Brilliant Arts & Entertainment
This month has something old, “Porgy and Bess,” something new, the Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, something borrowed, Degas and the Nude some borrowed from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and something Brustein, as in Robert Brustein’s Mortal Terror . OK it’s a stretch.. so sue me.
WHAT: MORTAL TERROR
WHERE: MODERN THEATRE AT SUFFOLK
WHEN: SEPT 15 – OCT 2
TICKETS: 866-811-4111 or www.moderntheatre.com.
William Shakespeare, trapped by political intrigue, violence and betrayal, is coerced by King James to create the ultimate instrument of propaganda: Macbeth.
Mortal Terror is the second in a trilogy of plays about the life and work of Shakespeare by Robert Brustein, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University and recent National Medal of Arts recipient.
OTHER WORKS THIS SEASON INCLUDE:
SHAKESPEARE IN AMERICA Robert Brustein Presents: OSKAR EUSTIS and JENNY GERSTEN 6 p.m. Friday, September 23 Inspired by our production of Mortal Terror, Robert Brustein discusses the future of Shakespeare production in America with the artistic directors of two of the country’s foremost theatre companies: Oskar Eustis of New York’s Public Theater, and Jenny Gersten of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. CHRISTOPHER DURANG: A Conversation with the Playwright 7 p.m. Thursday, October 6 The Suffolk University Theatre Department welcomes acclaimed playwright and actor Christopher Durang for a conversation with Robert Brustein. Durang’s plays have been produced on and off Broadway as well as nationally and internationally. He is an Obie and Tony award winner as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
A CELEBRATION OF DAVID FERRY 7 p.m. Thursday, December 1 The Suffolk University literary community, along with Boston writers, celebrate the life and work of acclaimed poet David Ferry, known for five books of his own poetry and acclaimed translations of the Gilgamesh epic, Horace and Virgil including his most recent translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Cinema: THE JAZZ SINGER co-produced with the Boston Preservation Alliance 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 18 In 1928 the Modern Theatre was the first Boston movie house to premiere The Jazz Singer, Hollywood’s breakthrough “talkie.” Suffolk University and Boston Preservation Alliance team up to showcase this classic film as we celebrate the first anniversary of the restored Modern Theatre.
DEAD RECKONING – CHAMPLAIN IN AMERICA Film and conversation with FRANK CHRISTOPHER 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 25 Frank Christopher is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-award-winning documentary filmmaker. His film Dead Reckoning – Champlain in America is a fully animated, historical account of Samuel de Champlain’s exploration of North America.
SHAKESPEARE ON FILM: MACBETH Date TBD Audiences who might want a refresher on Macbeth before attending Robert Brustein’s Mortal Terror in September have the perfect opportunity to see Roman Polanski’s classic film on the Modern’s big screen.
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The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University is the newest performance space in the Washington Street Theater District. The grand facade of the historic theater, Boston’s first designed specifically for showing movies, has been painstakingly restored and reconstructed as part of the Modern Theatre and residence hall development. Inside, an intimate jewel-box theater showcases central design elements that are a modernization of some of the most distinctive historic features of the 1914 theater. The state-of-the-art, 185-seat venue is ideal for live performances, conversations, readings and film screenings and will promote excellence and innovation through all of its programming. For more about these and other programs at the Modern visit: www.moderntheatre.com.
WHAT: CANDIDE
WHERE: HUNTINGTON THEATRE
BU Theatre / Avenue of the Arts
WHEN: SEPT 10- OCT 16
TICKETS: 617 266 0800 to purchase.
Leonard Bernstein’s soaring score and lyrics from some of the wittiest writers of all time in a new production directed by the Tony Award-winning Mary Zimmerman.This production is sure to glitter and be gay.
WHAT: DEGAS AND THE NUDE
WHERE: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
WHEN: October
TICKETS: BOX OFFICE/ ON LINE/
Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Degas and the Nude (October 9, 2011, through February 5, 2012) will explore Edgar Degas’s evocative depictions of the human form throughout his 50-year career, from academic studies, to overtly sexual imagery, to scenes of daily life. These will be shown within the broader context of the artist’s forebears, contemporaries, and followers in 19th-century France. This monumental exhibition features works from more than 50 lenders around the world, including a record number from the Orsay. Additional highlights:
First time that Degas’s nudes will be the exclusive subject of a museum exhibition
MFA, Boston, is the only U.S. venue
Approximately 165 works – 145 by Degas – will be on view, many of which have never been seen in the U.S.
Exhibition reunites several of Degas’s black-and-white monotypes with the corresponding pastel “twins” for the first time since they left the artist’s studio
Other works on view include masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Delacroix, and Ingres.
WHAT:GAN-e-meed Theatre Project Announces 2011-12 Season
Here’s something you might not have heard about. Check it out.
GAN-e-meed Theatre Project’s second full production season challenges audiences with world premieres, unexpected stories, and honest explorations while continuing their successful and innovative Career Labs which inspire and support Women in Theatre.
December 2011 features the Not A Box New Play Festival which includes the rousing conclusion of last year’s 1-Page Play Experiment, the finalists for this year’s Experiment, the Boston premiere of Obehi Janice’s solo show fufu & oreos, and a Mystery Artist at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Following in April and May 2012 is Julie Jenson’s Two-Headed, an exploration of the friendship of two Mormon women in 1800s Utah, to be performed at the Boston Center for the Arts and on tour throughout New England.
The successful Career Labs, a series of workshops and panel discussions continues in 2011-12 with Balancing Act: the Work-Life Continuum on September 12; Perfecting Your Pitch on November 8; Negotiation for Women in Theatre in April 2012; and Building Your Community and Network on June 3, 2012. Co-sponsored by StageSource, all Career Labs are generously hosted by the Boston Center for the Arts. Further networking opportunities will be available during the oft-demanded Women in Theatre Networking Nights, beginning in October.
“At GAN-e-meed, we go out of our way to find women who are passionate about a project and work with them to make it a success,” says SerahRose Roth, GAN-e-meed’s Executive Artistic Director. “I am overjoyed to continue our work of advancing the role of women in theatre by supporting both up-and-coming artists who are redefining theatre in their own words and established professionals who want more. It is their passion and dedication that makes GAN-e-meed thrive. Given the thrill of our inaugural season, I love knowing that this second season is going to be just as awe-inspiring, if not more so.”
Not A Box New Play Festival
A weekend of new works, Not A Box features an inspiring mix of unexpected, thought-provoking, frequently humorous, and often poignant Boston and World Premieres.
The Boston Premiere of fufu & oreos a semi-autobiographical solo play by rising theatre artist Obehi Janice will be performed along with the second annual 1-Page Play Experiment, the culmination of an artistic challenge: to create a work of textual, performance and visual art on a single piece of paper. The five winners from the first Experiment, as voted by audiences who viewed the visual art and staged readings in December 2010, will be performed as one act of the evening, sharing the bill with “fufu & oreos.” GAN-e-meed welcomes back directors Melanie Garber, Jen Alison Lewis, and Dawn Simmons for the 1-Page Play Experiment. 1-Page Play submissions are now open for the second experiment, whose 15 finalists will be on display during the festival and will receive a staged reading on December 3 at 2pm. For information about submitting a play, please visit www.ganemeed.org/submit-a-play
Two Headed
Two-Headed by Julie Jenson follows the story of two Mormon women in the 1800s. The audience visits their developing relationship episodically over the course of 40 years, watching as they find their place in an increasingly complicated, challenging, and patriarchic family life. Directed by Rebecca Webber (last seen with GAN-e-meed as Horatio in Hamlet, featuring an all-female cast) and featuring actresses Kara Manson and SerahRose Roth (last appearing as the title role in Hamlet), Two-Headed will tour New England in April of 2012, finally landing at The Boston Center for the Arts in May. Two-Headed is available to perform in schools and community centers. Please contact SerahRose Roth, Executive Director, for more information: info@ganemeed.org
Career Labs for Women in Theatre
Balancing gender inequity in theatre employment plays an essential role in GAN-e-meed’s mission. The Career Labs, a quarterly workshop series, offers women in theatre tangible, essential learning opportunities to advance their careers, create networking opportunities, and develop skill sets. The Career Labs addresses topics vital to all theatre professionals. This season’s Labs include Balancing Act: The Work/Life Continuum (featuring panelists Veronique Le Melle of the BCA, Jennie Israel of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Ilana Brownstein of Playwights’ Commons, Julie Otis of SpeakEasy Theatre and moderator Julie Hennrikus of StageSource), Perfecting Your Pitch (featuring guest speaker Robbie Samuels), Negotiation for Women in Theatre, and Building Your Community & Network.
The Career Labs 2011-2012 season is co-produced with StageSource and generously hosted by the Boston Center for the Arts.
About GAN-e-meed Theatre Project
GAN-e-meed Theatre Project is a mission-driven non-profit theatre company that advances the role of women in theatre. GAN-e-meed supports their mission through a production season of relevant plays, networking nights for women in theatre, and The Career Labs, a series of workshops supporting the unique challenges, skill-sets, and successes of women in theatre.
Bios
SerahRose Roth (Executive Artistic Director and Founding Board Member) is a passionate producer, director and educator, holistically mentoring young and old artists alike. She is a consultant for the inclusion of theatre education in the early childhood classroom. She has presented her early childhood pedagogy, PictureBook Plays, at the annual conferences for the National Association for the Education of the Young Child and Southern Early Childhood Association. She has developed and taught innovative educational programs for a variety of ages at New Repertory Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Yellow Taxi Productions, Boston Children’s Museum, and Chicago Children’s Museum. Directing credits include Hamlet (Newton South & North High Schools), Silence and Lucy Dreaming (GAN-e-meed), Electra (Newton South High School), Inherit the Wind and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Littleton High School). Acting credits include the title role in Hamlet (GAN-e-meed), Ophelia in Hamlet (First Folio Shakespeare and The Theatre Co-Op), Liz Mordan in Our Country’s Good (The Theatre Co-Op), Aerosmith in Frodo-A-Go-Go: The Rings Recycled (The Free Associates), Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (Penobscot Theatre), and Thomasina Coverly in Arcadia (Brandeis University). SerahRose holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University, an advanced certificate from Boston University’s Institute for Non-Profit Management and Leadership, and particularly enjoys working with high school students as they discover the joys of speaking Shakespeare. She is the proud mother of a kindergartner who also loves the arts.
I’ll be seeing the Tony Award Winning musical BOOK OF MORMON in a couple of weeks and I’ll give you my thoughts on whether you should run to NY and get tickets. I saw Pricilla Queen of the Desert ( Bette Midler is one of the producers) It is a fun camp show with all the old songs that we danced to. The costumes are out of this world, literally. For a fun evening where you can sit back and not use any brain cells, this one’s for you. Sheer fun!