Boston theater 2010 :: Good things come in small packages

Good things come in small packages advises the old saw. Certainly the saying proved so at the theater this year in spaces as various as in an old factory's spruced up basement in Lower Roxbury, a 19th century theater upstairs at the Cambridge Family YMCA, and at a sparkling new venue near MIT halfway between Central Square and Kendall Square on Massachusetts Avenue.

The companies are often headed by young people or by intellectuals who want to put on original plays or rethink the tried and true. In one instance the artists are trained musicians who want the opportunity to give voice to their talent.

These productions draw young people and people who identify with the particular subject matter, thereby reinvigorating the profile of the typical theatergoer. They enrich the theater fare one can find in and around Boston. And they make theater going affordable with ticket costs markedly less than a Broadway tour. Some of these vibrant artists have earned their Equity cards but many have yet to do so, however, the quality of their work is generally high even so.

Fiery, fiesty Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet's whirlwind romance got a fiery, feisty, and fast moving staging from The Independent Drama Society at the Factory Theater in Lower Roxbury. The youthful company's use of a punk rock aesthetic from sneakers on their feet to gel in their hair, and music such as the Addicts, the Casualties, and Black Flag bridging the scenes, but most keenly, the confrontational manner in which the characters interact, kept the audience on edge and intensely involved in Shakespeare's cautionary tale about star-cross'd lovers and parents' grief. The story of the rebellious couple was astutely directed by Sarah Gazdowicz and impressively acted by eight actors playing all 23 roles (with, in a gender switching bit of casting, Adam Lauver portraying the Nurse to good comedic effect).

An absorbing work

Also at the theater in the rear of old Piano Craft Building at 791 Tremont Street a block away from Mass Avenue was Whistler in the Dark's production of Ted Hughes's Tales From Ovid. The drama brilliantly melds the British Poet Laureate's life-long interest in myths with memories perhaps of his own passionate relationships, most notably his marriage to American poet Sylvia Plath. The intellectually absorbing work was, as well, surely one of the most athletic shows of the season. The five actors who were dressed in tights played many of the scenes swinging from trapeze ropes. That sounds pretentious but in fact added to the tension of stories about does and don'ts in human aspiration and behavior that generations of people have learned from... or not. The production based on Hughes's 1997 translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was directed by Meg Taintor who brought clarity and poetic resonance to a staging that was often breathtaking.

Witty and adorable

If Broadway had talent scouts the way baseball does, they'd pounce on young playwright Brian Tuttle. His witty and, yes, adorable, Her Red Umbrella, a romantic comedy, was given a sparkling production by 11:11 Theatre Company for the final show of 2010 at the Factory Theater. As with many of these adventurous companies, 11:11 emerged from the colleges, in this instance the University of Iowa where it was founded in 2002 by Tuttle who was an undergraduate there to do his and other plays of interest. He's written some 30 plays to date many of which have been staged locally. In Her Red Umbrella, a young man (Tuttle) is smitten by a student he sees crossing Harvard Yard whose red umbrella falls to the ground. He picks it up planning to return it to her right then, but as the story unfolds, it's not until the end of a semester abroad, and after two other couples come together, that he hands it over to her. 11: 11, along with many of these theater groups, belongs to The Small Theater Alliance of Boston, an organization dedicated to fostering the growth of small theaters and emerging artists in the Boston theater community.

An outstanding cast

Moving across the river, at 820 Massachusetts Ave., Metro Stage Company again astounded the reviewers who made their way up to the second floor of the Cambridge Family YMCA. This charming Victorian era theater space where you can spot the now unused gas light fixtures on the wall, has been the regular host since 2002 to a company that mixes professionals with emerging talents to do musicals and now and again a dramatic piece. Last season's Sweeney Todd prompted one reviewer who'd seen important New York versions declare this production in many ways the best. This year's A Little Night Music, also by Stephen Sondheim, proved the past was prelude to the present. Beautifully directed by Maryann Zschau who gave every character and each of the many plots their due and performed with verve by an outstanding cast, A Little Night Music easily joins the ranks of Best of Boston Theater 2010.

Poetic and intelligent drama

A few blocks toward Boston but a century or more away in terms of the age of the theater, the shiny new Central Square Theater played host to two new plays worthy of sustained applause.

Built in some part to accommodate MIT's desire for more theater space (in addition to Kresge's two stages), the main stage on the second floor which sports a pair of theaters saw a brightly written ode to the evolutionist Charles Darwin. The Catalyst Collaborative @MIT's sprightly production of From Orchids to Octopi is in the vein of the contemporary essays which make science clear and appealing to those of us who otherwise might be unaware of the topic in the depth that would be helpful to navigate our society. The poetic but solidly intelligent drama evidenced Darwin's passion for his wife and children as it vied with his passion for nature and its patterns. Written by the abundantly talented local playwright Melinda Lopez, the graceful bio drama nicely directed by Diego Arciniegas enchanted audiences because of its genuine devotion to the scientist and his work, the magnetic performances from a small, mightily talented cast, and the enhancements of puppetry and a gradually unfolding mural from David Fichter which was reflective of the story as it opened up.

Astute dramatization

Another of the Boston area's rising star playwrights Lydia Diamond provided the absorbing drama, Harriet Jacobs, which also delved into history and real life. Her beautifully astute dramatization of Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl, one of the chilling slave narratives that illuminate the peculiar institution of slavery in this country from the black point of view. The drama was given an emotionally involving production by the Underground Theater Company, which is in residence at the Central Square Theater, in collaboration with The Providence Black Repertory Company. Harriet Jacob's recollections of life as a slave in Edenton, North Carolina capped by seven years hidden in a crawl space above her grand mother's small house delivers a message of the near miraculous possibility of finding selfhood and maintaining hope while living in the maw of terror. Kami Rushell Smith gave an endearing portrayal of Harriet in a gripping production perceptively directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

These picks for the Best Theater in Boston 2010 amply indicate that wonderful theater is sometimes tucked away in places a bit away from downtown but easy enough to get to and well worth exploring.