Under Lila Neugebauer’s exquisite direction, the actors playing Mary Page each give intriguing performances that focus on the pastiche of one “ordinary” American facing the dangers inherent in leaving “the crib” and separating and individuating from the nuclear family.

There are several people out there who are dealing with some sort of eating disorder, which is having a significant impact on their health and their day to day lives. Chances are, even if you don’t have an eating disorder yourself, there’s a strong chance that you know someone who does. It’s just like any other mental illness, and deserves far more attention and discussion than it is currently getting from society. Thankfully, The Ugly Kids – one of several outings at this year’s Fresh Fruit Festival – is here to try and shine some light on the effect this issue is having on young people.

If there’s anything that should be apparent to most theatergoers by now, it is the fact that bigotry is alive and well in the United States. Despite the progress made for LGBTQ rights over the past decade, it’s clear that there’s still more that needs to be done, to ensure that everyone in our society is treated fairly and equally. That is especially true, when it comes to people who are transgender, and as Sandy Gooen’s poignant new play Pass/Fail points out, not even places such as theatre or music classes are guaranteed as spaces where people can fully express who they are.

August Strindberg’s tragic comedy Creditors is a fast-paced, psychologically intense look at life and the cost of relationships. In this adaptation by playwright David Greig, three characters must face their past choices, and in doing so come to the realization that their present state is a result of those choices. Through deception they come to realize the debts they owe others and the unfathomable cost of love. Strindberg, in his naturalistic style, is a master of balancing the darkness of a dramatic psychological thriller and an authentic, unapologetic comedy. The three veteran actors (Jonathan Epstein, Ryan Winkles and Kristin Wold) who have taken on this play under the incredible direction of Nicole Ricciardi have expertly captured each facet of their multidimensional characters. In doing so, they grabbed the audience’s attention from the onset and held it to the end.

Thrown under the bus by her ex-husband Greg, a carping, selfish, completely self-centered Jodi Isaac (Idina Menzel) takes the red-eye from Los Angeles to New York City to “celebrate” her a self-assured father Elliot Isaac’s (Jack Wetherall) birthday. However, the real reason for her visit is that she “just, like couldn't physically be in LA knowing” Greg and his new twenty-four-year-old bestie Misty would be celebrating their engagement at a party where all her friends would be present. Jodi brings her twenty-year-old self-absorbed son Benjamin Cullen (Eli Gelb) along hoping a “family” birthday party will please Elliot and bring her some surcease from her angst over losing her fifty-year-old husband to a younger “more beautiful” woman.

Director Rob Ruggiero appears to have a special place in his heart for Lionel Bart’s iconic musical, Oliver! Based on Charles Dickens’ classic Victorian novel, Oliver Twist, Mr. Ruggiero tells us what he feels the story is about in his director’s notes: “…the change that Oliver provokes comes from him simply being: his special connection to the people he meets stimulates change and action.” I would agree with his assessment; the role of Dickens’ title urchin does not require much acting beyond simple presence. Oliver is a catalyst for action taken by others, otherwise, it would be a dull story of an orphan made legitimate through chance.

Rinne Groff has created an engaging extended metaphor based on the 1911 fire that destroyed the iconic Dreamland on Coney Island. Counterpointing the event of the suspicious destruction by fire is the destruction by water by superstorm Sandy in 2012 and the “destruction” of Kate (Rebecca Naomi Jones) by the “lesser causes” of betrayal, self-doubt, and prevarication. “Fire in Dreamland,” currently running at The Public’s Anspacher Theater, explores that metaphor and its trove of rhetorical devices that bombard the senses and often places the audience in a surreal wonderland.

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House premiered in Denmark in 1879. Over one hundred and thirty years later, A Doll's House Part 2 by writer Lucas Hnath, brings us back to Norway and the Helmer house where Nora slammed the door and left her family and life behind her. Premiering on Broadway in 2017, this play begins fifteen years Nora left her family. Directed by Joe Calarco, this emotional roller coaster of a play is performed by four talented actors who are so deeply invested in their characters it is easy for the audience to get wrapped up in the story.

“Brecht on Brecht” the theatrical collage of works by Bertolt Brecht first compiled by George Tabori in the early 1960s is appearing at Atlantic Stage 2 in repertory with “The Possibilities” and “The After-Dinner Joke” as part of PTP/NYC’s Season 2018. This is the Potomac Theatre Project’s thirty-second season in New York City. “Brecht on Brecht” features songs and scenes from Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, and Bertolt Brecht’s most famous collaborations, as well as first-hand accounts from Brecht himself and explores the socio-political and issues the playwright faced as an artist fleeing Nazism for exile in America.

This production is not perfect yet and can be tweaked here and there but it is certainly on the way. It is purely a demonstration of the incredible power of theater. Kudos to the entire cast and creative team for collaborating to present a cogent, emotional and entertaining production. Mazel Tov!

Breathing fresh, modern relevance into a play written some 420 years ago is challenging to say the least. Sure, there are themes and archetypes that transcend time, but when the play is old enough to be seemingly written in a different language, the challenge certainly remains for any theatre company tackling the works of William Shakespeare. The Driftwood Theatre Group takes on this challenge so effortlessly with their production of Rosalynde (or, As You Like It) that you find yourself wondering why Shakespeare is so notorious for being difficult to understand in the first place.

It’s easy to forget that it was only recently – toward the beginning of this decade – that openly gay and lesbian soldiers were allowed to serve in the U.S. military, not to mention how the overall cultural shift in favor of LGBTQ rights is a relatively recent shift that largely began in the 21st century. So when looking back on World War II, when homosexuality was still largely seen by the broader public as if it were some sort of sickness, it’s worth wondering what it must have been like to be a gay, closeted soldier during that pivotal moment in history, and that’s exactly what the new play All My Love, Kate – written and directed by Joe Breen – explores at this year’s Fresh Fruit Festival.

It was more than 100 years ago that playwright and novelist J.M. Barrie created his most iconic character, Peter Pan. Since that time, the boy who wouldn’t grow up has been well-represented in everything from plays and books to movies and TV shows.

At its heart, the play is about the discord between the fun and innocent nature of being a child and the seriousness and responsibility of being an adult. While Barrie explores the darker side of this conflict in his original play and in his subsequent novelization, Theatre on the Ridge’s production focuses on the more lighthearted and magical aspects of the story, making the show much more accessible for children. And that is a very good thing because, let’s face it, there is not enough theatre available for kids to enjoy.

Dashing Canadian hero, Richard Hannay, whisks us on an epic journey through an adventure-filled myriad of iconic film noir characters, accents, and scenes in hopes of revealing the meaning behind ‘The 39 Steps’. Take a 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film thriller and adapt it for the stage. Add some slapstick comedy, mix in four brilliant actors who play an array of iconic spy genre characters plus a dash of some quirky stage directions, and you’ve got Capitol Theatre’s latest, boisterous and bona fide hit, The 39 Steps! 

Deciding whether or not you and your partner do or do not want kids is a big factor, in terms of deciding whether or not you not only love someone, but whether or not you want to actually spend the rest of your life with that particular person. Particularly when it’s a gay or lesbian couple, who have been planning with medical assistance to have a baby for awhile, then it can come as being hurtful, when one half of the couple suddenly decides – after months, if not years of planning – that they no longer want a child, even if the other passionately does. This is exactly the dynamic that is explored beautifully in Half Me, Half You, the new drama by Liane Grant that recently played at the Fresh Fruit Festival, and at this point, easily ranks as one of my favorite plays of the year.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, produced by the Light Opera of New Jersey at SOPAC, is of professional quality. This company is well known throughout New Jersey for producing shows with exceptional talent and The Hunchback of Notre Dame delivers.

In its second offering this season, Westport Country Playhouse has teamed up with the Resident Ensemble Players at the University of Delaware to bring us a new translation of Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear, considered by many to be his exemplar work. Directed by Mark Lamos and translated by David Ives, this production is no cheap, floozy farce, but high-brow satire complete with the familiar hallmarks of the theatrical style, (refined): multiple doors, (clever) physical comedy, confusion, misunderstandings, and (smart) bawdy humor.  I like my jokes served with a sharp wit rather than a lazy tongue, and A Flea in Her Ear delivers.

David Ireland’s “Cyprus Avenue” currently running at The Public’s LuEsther Hall sneaks up on the audience like a cat burglar armed with an AK-15 assault rifle. What one assumes will be lost is far less than the devastation left behind by the action in Ireland’s disquieting play. The detritus remaining after Eric Miller’s (Stephen Rea) violation of his wife Bernie (Andrea Irvine), their daughter Julie (Amy Molloy) and their granddaughter Mary-May is almost unbearable and not predictable. This all begins with Eric stepping onto the stage (after a considerable pause) and sitting on a chair in his living room in Cyprus Avenue, East Belfast. Bernie enters and asks, “What are you doing sitting there doing nothing?” Eric stares back dumbfounded. The next scene begins with Eric in the office of his psychotherapist Bridget (Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo).

A hit across the country, The Hunchback of Notre Dame makes its Bay Area premiere at the Victoria Theatre under Bay Area Musicals. This production ends their season with a bang, ringing all the right bells as the audience watched from the parapets.