves.

While the three are romancing, Franscesina walks in to find her sweet, once-virgin, Flamenia sandwiched between two strange men. Francescina chases the boys out of her house. From outside, Don Bertolino witnesses the event. The two elders get in an argument about the situation, and such is the first half of the play. Flamenia still hasn’t won Giancarlo over, the two boys are still in a loss for love and the elders are in a spat over their “kids” being kids.

After intermission, we are rejoined with Don Bertolino outside his wagon and we’re introduced to his short, “unattractive” daughter. Piccola, nicknamed the “little one.” She proves herself to be quite the spitfire.

Lucy DeVitto gives a great performance as the tough, take-no-crap girl in the all-male comedy troupe. We learn that Piccola, who is as quick-witted as her Father, is more of the organizer of the troupe, but is also in love with Giancarlo. Giancarlo is more interested in the beautiful Flaminia, but too shy to express himself. Finally, we see Giancarlo and Flaminia by the statue of San Gennaro trying to get each other’s attention. The two meet and express their love for one another.

Meanwhile, Matteo and Tristano are still drunk and finding themselves in a playful position. The two complain about not finding love and laughing about the threesome that got broken up. Matteo and Tristano finally decide that the love potion did work, but instead of on a lady, it was on one another.

Don Bertolino and Franscesina are finally in a more relaxed state with one another and find that they are rather fond of one another.

Although everything seems nice and lovey, we find that Piccola is having Giancarlo’s baby and Tristano is not yet willing to admit to his true sexuality. Through a series of comedic events including slapstick comedy and puns, things get resolved. Giancarlo is forced to be Piccola’s husband, Flamenia finds happiness in herself (rather than a significant other), Tristano admits to his love for Matteo and Don Bertolino finally gets to eat.

This comedy is definitely one to see and enjoy. It is filled with laughter in an old setting but with a modern turn of events. People of all ages, gender and sexuality can relate to this play. I recommend it to all of you.

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway — the longest running show in history.

The longest-running show in Broadway history opened on this day in 1988 — “The Phantom of the Opera.” Adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber from the classic French novel by Gaston Leroux, the musical tells the story of the tortured soul who haunts the Paris Opera House, and his love for one of its young singers.

A runaway success, Phantom of the Opera is in production at many places around the world on a continual basis.  In 2006, it became the longest-running show in Broadway history.  Each year on Broadway, there are nearly 40 new productions.  These and long-running shows draw almost 12 million people each year into theaters along the Great White Way.

Material from the US Census Bureau was used in this report.