The following journal chronicles Vineyard author Kate Feiffer’s experience on the making of the new play My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life, which is having a workshop production at the Vineyard Playhouse on June 11, 12, 18 and 19. M.J. Bruder Munafo, who is also directing, adapted the book to stage.
July 1, 1998: Motherhood began two weeks later than expected. Now that my daughter has been born, I can say with confidence that I will be a cool mom.
It’s a Wonderful Life, the radio play written by Philip Grecian based on the film by Frank Capra, is being performed on Dec. 17 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. by the Vineyard Playhouse at the regional high school’s performing arts center.
This live stage “radio show” is recommended for ages eight and older.
The IMPers holiday show is this Saturday, Dec. 17, beginning at 8 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.
For those out of the know, IMP is the Island’s teen professional improv troupe. The show is a chance to help them out as they preview material slated for submission to the 2012 Chicago Improv Festival. But, of course, not everything will be scripted. Audience members will be asked to arrive loaded with holiday suggestion from which the improv group will weave their hilarious magic.
For those on the Vineyard who have witnessed the past two summer productions from the PigPen Theatre Company you know what it means to be completely transported, body and soul, to, without gilding the lily one bit, a place of imagination so powerful adults have been known to become toddlers on the spot: mute, with finger outstretched and prone to falling down in fits of giggles and wonderment. Kids, well, they simply become transfixed, the feeling so strong they refuse to watch television for weeks afterwards. It just doesn’t compare.
It’s A Wonderful Life, for anyone who has accidentally missed the 20th century, was originally a 1946 movie directed by Frank Capra starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore. This weekend, the Vineyard Playhouse is rebooting the story as a radio drama written by Phillip Grecian, the kind where the audience is stationed in front of a clutter of equipment and watches while a character actor takes out a stick of gum and chomps on it, and the sound guy hits the glockenspiel.
The American Dream can conjure up many images. Something to aspire to, something that excludes, something that is as prevalent as ever or something outdated and no longer even available to anyone. In any case, it is a particular American phrase and way of life and something most everyone has an opinion about. The problem arises when discussing the topic with family or friends; like anything leaning toward the political, it can get a bit too hot to handle.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Mississippi, with all the proper psychological accoutrements to become a great writer. His family was abysmally dysfunctional, his mother a narcissist with a streak of snobbery, denial and grandiosity (much like the mother in The Glass Menagerie), and his father an often-absent, smalltime businessman with a temper, active fists and an aversion to his delicate son, who, as we all know, was destined to grow up to be a homosexual, a tough row to hoe in the deep South.
From the streetfront, the Vineyard Arts Project appears to be another large house on Main street. There is no hint that past its picket fence is unfolding, in turn: life on the Texas-Mexico border; family drama at a racially-charged estate; and people singing and dancing about the financial crisis.
This week the play 5 Mojo Secrets began its run at the Vineyard Playhouse. The play tells the story of a successful African American couple as they try to sort out what happened to their once happy marriage. It is a subject every married couple, even the happiest, can relate to. After all, how do two separate individuals retain their own identity and aspirations while also becoming that one unit known as husband and wife? It is a challenge that many decide is just too great.
Mark the calendars, the Edgartown school play takes place next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5 at 7 p.m.
This year’s production is called Bluebeard and is billed as a spooky musical tale. Bluebeard is based on a cautionary tale involving sisters Mary Stephanie and Mary Elizabeth and their search for the man of their dreams. Of course, when trying to follow a dream, it is not uncommon for nightmares to infiltrate the landscape. The show visits both the humorous and haunting sides of this journey.
