Theater

Play by Play: March 20, 2009

Plays A to Z

By CAROLYN CLAY | March 18, 2009

OPENING

BAD DATES | Merrimack Repertory Theatre hosts this co-production with Lenox-based Shakespeare & Company of Theresa Rebeck's one-woman comedy about a divorced single mom with a closet stuffed with 600 pairs of shoes, a restaurant-management job that may have Romanian mob connections, and a dubious romantic life. She regales us as she prepares for and winds down from the largely unsuccessful liaisons of the title. Ace comedienne Elizabeth Aspenlieder stars. | Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 978.654.4MRT | Through April 12 | Curtain 2 pm [March 25] + 8 pm Wed | 8 pm Thurs-Fri | 4:30 pm [no March 21] + 8:30 pm Sat | 2 + 7 pm [no evening April 12] Sun | $26-$56

THE BUDDHA — IN HIS OWN WORDS | After several workshop productions in the Boston area, writer/performer Evan Brenner unveils his one-man play taken from the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama — who lived in northern India 500 years before Christ and is better known as the Buddha — in its official world premiere. Brenner presents "the authentic texts" and enacts "the extraordinary life of the man, start to finish. It's no dry tale — the Buddha's life stands among the great archetypal adventure stories." Indiana Jones, eat your heart out. | Boston Center for the Arts Plaza, 539 Tremont St, Boston | 617.933.8600 | March 25–April 4 | Curtain 7:30 pm Wed-Thurs | 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 pm Sun | $28-$33; $5 discount students, seniors | Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 800.838.3006 | April 10-12 | Curtain 8 pm Fri | 3 + 8 pm Sat | 3 + 7:30 pm Sun | $25-$30; $5 discount students, seniors

COMPANY ONE CELEBRATION X | Company One celebrates its tenth anniversary with a big blowout featuring performances by Cabaret X performers including John Kuntz, Rick Park, Marvelyn McFarlane of Voyeurs de Venus, and the cast of Kuntz's upcoming Superheroine Monologues. There's also light fare and silent and live auctions. Liz Walker is special guest; Lois Roach and David Wheeler will be honored for their "creative mentorship." Semi-formal or "creative" attire is recommended. | Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston |www.companyone.org| March 19 | 6-9 pm Thurs | $75

MOVIN' OUT | The Twyla Tharp juggernaut based on the songs of Billy Joel is back for five performances, with Brenda and Eddie from "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and Tony and Sergeant O'Leary from "Movin' Out" and Judy from "Why, Judy, Why" and James from "James" but no dialogue. | Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St, Boston, Cambridge | 800.982.ARTS | March 20-22 | Curtain 8 pm Fri | 2 + 8 pm Sat | 2 + 7:30 pm Sun | $40-$79.50

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ARTICLES BY CAROLYN CLAY

LINCOLN YULE LOG | November 24, 2009
Abraham Lincoln, as he said in his second inaugural address, yearned to "bind up the nation's wounds." Since the great man was assassinated little more than a month later, he didn't quite get around to it. No worry, Paula Vogel has taken over the job with A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration.

DODGING DEATH | November 18, 2009
Even the sweetest life can shatter in an instant, sending you through the looking glass like Alice. For the euphoric heroine of Craig Lucas's 1988 fable of holiday festivity and arbitrary mayhem, Reckless the moment of reckoning comes when her husband tearfully confesses, on Christmas Eve, that he has taken out a contract on her life.

MARS VS. VENUS | October 28, 2009
It’s been 21 years since Speed-the-Plow first milked the cravenness of Hollywood and the self-described “whores” who turn its celluloid tricks. But David Mamet’s scathing, staccato comedy has held up at least as well as Madonna, who made her Broadway debut in the original 1988 production.

ONLY CONNECT | October 20, 2009
Usually when a cell phone goes off in the theater, you want to kill someone. In the case of Dead Man’s Cell Phone , that’s not necessary.

THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY | October 07, 2009
Who’s afraid of Edward Albee?

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CLASSIC ROCK?
If you're looking for meaning in the overly sanitized myth that is our national Thanksgiving celebration, a good place to start is southeastern Massachusetts, where nearly 400 years ago that band of hungry, ill-prepared religious zealots tried to colonize the middle of nowhere at the start of winter.

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GLENN BECK'S UNHINGED SWEATER SAGA
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WE'RE KILLING THE OCEANS
I meet world-renowned undersea photojournalist Brian Skerry at Legal Seafoods, across from the New England Aquarium, where he's the explorer in residence. He orders a chicken Caesar salad.

CLASSIC ROCK?
If you're looking for meaning in the overly sanitized myth that is our national Thanksgiving celebration, a good place to start is southeastern Massachusetts, where nearly 400 years ago that band of hungry, ill-prepared religious zealots tried to colonize the middle of nowhere at the start of winter.

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Theater

Play by Play: March 20, 2009

Lincoln Yule log

Dodging death

Mars vs. Venus

Only connect

Awake! Awake!