Arts » News

Looking Back at 2020

by Jules Becker
Thursday Jan 14, 2021

This article is from the January 14, 2020 issue of South End News.


Lewis D. Wheeler, Hubens "Bobby" Cius and Kadahj Bennett in SpeakEasy Stage's production of "Pass Over." (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)
Lewis D. Wheeler, Hubens "Bobby" Cius and Kadahj Bennett in SpeakEasy Stage's production of "Pass Over." (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)  

Is social distance performance real theater? This question, of course, has informed virtually all stage efforts since the outbreak of COVID-19. Given the challenges of presenting split-screen and zoom productions, a best of the year list is unavoidably brief. Still, 2020 boasted some notable initial pre-COVID efforts and several following well-conceived presentations that provided online audiences with provocative fare until the re-opening of area theaters.
SpeakEasy Stage Company presented the Hub premiere of the tough-talking yet thoughtful street corner-set Off-Broadway drama "Pass Over" (2019 Lortel best play prize). Antoinette Nuandu's timely play riffs on Beckett and Exodus in a resonant look at the frustrations and difficulties of two African-American young men. Hubens "Bobby" Cius was forceful as Kitch and Kadahj Bennett commanding as Moses. SpeakEasy has since tackled LGBTQ issues with an audio presentation of M.J.Halberstadt (the deservedly acclaimed "The Launch Prize")'s informative bookstore-set play "The Usual Unusual"—one that the company is likely to stage fully post-COVID.
American Repertory Theater paid tribute to 85 year old activist Gloria Steinem with an exuberant area premiere of the Emily Mann Off-Broadway play "Gloria." Audience members sat on pillows and bean bags as well as regular Loeb Drama Center seats for this informative if overly busy portrait of the Ms. Magazine founder, supporter of gay rights and inspiring contemporary of Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug. Patricia Kalember powerfully captured Steinem's fire and feeling.
Spring found the Hub Theatre Company of Boston bringing new zest to "Much Ado about Nothing" in a lively split-screen revival. Jon Vellante was a standout as Benedick in a solid ensemble. Veteran actor Arthur Waldstein—wearing a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) and yarmulke—proved very affecting as Rabbi Francis (originally, of course, Friar Francis) in director Bryn Boice's persuasive adaptation.

New Repertory Theatre began a project called the Showstopper Virtual Play Series with back to back on-line one person one-act plays. Colombian-American playwright Alexis Scheer's "A Very Herrera Holiday" impressed with a disarming Martha Stewart-like crafts show that eventually darkened via suspicions of the host about the fidelity of her husband. The second work, Miranda ADEkoje's Instagram-employing "[keyp-ing] ," builds on the worries of an African-American producer's about the security of her director husband and fellow black film crew members testing for COVID in a virtually all-white community. This smart Zoom duo bodes well for New Rep's commitment to diversity.
Arlekin Players continues to show itself to be an envelope-pushing troupe. If its one-woman trial-based drama "State vs. Natasha Banina" needed stronger development and fuller back story, the company nevertheless deserves kudos for a well-acted, technically imaginative effort.

Three pioneering gay playwrights were lost to America and the world in 2020-Mart Crowley (84), Larry Kramer (84) and Terrence McNally (at 81 from complications from COVID 19).
Crowley's pre-Stonewall "The Boys in the Band" (1968) broke ground for dramatists seeking to focus on the fortunes of gay characters. Theatergoers can catch a film version of the Tony Award-winning 2018 revival (complete with the entire Broadway cast) on Netflix. Kramer's Tony-winning play "The Normal Heart" (powerfully staged on Broadway) combines a touching romance in the age of AIDS, insights about activists like the playwright himself and timely comment about politicians favoring opportunism over courage and caring.
Terrence McNally (whom this critic was privileged to meet at a talkback after a stellar SpeakEasy Stage Company production of his Off-Broadway gem "A Man of No Importance") was rightly known as "the bard of American theater." The multi-talented writer and opera aficionado won Tony's for plays — "Love!Valour!Compassion!" and "Master Class"--as well as the books of musicals—"Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Ragtime."
Surely the works of all three—particularly the prolific McNally—will remain an essential part of American stage repertoire.