Hackers on stage
Anyone who has been on an MIT campus tour has seen the pictures of great hacks of the past. Study here for a year, and you’re sure to see a hack with your own eyes. Yet despite the knowledge that hackers are fellow students, the people that crawl between the walls and pull high-tech pranks remain a mystery to most. In Hack, Punt, Tool, hackers take center stage in a story steeped in MIT mythology. This new musical is written, scored, and orchestrated by MIT students. For those who have ever wondered who was behind the abduction of the Caltech cannon or the many creative alterations to the dome, this is the show for you.
A study of scarlet
In her stage adaptation of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, Alexandra Wood has crafted a vivid portrait of the political turmoil and uncertainty surrounding Mao Zedong’s rule in China. Chang’s memoir, which spans a century of history and covers the lives of three generations of women — her grandmother, her mother, and herself — is a lengthy one, but on the stage, the epic plays out in five acts and less than two hours.
Urine good hands?
Corporate profits soar. A corrupt politician is bribed into raising fees for a necessary service, at the expense of the people. The people’s protest is brutally suppressed by the police.
Intrigue in Boston
Next House presented their self-produced musical Curtains over CPW and last Sunday, in celebration of the dorm’s 30th anniversary. Curtains, originally written by Rupert Holmes, tells the tale of the murder case that occurs in a Boston theater. The star of the show, Jessica Cranshaw (Tiffany J. Lin ’11), is shot in the beginning of her performance and a detective by the name of Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (Staly Chin ’15) comes to unravel the mystery of the murder. Baffled by the fact that Cranshaw’s costars and director were glad that she passed away, the detective puts everyone on his suspects list. In this play, there are relationship issues with cast members, rekindling of love, mother-daughter issues, boat shows, and newspaper critics from The Boston Globe!
DARE to get high?
A time for experimentation, college life is rife with pleasures — legal or otherwise. Those proud graduates of DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) have already been introduced to the evils of drugs. Those who haven’t heard the stern warnings and strict admonitions can still be saved from the stroll down sin lane. Now, both can find a refresher course on the most pernicious gateway drug of them all.
How many MIT students does it take to tame the shrew?
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble prides itself on keeping a textual interpretation of the classic works while adding a modern twist to keep the plays fresh — and this is certainly true of their latest production, The Taming of the Shrew. The play follows the story of Katherina and Bianca, daughters of the wealthy lord Baptista. Because of Katherina’s shrewish disposition and Bianca’s desirability, Baptista decides that he will only marry off Bianca if Katherina gets a husband first. So begins a crazy journey of deception and false identities: Lucentio, Tranio, and Hortensio compete for Bianca’s hand in marriage, while Petruchio of Verona is the only suitor brave enough to deal with Katherina’s sass.
“Operation Epsilon” — Ten scientists, one stage
It’s the close of World War II. The British and Americans have imprisoned Germany’s top ten nuclear scientists in a lavish English estate, Farm Hall. Every room in the house, from the piano room to the parlor, is bugged. The Allies listen to the scientists’ conversations to determine how close Nazi Germany is to building an atomic bomb.
A story of loyalty, honor and deception
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s production of “Julius Caesar” premiered last Friday, with over twenty-five MIT students contributing to the show as either cast or crew. The story is about the conspiracy against Julius Caesar, and his assassination in 44 BC. Although it is a historical play, “Julius Caesar” does not focus significantly on the facts and logistics of the conspiracy, but instead illuminates the psychological basis and internal struggles of the characters in the play.
Twisted mythology
MIT Professor of Music and Theater Arts Jay R. Scheib’s newest production, Elektra, took stage this month at Kresge Little Theater, starring an all-MIT-student cast. The Greek myth inspired tale of heartache and revenge makes the audience cringe, laugh, and gasp as characters spit blood into each other’s faces, surgically remove someone’s heart, reunite with long-lost siblings, and commit murder. The performance both captivates and horrifies the audience while effectively articulating its tragic theme.
A charming romp through the troubles of adult life
The beloved theme song of the Internet, “The Internet is for Porn,” comes to MIT in the Musical Theater Guild’s production of Avenue Q. With a story about a group of friends with real-life problems, such as closeted homosexuality, porn addiction, and graduating with a liberal arts degree, the show mixes puppets, actors, and even a shadow theater in a hilarious pastiche of Sesame Street for adults.
Presidential dilemmas
Take the T to Harvard Square, walk down Brattle Street just far enough to escape the loud bustle of tourists, and you will find yourself at the Loeb Drama Center, home to the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.). It’s difficult to imagine that such a star-struck theatre could exist on such a quiet street, but the building — a typical example of modern architecture, and easily overlooked — has housed many well-known names and acclaimed performances. Zachary Quinto played Tom in a staging of The Glass Menagerie that ran this April and March; in June, the A.R.T.’s production of Pippin claimed ten nominations and four wins at the 2013 Tony Awards. And on Sept. 20, I had the opportunity to view a play of similar casting and literary caliber: All The Way, written by Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, and starring Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame.
Breathing life into a long-gone European empress
Whether it is just another attempt by feminist revisionist historians to rehabilitate female historical figures by distinguishing their personal views and deeds from that of their husbands or fathers, or merely an expression of the personal and professional views of Evelyne Lever, a leading contemporary French historian and author, Marie-Antoinette in Her Own Words at the very least invokes sympathy for her gruesome fate, if not also empathy for her long suffering through a passionless marriage and the backstabbing of cruel panjandrums in the 18th century French imperial court.
The Power of Duff
An ordinary anchorman leads a relatively ordinary life until one day when his father suddenly dies. Instead of closing one of his broadcast reports by traditionally thanking the audience for watching the news, he decides to break the norms and pray. The erratic decision receives glowing praise from the local community, and the story gets a special twist when the anchorman’s subsequent broadcast prayers come to life. With these new acquired powers, he decides that it is his duty to pray for other people’s sufferings and save the world.
A Hamlet reimagining
Introducing the redefinition of a penny for your thoughts. The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s performance of Hamlet reconceives the original play by Shakespeare and brings imagination to life. For those of you who have read the play about the Prince of Denmark before you may have found it to be highly emotional. The infamous line “to be or not to be” has been quoted many times over. Another nuance you may have noticed is that while there are many high-pressure and tension-filled scenes, there are also welcome traces of comic relief.
Dramashop presents One Acts
Last weekend MIT Dramashop continued a 56-year tradition, presenting one-act plays performed and directed by students. The night included four short plays, ranging from a slightly morbid tale of death and beauty to a comedy/drama between a hobo and an affluent screenplay writer. We walked away entertained, amused, and thoroughly impressed by our theatrically inclined peers.
The Forest of Eoren, a student-written production
“It’s like a Charlie’s Angels pose with stuffed animals”, says the director. “Remember, you’re the spokesdryad.”
What have we learned?
Is the modern housing crisis like the Great Depression? In House/Divided, The Builders Association attempts to understand the parallels between the financial panic of the late 2000s and the 1930s, with a fascinating script that draws inspiration from The Grapes of Wrath and innovative incorporation of media.
A moving romance in a chaotic world
Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia pairs the parallel stories of teenaged Thomasina Coverly (Keenan A. Sunderwirth ’14) and her tutor Septimus Hodge (Garett W. Schulte ’17) in an early 19th-century England in Sidley Park, and follows Hannah Jarvis (Katherine A. Roe ’14) in modern day. While Thomasina investigates determinism and physics near the turn of the century, Hannah uncovers the identity of Sidley Park’s mysterious hermit.
Baryshnikov returns to the stage
Man in a Case is an adaptation of two of Chekov’s lesser-known tales, “Man in a Case” and “About Love,” currently hosted by the always-improving ArtsEmerson.
Shakespeare, updated
I loathe Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are generally over-performed, and I’ve seen far too many productions where actors speak Shakespeare’s archaic words in strange phrasings, making the plays inaccessible. Additionally, the plays generally lack interesting female characters and are often misogynistic. To say the least, I expected to be bored by A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Not enough depth
Theater, by virtue of its intimacy, is meant to teach us something about ourselves and others. While The Whale carefully reveals the life of an overweight man, it does so by obscuring two traditionally ignored groups, young women and Mormons.
MIT Shakespeare Ensemble presents Twelfth Night
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s performance of Twelfth Night was hilarious. The play tells the story of Viola, who pretends to be a man to get close to Orsino, whom she loves. However, Orsino loves Olivia, who falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola — a confusing love triangle at best. For those of you more familiar with popular culture than Shakespeare, you may recall the movie She’s the Man, starring Amanda Bynes, which was based off of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This production was as humorous as any Shakespearian comedy and was set in an interesting time — the 1960s or 1970s.
Traces at ArtsEmerson
In my dreams sometimes I fly. I just take a really long step and then the next without my feet ever touching the ground. It is a peculiar yet precious feeling. The Quebecois troupe Les 7 Doigts de la Main (literally, the seven fingers of a hand), makes the dream a reality in their theater, dance, and circus crossover Traces, running in the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston’s Theatre District until October 12.
Love’s Labour’s Lost: A labor of love
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble put on their production of Love’s Labour’s Lost on March 19–22 in La Sala de Puerto Rico, directed by Liz Adams. Despite the challenges of performing one of Shakespeare’s more esoteric plays, the Ensemble executed it with both talent and enthusiasm.
Can I have the definition please?
I completely understood what director Hubert Hwang ’07 meant when he said that MIT students would probably really identify with at least one of the eight main characters in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The middle schoolers aren’t perfect, and while they have some impressive achievements under their belts, they have flaws, insecurities, and personal matters to deal with. We realize it isn’t fair to idolize them: admire them, sure, but don’t place god-like expectations upon them.
Double, double toil and trouble
Along the spectrum of villains and traitors, Macbeth falls somewhere between Brutus and Joffrey Baratheon. Spurred on by his wife’s ambitions, he murders his king, his best friend, and a whole family in order to gain and keep the throne. With all the aspirations of a would-be ruler, but none of the guts, Macbeth is truly an unsympathetic character. But what if someone other than Lady Macbeth were pulling his strings? What if the events of Shakespeare’s classic play were actually orchestrated by a cabal of witches?
An enchanting trip Into the Woods
For their fall production, MIT Musical Theatre Guild’s (MTG) took on Into the Woods, one of Stephen Sondheim’s most treasured musicals. It’s got fairy tale characters, an endless stream of wishes, and a charming sense of humor. The musical follows a childless baker and his wife, and their quest to break a witch’s curse, where they must journey through the mysterious woods to obtain a set of items for the witch. During their adventure through the woods, their paths intertwine with those of the characters from Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Rapunzel, and the plot thickens once the characters begin arguing over questions like “What is right?” and “What should I do with this giant in my backyard?”
Much Ado About Nothing: hormones and humor run rampant in Messina gaming lounge
Taking a theatrical journey to Messina, the traditional setting of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, was exactly what I needed by the end of this past week. It turned out to be a rather unexpected kind of Messina — a gaming lounge rather than a small Italian town. But hey, “all the world’s a stage,” and the Shakespeare Ensemble does a fantastic job of adapting one of the Bard’s most beloved comedies to ours.
The Wild Party
The piece is relatively fast-paced throughout, with one dramatic turn following another and songs flowing almost like a stream of consciousness.
Shakespeare meets Star Trek
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s rendition of The Tempest was an infusion of the Bard and Star Trek. I’m usually not the biggest Shakespeare fan but I am a sci-fi nerd, and I enjoyed the many tributes to popular science fiction franchises throughout.
1776 delivers patriotic, playful production
In the midst of oppressive August heat, the MIT Gilbert & Sullivan Players took audiences back to another sweltering summer in a different northern city.
Everybody’s got the right to be morbid
Framed as a macabre carnival game, Assassins delves into the stories of men and women who attempted to assassinate presidents of the United States.
Hamilton, I don’t think we’re in 1776 anymore
Hamlet-on, a production by the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble, was completely written and rehearsed in 24 hours. A mashup of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s wildly popular musical Hamilton, the show proves both clever and hilarious.
Hit ’80s sitcom resurfaces in live stage adaptation
Set in a Boston bar, the sitcom Cheers dominated TV in the ’80s as the place to go where “everybody knows your name.” It’s back in a stage adaptation from Citi Performing Arts Center, debuting in Boston before embarking on a nationwide tour.
Connecting the dots in Sunday in the Park with George
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago, served as a theatrical and musical inspiration for Stephen Sondheim, who has been described as “the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater.” For actor Chanler-Berat (Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher and Next to Normal) and director Peter DuBois (A Little Night Music), who hopped on a plane to view the original painting, it was a source of creative energy.
Oh, What a Night!
It’s one of those musicals that’ll have you humming its tunes all week long. Packed with energy and addicting melodies, Jersey Boys recounts the rise of one of America’s most beloved bands from the 1960s, The Four Seasons.
Love and murder adds up to a night of laughter
Even though the show packed in a fair amount of murder, the bloodshed only contributed to the musical’s hilariously over-the-top story set in Edwardian England.
Brooding pirates, a damsel in distress, and Le Jardin Animé en pointe
Le Corsaire (the Pirate) is a thrilling fantasy tale set in the Royal Ottoman era about a love triangle between a handsome corsair named Conrad, ruthless Said Pasha, and the beautiful maiden Medora.
An American in Paris dazzles Boston
An American in Paris nearly had me in tears. Not just once, or twice, or three times — I was continually overwhelmed with a range of ineffably blissful emotions. I'd be taking in the iconic music, the flawless dancing, the set, the acting, the story… and I'd be overcome with such an appreciation for being alive, in that theatre, sitting in that seat, experiencing such a beautiful performance.
Tiger Style follows two siblings as they explore their identites
The myth of the “tiger mom” took flight in the American imagination with the publication of Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which sparked a nationwide controversy about the merits of Asian vs. Western parenting styles. Playwright Mike Lew “felt that it wasn’t being represented [fairly] in the media,” so he decided to write a play about it. He explores not only the myth of tiger parents and the question of what happens after the alleged Carnegie Hall recitals and Ivy League college graduations, but also the identity conundrum that faces Asian-Americans in the 21st century.
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
As the lights dim in La Sala on the second floor of the Stud, the spotlight focuses on a quiet scene in fair Verona (crafted by set designer Jakob Weisblat ‘18), where the age-old tragedy of star-crossed lovers is about to unfold. With their rendition of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble brings forth the time-worn themes of fate and free will, love and lust, that Shakespeare introduced in theaters centuries ago. The famed tragedy, directed by long-time theater veteran Francine Davis, brings the audience many laughs, tears, and the entire spectrum between the two.
Thuggery takes the stage and refuses to give it up
In this telling of political thuggery, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is injected with humor in a way that makes it easy to forget the seriousness and wrongness of what is unfolding in the play.
Sharply funny comedy, terminal illness, and 17th century poetry take center stage
Wit is a tour de force of human experience that dares to pose difficult questions about life, death, and the uncertainty of human mortality
“Urine” for a good show
In the world of Urinetown, urination isn’t a right, but a privilege. It’s a place without privacy, where you simply cannot ever hope to “pee in peace.”
Revenge is a dish best served cold and with magical rain
It’s not the first time that Prospero’s gender was switched in an adaptation. In 2010, Julie Taymor’s film The Tempest cast Helen Mirren as the protagonist Prospero (known in the film as Prospera), a role traditionally acted by a man in Shakespeare’s original play of the same title. Here, the Actors’ Shakespeare Project has cast Marya Lowry, who juggles the various sides of our protagonist seamlessly and fits naturally into the script.
It’s all fun and games... unless you’re George and Martha
The script has held up well. With its raunchy humor and intensely flawed characters, Virginia Woolf? is reminiscent of modern television dramedies like You’re the Worst. Dysfunctional families and tragic marriages seem like modern staples, but for a play performed in the 1960s, it generated controversy for its language and portrayal of such flawed, unlikeable characters.
If you don’t like it, it’s your fault
Nine different characters. Sixteen different possible life trajectories. Over 10 hours of theatrical content. All of this managed by a cast of two.
Meet Augustine Early, your resident journalist sleazebag
The Atheist is a snide reminder about integrity and moral responsibility to journalists who are granted the power to control the flow of information.
Wait, you mean it’s not “Hack, Pun, Tool?”
Listen to Story Jack tell the tale of the greatest, most elaborate inside joke of the world: MIT’s hacker culture.
Happy theater, sad theater, weird theater
MIT Dramashop presents The One Acts, a collection of concise 30-minute plays that hit home hard.
MIT Stop Our Silence presents The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues began with a lively discussion of what vaginas are called in different majors. “In course 6, they call it the ‘Big O’.” “In course 12, they call it the ‘black hole.’
When all along, you’ve been telling the truth
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being EarnestPresented by Odyssey OperaLibrettist and Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoDirector and Conductor: Gil RoseSung in EnglishMar. 17-18, 2017Wimberly Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts
Exit, pursued by a bear
The Winter's TaleDirected by Arielle LipshawMarch 17 - 18 at 4 p.m., March 19 at 4 p.m., March 23 - 25 at 8 p.m.La Sala de Puerto Rico
Words take root in people
EMW (East Meets West) Bookstore is a cozy community space and gallery located in Central Square that has hosted one of the longest running Asian American open mic night series in the country.
What to do when you cannot mend Every Piece of Me?
Every Piece of Me explores cultural clashes and the moments when communication collapses in a heartwarming drama.
Can religion and reason agree on love?
Paradise explores the clashing issues of science and tradition as it follows two unlikely friends through an academic and personal journey.
Sweet dreams are made of this: wonder
From Einstein’s Dreams, I took away less of an understanding of time and more of a mutual recognition, less of Einstein’s biography and more of his fiction.