theater, entertainment

Fractured fairy tales: Teen playwright puts her own spin on classic stories

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0400

Thirteen-year-old Alejandro Rojas has a bone to pick with fairy tales.

Weekend Planner -- Theater

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Start with a distaff quartet of singer-songwriters; add ¾-cup married life, four kids, three cats, one piano, four guitars and a dollop of sharp social commentary; throw in a pinch of PMS and a hot flash or two and you've got the mood-swinging, estrogen-fueled, musical-comedy revue "The Four Bitchin' Babes in Hormonal Imbalance."

On the fringe: UMass brings taste of famed Scottish theater festival to the Valley

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Imagine you're an actor, stepping onto the stage of a packed theater with no idea what the play is about. While this may seem like a nightmare to some, audiences at a performance of "An Oak Tree" will watch theater faculty from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in that very position.

Hey kids, let's put on a show

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Sixty kids, one week, and their own little red truck full of supplies - that's all the Missoula Children's Theater needs to mount a full theatrical production of "Sleeping Beauty," a rock-and-roll musical adaptation of the fairy tale, when the company visits Amherst next week.

Weekend Planner -- Theater

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Smith College's popular Festival of One-Act Plays this year features three new plays by Smith MFA playwriting candidates: "Scarlet P" by Kendra Arimoto, about an Iraq War veteran who reunites with her brother-in-law in the aftermath of her sister's death; "Board of Review," a monologue by Darren Harned concerning a corporate worker who must defend his personal and profession

Weekend Planner -- Theater

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 -0500

Do you suffer from diabetes, heart disease or some other chronic illness? If not, you probably know someone who does. After two decades dealing with the painful inflammatory bowel condition known as Crohn's Disease, Jonathan Mirin of the Shelburne-based Piti Theatre Company decided to transpose his experiences into an autobiographical performance piece.

In new play, RFK's words, deeds inspire

Daily Hampshire Gazette — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 -0500

The year 1968 was full of protest, shock and death. Americans, in the throes of the Vietnam War, learned of the massacre of unarmed civilians at My Lai, South Vietnam, by a unit of the U.S. army; police brutality broke up protests at Columbia University in New York City and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.