You For Me For You Reviews

The reviews have started coming in for You For Me For You, directed by my girlfriend, M. Bevin O'Gara. EDGE Boston says:

"M. Bevin O’Gara’s sensitive and humanistic direction satisfyingly plumbs the depths beyond the novelty of the script to keep our hearts and minds firmly engaged in the sisters’s fate. O’Gara has the benefit of a wonderful cast of mostly Asian actors who have freed themselves from the muted performances too often imposed on them to this day in the popular American media. They give their emotions full throttle and so engage ours."

So, ya know. That's nice. Here's a little video I put together of audience testimonials, in case you're still not convinced!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsW5qxdLAOw]

Who For You For Me For Who?

My incredibly talented partner, Ms. M. Bevin O'Gara, is directing the Boston premiere of You For Me For You, a fantastical new play by Mia Chung that tells the story of two sisters trying to escape North Korea and flee to the United States. Bevin and I tend to stay out of each others' ways when it comes to our creative processes, so while I've read the script, I honestly don't know much about the production itself -- but I can tell you that I'm incredibly excited to see this highly imaginative story acted out on stage (and not just because my girlfriend is the director and I'm biased). Here's a little preview video I put together for the production, which starts performances tomorrow and runs through February 16:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qlpSZVLyuEA]

(side note, when I was approached to create a video for the show, it took so much of my will power to not just give them this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ]

but you knew that was coming, right? I'm a horrible person)

"I Speak For You"

I've posted a bunch about Invisible Man already, but don't take my word for it. Here's an audience testimonial video that I put together, so you can hear what the actual audience has to say about it. Plus, there's some video footage from the production, which looks pretty damn cool if you do ask me! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTFytLFVmII]

Live Theatre On Video, Live!

For those of you who missed the 2nd Annual Boston One-Minute Play Festival, you're in the luck! The whole thing is streaming online here at HowlRound's NewPlayTV. If you don't want to watch the entire thing (which is understandable, it's 2 hours long), my 2 plays are at approximately 28 minutes, and at 48:55.

Also, you might want to fastforward to the end to watch a delightful surprise.

The Race One, Not The Sci-Fi One

Previews start tomorrow at the Huntington for our stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's seminal novel Invisible Man. If nothing else, this is simply one of the most stunning visual feats for storytelling I've seen. Here's a little video I put together about the play from interviews I did with the creators and the lead actor playing Invisible Man. Check it out: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgoMI-I21Co]

Invisible Man plays Jan. 4 — Feb. 3 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre.

Don't Take My Word For It...

In case I somehow haven't said enough to convince you to go see Our Town at the Huntington, here's a little video I put together of what OTHER people have said about the show right after seeing it (along with some exclusive footage from the production itself). So if you don't trust me, trust them instead! Peer Pressure! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXAsKJ62LAU]

Wow. Our Town. Wow. Okay.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPwJ-8cGXpI] I say this with no personal bias -- not because my wonderful girlfriend, the producer of this fine production, has been busting her ass for 10 months to make this show as a reality, and not as an employee of the theatre company that is presenting the show.

David Cromer's production of Our Town at the Huntington is one of the Desert Island All-Time Top 5 Most Moving Shared Communal Experiences I have ever had in my entire life.

Perhaps it's especially poignant for me when I think of the friends that I've lost in recent years, but I watched the show on both Tuesday and Wednesday night, and I couldn't stand to watch it for a third time last night for our opening because I was already so overwhelmed with emotion. Three days in a row, and I think I would be eternally reduced to a sobbing puddle of flesh lying in fetal position on the floor. Yes, this show is so good that I literally could not watch it a third time (although I will probably go back at the end of the run, and hopefully catch some things I missed the other 2 times, because there's so much to see in the nothingness of this production, and as the play itself suggests, we can't possibly appreciate all of it when it's happening).

Anyway, there's a video I made up there about the show. I cannot stress enough how powerful and poignant this production truly is. Our Town might be seen as hokey and sentimental and high school-y to many people (though oddly I grew up in Thornton Wilder's hometown and never read or saw the show once, although I did play lots of shitty punk rock shows at Thornton Wilder Memorial Hall), but man, David Cromer just gets it, in a way that'll just blow your mind.

(Also don't read the review in The Boston Globe because [a] it's douchey, [b] IT SPOILS THE END OF THE PLAY, and [c] it's douchey. Yes, Our Town has been around a while, so there are certain spoilers that are now beyond the statute of limitations, but to spoil what makes this production so remarkable -- and to spoil it in such a nonchalant manner -- is awful. If this guy had reviewed The Sixth Sense when it first came out, he would have said "And then it turns out that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time which was totally brilliant and stunning -- I mean, that is to say, if you're one of those people who enjoys brilliant and stunning things or whatever. But otherwise, meh.")

An Invisible Man On Stage

Here's another new video I recently put together, about our upcoming stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (the African-American one, not the sci-fi one) at the Huntington. Check it out: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW64H2eLPXg]

Our Town In Boston

First of all, I'd like to take a quick moment to wish myself a Happy Birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Me! Thanks, Me! Fun fact: Our Town playwright Thornton Wilder spent most of his life and is buried in my home town of Hamden, CT. Other fun fact: I never actually knew anything about Our Town or Thornton Wilder when I still lived in Hamden, but I did play lots of shitty punk rock shows in the Thornton Wilder Auditorium, so, ya know, there's that.

Our production of Our Town at the Huntington opens next week, and I'm incredibly about finally having the chance to see this show in this way. David Cromer, the director, won a MacArthur "Genius" Award, largely for his work on this show, and everyone who's seen it so far (it's been performed in several different incarnations across the country before this, but this is the same design and approach, with a new, all-Boston cast) has raved about how incredibly how much, how much the show affected them and blew their minds away.

But don't take my word for it. Here's a new video I made about it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl_Z1uqkwQk]

(Did I mention that my good friend Jeff Marcus AKA "Calvin Elder" AKA Avenger from True Believers is in the show as well? Sorry, no spandex this time)

Welcome to the C-Wood

The Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts has a very special place in my heart. I was hired there to work as an usher in my first few weeks of college, and it ended up serving as my main place of employment throughout those 4 years. By my Junior year, I had moved up to Assistant House Manager, and started doing some administrative work as well -- which helped leverage me into my current position at the Huntington, as we manage that building as well. (plus my first apartment was right next to it, which was a convenient commute for work, but, well, the story of that apartment is a whole other thing) It's a beautiful modern theatre space with 4 performance spaces as well as rehearsal rooms and more, and it serves a lot of great smaller theatre companies, in addition to our own shows. Here's a video I put together as part of our fundraising campaign at the Huntington, showing the impact that the building has had the community.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22X0VJMskI]

Memories of Betrayal

Here's a short little teaser trailer I put together for our production of BETRAYAL at the Huntington. I think this one in particular is pretty neat -- but then again, I might be biased. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08sam5XB6es]

Memory, Time, and Infidelity

Here's a little behind-the-scenes documentary that I put together for our upcoming production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal at the Huntington. This was one of the first plays to famously explore a nonlinear chronology, which is one of its more interesting qualities (basically, LOST owes a lot to Betrayal). Anyway, check it out. Previews start Friday! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBcAW2uCqHo]

Now Or Later Opening!

Now Or Later officially opened this past Wednesday, and we couldn't be happier with the results! Okay, well, I guess we could a little bit, but overall, the reaction has been pretty fantastic for this "heady and provocative" 75-minute political thriller. So here's a little somethin' I put together to show off the overwhelmingly positive audience reaction, along with some footage from the production itself:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyDJCgUDEKc&w=485&h=273]

Because There's Not Enough Political Bullshit Filling Your Facebook Feed....

...so here's a new video I made about our current production at the Huntington, a prescient new play called Now Or Later that's set on Election Night. While the last piece focused on the First Family drama at the heart of the play, this one explores the eerily relevant politics of the play (which was actually written 5 years ago, but feels like it was written right now. RIGHT NOW). Check it out:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8CR3nXxSCU]

Betrayal Begins

We just started rehearsals today (well, rehearsals in Boston; there were a few preliminary days of tablework in NYC) for our upcoming production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, one of his most highly regarded plays. The show runs November 9 - December 9 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, under the direction of Maria Aitken aka the mom of the director on SMASH aka the lady from A Fish Called Wanda aka fucking Maria Aitken. Anyway, here's a video I made of our Artistic Director Peter DuBois talking about the production:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOhQBRYb-So&w=485&h=273]

Gettin' Personal With Now Or Later

Here's my first short documentary about the American premiere of Christopher Shinn's edgy political drama Now Or Later at the Huntington. This video focuses on the personal family relationships at the heart of the play, which is full of eerily prescient political issues, considering it was written 4 years ago.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ9GLnvEr_8]

The show runs October 12 - November 10 at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA in Boston, and features my good friend (and fellow Emerson alum!) Grant MacDermott in the lead role. You should probably check this one it now or later (now being before Election Day, obviously).

Now Or Later at the Huntington

Here's my first video featurette on the Huntington's upcoming American premiere of Now Or Later, an edgy political thriller by Christopher Shinn that's set on election night, in which some inappropriate Facebook party photos of the soon-to-be-President's son get leaked to the public. The show runs October 12 - November 10 at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, and features my good friend Grant MacDermott as John, Jr. Here's Artistic Director Peter DuBois discussing the play. (More to come, obvi) [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUKuJiwdiS8&w=480&h=270]

Another Good People Video

...this one focusing on the themes of class struggle in America as it pertains to the play. Enjoy! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjN4VqNf5TI&w=480&h=270]

Oh, Boston, What A Character

Here's another video I made for the Huntington's upcoming production of Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire (previews start this Friday!). [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_Yk1t_Q7Q]Following its successful premiere on Broadway last year, Good People is one of the most produced plays in the country in the coming theatrical season -- but we're the only theatre producing this Boston-centric play in the city of Boston itself. I spoke with the director (an Acton native) and members of the cast (one of whom is from Southie, another from Watertown) about the pressures and rewards of doing this popular new play in the city in which its based.  The general consensus seems to be that the city of Boston is in fact the central character of the play, a little bit of universal anthropomorphizing that I can totally get behind (and also feels very noir to me, considering the role that LA plays in the work of Raymond Chandler, hrmmmm....)

(Also, the playwright himself gave his public approval of the piece on twitter. And he's got a Pulitzer. Eat that, Alyssa Milano!)

Thommy on the MBTA

The first show in our upcoming season at the Huntington is the Broadway hit Good People by South Boston native David Lindsay-Abaire. The show tells the story of a struggling middle-aged single mom in Southie who loses her job and looks up an old flame (who got out of the Southie projects and is now a doctor living in Chestnut Hill) to help her out. It's a powerful, Boston-centric play that focuses on class issues in America in ways that are remarkably relevant to the country right now, and that frankly, aren't actually addressed that much in American theatre. But enough of that. Here's a little teaser trailer I put together for the show, chronicling the physical journey from South Boston (Corner of F and Tudor, to be precise) to Chestnut Hill on the MBTA, mimicking Margie Walsh's own journey in the second act of the play. Hear you me: it was a long ride.

(also, don't ever call me Thommy)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh03l2Ds2jU&w=480&h=270]

Good People plays September 14 - October 14 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre. AND, if you're under 35 (which I suspect most of you reading my website are...) tickets are only $25, and we've got a sweet party coming up on September 14, where your ticket also includes a live band and  free drinks after the show.