Once and for all can the question be answered: Can we go home again? Playwrights from Chekhov to Wilder have renewed the debate and, of course, the answer will always have to be Maybe, depending on the place and who was — and may still be — in it.
There are few plays in history that attempt as much spectacle on stage as Antony and Cleopatra, a romantic tragedy of war, lust, politics, lust, betrayal and lust. “This script is frequently quite over-the-top, and the lead characters so histrionic about their feelings for each other that it borders on farce,” explains Nicole Galland, who is cocreator with Chelsea McCarthy of Shakespeare for the Masses, an off-season project produced by the Vineyard Playhouse to make Shakespeare’s plays accessible, fun and affordable (as a matter of fact, it’s free).
Nightmares and Dreams: Immigrant Voices is a short play written and performed by a group of 5 to 12 Vineyardwomen from six different Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Uruguay. The play was created in an adult education conversational English class using theater exercises, music, and literature as creative and effective learning tools.
A trio of ten-year-olds crowded the ticket booth of the Vineyard Playhouse last week, earnestly peddling imaginary tickets to playhouse employee Geneva Monks. This was their dress rehearsal, preparation for last Saturday’s production of Cave Critters Unite, the play created by Bridget Mello’s class at the Edgartown School for their part in the playhouse’s Fourth Grade Theatre Project.
Do you like to act? sing? dance? Are you between the ages of 8 and 18? Then here is a performance opportunity for you: IMP is producing the family fun play with music Bears Beware! Goldilocks Is in Your Town, by Donna Swift and Ross Mihalko, lyrics by Ross Mihalko, music by Brian Weiland and A.J. Robb. No experience is needed, just a desire to work hard and have fun.
Live radio returns to the Vineyard Playhouse, as It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play makes its second consecutive showing as the annual family holiday production. The popular play is based on the Frank Capra film, adapted by Philip Grecian and directed by playhouse artistic director, MJ Bruder Munafo.
This classic tale plays for ten more performances, and one was last night. Shows are Thursdays through Mondays, through Dec. 21 at the playhouse in downtown Vineyard Haven.
T here is probably not a soul — not even an Oxford don who’s written his umpteenth thesis on King Lear — who takes Shakespeare so seriously that he can’t enjoy a little fooling around with the canon. Nothing is sacred when it comes to Shakespeare, even though hordes in every generation of theatregoers since the bard lived and wrote (up until he died in 1616) have pretty fairly worshipped him.
C hristmastime is predictable: swirls of white lights; favorite carols that young kids first learn as Chet’s Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire and Hark the Harold Angels Sing; dustings of snow, real in the East, fake in the West; and the viewing of classic Christmas movies such as It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart. For the past two Christmases, the Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven has mounted a delightful production of It’s a Wonderful Life, The Radio Play (written by Philip Grecian).
