Reverend Theobald Mathew - " Apostle of Temperance" 1790-1856 #Salem

Reverend Theobald Mathew - " Apostle of Temperance" 1790-1856 #Salem, originally uploaded by arthennessey.

Salem Alley - Halloween

Salem alley #halloween, originally uploaded by arthennessey.

New Play Shuffle - Boston - New England Edition

Patrick Gabridge crunches some numbers for Boston:

So, at ten Boston theaters, we have 11 world premieres (out of more than 50 productions), though BPT skews the average a little. Of those 11 world premieres, 6 are by Boston writers (only 4 out of 10 theatres are producing work by local writers). If you take BPT out of the mix, since they exclusively produce new work by BU alums, that leaves us with 4 full-length plays written by Boston writers getting professional productions in town.

Given those numbers, you wouldn't know that we have a wealth of playwrights living in or near Boston, whose work has been widely produced.

And for New England:

To sum up: 24 professional theatres of various size in New England (not counting Boston) are staging 16 world premieres (by 11 theatres). Quite a few musicals. Only six of the writers are from New England. Not exactly great numbers if you're a New England playwright (okay, they're kind of depressing). It'd sure be nice to see an average of at least 1 new play per theatre, and a lot stronger commitment to New England writers. (I'm not sure about where the teams from Goodspeed are from, so there could be a few more New Englanders in the mix.)

If you add the Boston numbers from yesterday's post to the mix, you get 34 theatres staging 27 world premieres, by 12 local writers.

Mobile Network Direct Mail - With Progressive Pitch

Mobile Network Direct Mail - With Progressive Pitch, originally uploaded by arthennessey.

Received this in the mail... even phone service is caught up in partisan politics.

Dressed for the Theater...

Dressed for Work...., originally uploaded by arthennessey.

Those who follow this blog know that I spend October telling ghost stories and scaring people up in Salem, MA.

I wear this costume for the introduction to the current show I am in. I perform two to three monologues, manipulate puppets and control other effects - all in the span of twenty minutes.

Boston Theatre - Friday Roundup -

As Thomas Garvey points out on The Hub Review - this is a very busy theatre season, and some good theatre is going fast and furious, (I missed Young Jean Lee's The Shipment and will miss Fraulein Maria as well.)


Last Chance

You can revisit Wyoming with the team who created the original Laramie Project in The Laramie Project Residency - only until Saturday.

David Mamet's Boston Marriage ends this weekend at the New Repertory Theater in Watertown.

How fast can you spell "closing"? Lyric Stage presents final performances of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee through Sunday.

The all too short run of Fraulein Maria, (I won't get my chance to see it,) presented by ArtsEmerson, yodels out as well.

Keeping in tune through this first weekend of October is the goal of Stoneham Theater's Perfect Harmony.

The final whistle is getting ready to be blown for The Complete World of Sports (abridged)at the Merrimack Rep.

Ongoing

The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels keep scheming up at the North Shore Music Theatre.

The exploits of "The Smartest Guys in the Room" are played out theatrically in the play Enron at Boston Center for the Arts, presented by Zeitgeist Stage.

Speakeasy Stage's production of Sarah Ruhl's In The Next Room, or the vibrator play keeps humming along in the Roberts Theater.

Amanda Palmer will continue mastering the ceremonies in Cabaret at the American Repertory Theatre's Zero Arrow Space.

The assorted travelers of Inge's Bus Stop can still be found waiting at the Huntington Theatre Company's Boston University Theatre.

You can fall down the rabbit hole with the A.R.T. production of Alice vs. Wonderland.

Opening:

Actors Shakespeare project takes on both parts of Shakespeare's Henry IV at the Midway Studios in Fort Point.

Michael Towers' play Five Down, One Across opens the new season at Boston Playwrights Theatre.

It is October, after all, and the folks at 11:11 Theatre Company present Poe; a fever dream at The Factory Theater.

Limited Engagement

Another Country presents another SlamBoston on October 4,5 and 6th only.