Tom Williams

MPAACT and Pegasus Players have mounted Shepsu Aakhu’s world premiere drama, Ten Square. This futuristic look into the world of African-Americans after the federal government’s Reparations Movement issued checks to the relatives of slaves.

This foul-mouthed hip-hop styled narrative was offensive and came across as a dumbing-down of the language and cultures. Borges does deliver his story with humor, irony and a high-octane flair. It’s the overuse of the F-word among others that becomes redundant.

When Wanda states that she has a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes in her closet, the kids mocker her eventually forcing her to withdraw from the school.The kids learn a worthy lesson from Wanda’s parting gift.

David Rice’s adaptation of The Castle of Otranto is an ambitious play filled with stock Gothic characters each verbalizing the story with apt descriptions of the curse and the ghosts. Rice has concisely honed the dense novel to a brisk, well-paced 2 hour drama filled with action, some eerie moments, and plausible plot twists.

This crew is part Shakespearean common folk and part Monte Pythonesque performed with raw humor and wild physicality including a mud fight!. Pepper’s script is a hilarious, preposterous in-your-face anti-war fable filled with colorful characters too stupid to understand their plight as pawns in an imperialistic world.

Neil LaBute and Profiles Theatre make for a fine artistic match. Their latest collaboration is LaBute’s brilliant two-hander, The Mercy Seat. Who else but controversial playwright Neil LaBute could get away with framing the 911 national tragedy into a narcissistic drama of two unlikeable characters?

We are enticed by Action’s sly performance as Richard even when he outlines his evil plan in a monologue that gets us to almost like this charming but purely evil villain. His asides to the audiences with their wink and sour faces keep us intoxicated with Richard’s manipulations..

Based on the 1988 John Waters camp film designed for Devine, Hairspray takes place in 1962 – the 50’s are out and change is in the air but innocence still abounds. Baltimore’s Tracy Tumblad (Marissa Perry), a big girl with big hair (and lot’s of hairspray) and an even larger heart…

Besides all excellent tunes and the fine dancing (on Robin Vest’s impressive set), Animal Crackers is indeed one super funny show featuring the amazingly talented Marx Brothers.