Above video: Team USA falls to Switzerland in women’s curling semifinals. Can’t view the above video highlights? Click here. The U.S. women’s curling team will play for bronze at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.Switzerland’s Alina Patz shot 100 percent on draw shots, 98 percent on takeouts, and 99 percent on game shots. Her precision proved too much for Team USA to overcome.Patz led Switzerland to a 7-4 victory in the semifinals, sending the Swiss to the gold medal match and the Americans to the bronze medal game.It marked the first time since 2002 that the U.S. reached the women’s Olympic curling semifinals. The team is still seeking its first Olympic medal in the sport.In the other semifinal, Sweden defeated Canada, 6-3.The U.S. will face Canada for bronze on Saturday, while Sweden and Switzerland will meet in Sunday’s gold medal match.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
The U.S. women’s curling team will play for bronze at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Switzerland’s Alina Patz shot 100 percent on draw shots, 98 percent on takeouts, and 99 percent on game shots. Her precision proved too much for Team USA to overcome.
Patz led Switzerland to a 7-4 victory in the semifinals, sending the Swiss to the gold medal match and the Americans to the bronze medal game.
It marked the first time since 2002 that the U.S. reached the women’s Olympic curling semifinals. The team is still seeking its first Olympic medal in the sport.
In the other semifinal, Sweden defeated Canada, 6-3.
The U.S. will face Canada for bronze on Saturday, while Sweden and Switzerland will meet in Sunday’s gold medal match.
There is a squeaky old merry-go-round in my neighborhood that my own children play on from time to time. Years of kids riding on it have loosened its joints so it spins more freely and quickly. The last time they played on the merry-go-round, my children learned the important lesson that the closer to the center they sit the more stable and in control they feel.
While being a school leader has always felt like being on a spinning piece of playground equipment, leading since the inauguration of President Donald Trump has made me feel as if I moved from the center to the edges in this merry-go-round metaphor. Immigration raids and attacks on civil liberties have made the work feel blindingly fast.
The school I serve has a large population of immigrant students. Teens who just weeks ago felt like our school was a safe and secure place now carry a new level of concern into our classrooms and hallways. My school has seen a significant drop in attendance since January with parents and guardians citing the desire to keep their children home instead of sending them to school and putting them in harm’s way as ICE raids happen across the city.
Our staff feels the impact of the rhetoric and policy shifts out of Washington as well. They fear for the physical and emotional safety of our students when they leave the school.
For my part, I wonder if my decisions that prioritize equity and inclusion will make me the target of criticism–or worse, an investigation. This year, we have had ongoing professional development opportunities to teach staff how they can better support our queer students and employees. Each time we engage in these discussions, I find myself worrying about the repercussions.
But I am determined that the programs and people in place to support and protect our most vulnerable students will not go away. Rather, they will be reinforced. My role as a school leader is to create an environment so safe and accepting that students and staff never feel like they must look over their shoulder while they are at school. We want them to breathe easily knowing that, at least during the school day, they can be seen, safe, and successful.
To be sure, this job has always been a juggle, which includes instructional leadership, behavioral support, budgeting, staffing, and–in my case–fighting the stigma of historically being identified as a low-performing school by the Colorado Department of Education. But the changes out of Washington have taken things to the next level. As I navigate it all, I do my best to be energetic, optimistic, and reliable. Each day is an exercise in finding joy in my interactions with students and staff.
I find joy in seeing students cheer on their peers at basketball games. I find joy in watching a teacher sit with a student until they grasp a challenging concept. I find joy when I see staff members step in to teach a class for a colleague who is sick or just needs a break. I find joy and hope in my daily interactions with students and staff; they are the core of my work and are the bravest people I have worked with in my career.
When I push my children on the merry-go-round, I tell them to get to the center because the spinning seems to slow down and the noise decreases. This is the same advice I would give to school leaders right now. Get right to the center of your work by being with students and staff as much as possible. Even at the center, the spinning does not stop. The raids, political attacks, and fear tactics do not decrease, but the challenge of facing them becomes a little more manageable. While every force out there may be pushing leaders away from the center of their work, prioritizing that values-based work reminds us exactly why we do what we do.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Dr. Chris DeRemer is the principal of Manual High School in Denver. He has been teaching and leading schools in the Denver metro area for the past 15 years. When he is not working in or thinking about schools, he can be found running or playing outside with his wife and three kids.
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“So – people a thousand years from now – this is the way we were…” says the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town as he imagines including the story of the people of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, in a time capsule.
It hasn’t been a thousand years, not since Wilder wrote the play nor since its early 20th-century setting, but we can still open that time capsule and visit that small New England town, as the play is now running at 4th Wall Theatre Company.
The play takes us to Grover’s Corners across three acts. In the first act, we meet two families, the Webb and Gibbs families, and get a sense of the rhythms of daily life in this small town in 1901. The second tells the story of Emily Webb and George Gibbs, detailing the moment they fell in love and their wedding three years later. In the final act, set in 1913, we visit the cemetery in Grover’s Corners.
That’s “Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage,” and finally “Death and Eternity.”
Our Town premiered in 1938, and it is not only a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, but a highly regarded work widely considered to be one of the best American plays ever written (if not the best). It was revolutionary and challenging to audiences in its form and staging, presenting a deceptively simple portrait of small-town America that reveals a profound mediation on themes of mortality and impermanence. Its first two acts build up to a devastatingly emotional third act, which, when it lands, can be one of the most affecting experiences in theater.
Director Jennifer Dean approaches Our Town with a gentle hand, favoring an interpretation that leans more toward sentimental Americana than Wilder’s stark, existential minimalism – something especially apparent in the production’s visual language.
OUR TOWN_2 – Skyler Sinclair and Elijah Eliakim Hernandez in 4th Wall Theatre Co.’s production of Our Town. Credit: Gabriella Nissen
The scenery, for those who think they need it, is a woodsy backdrop by Kirk A. Domer that gives the impression of a carved, handcrafted miniature town, with cut-out houses and glowing windows set within geometrically arranged planks. It lends the production a rustic, storybook-like quality that is reinforced by Rosa Cano’s overwhelmingly warm lighting designs.
Cano gives Grover’s Corners a sepia-amber glow, a choice that evokes a nostalgic aesthetic. Cano also makes good use of the slats in Domer’s set to let light spill through the beams, adding a dimensionality and weight to it, and makes striking use of a circular disk that becomes, in turn, the glowing sun and moon. When Act III opens, Cano shifts to cooler blue tones and shadows. It’s an effective contrast, though one that remains consistent with the production’s overall visual softness.
Yezminne Zepeda’s sound design is intentionally minimal. Dialogue is crisp, and the ensemble supplies a bit of the ambient soundscape, doing their best impressions of chickens, train whistles, and birds. This choice enhances the handcrafted, communal quality of the staging, and these touches earned charmed smiles and light chuckles from the audience, underscoring the homespun tone. Schmidt’s costumes, period-specific, with turn-of-the-century staples like high collars, straw hats, vests and coats for men, etc., add to the sense of nostalgia, too.
Together, these design choices create a production that is undeniably lovely to look at, pretty and rich with crafted detail. At times, though, they feel at odds with Wilder’s emphasis on sparseness and open space. The stage remains bare with only tables, chairs, ladders, and crates present throughout the first two acts, but the abstraction slips in Act III. When Emily revisits her twelfth birthday, the introduction of literal props (including milk bottles, birthday packages, and toy food) breaks the previously established visual vocabulary. While understandable, this sudden materiality proves to be distracting in an act that already feels rushed, pulling focus from Emily’s emotional realization.
The overall effect is a production that feels safe, its sharpest edges sanded down. The warmth, charm, and aesthetic coherence are there, but they dull the play’s existential teeth. As a result, Act III’s heartbreak lands with less force than expected, its customary gut punch missing. It’s worth noting that within this invitingly drawn world, the actors are left to navigate Wilder’s shifts in tone, starting with Philip Lehl’s Stage Manager.
Christy Watkins, Algy Alfred, Patricia Duran, Joshua Percy, and Christian Tannous in 4th Wall Theatre Co.’s production of Our Town. Credit: Gabriella Nissen
Lehl is excellent as the Stage Manager. From an omniscient perch, Lehl tours the audience around Grover’s Corners, down family trees, and through personal histories and eventual futures, with ease. His presence is kind and steady, deceptively hiding how deft Lehl is at controlling the audience’s attention. At times, his hand lands lightly on an actor’s back, giving them a subtle nudge toward their place, and it’s a gesture that mirrors the way he shepherds the audience through the story. Calm, wry, and subtly authoritative, Lehl beautifully sets and maintains the production’s tone.
Through the first two acts, Skyler Sinclair is a luminous Emily Webb. Sinclair is tender with Emily, capturing the brightness the script tells us all about. But in Act III, the scene rushes forward with little space for emotional breath, meaning we don’t get to feel the enormity of Emily’s realization.
As George Gibbs, Elijah Eliakim Hernandez brings an earnest, slightly immature charm that is well-matched with Sinclair. He is the son of Kregg Dailey’s Dr. Gibbs, who comes across like a fair, mid-century sitcom father, and Christy Watkins’ Mrs. Gibbs, who blends tiredness with a quiet, wistful longing. Faith Fossett’s Mrs. Webb is likewise overworked, warm, and brisk. She is a woman who expresses affection through her household activities rather than softness. Philip Hays gives Mr. Webb a playful dynamic with his daughter and plays the awkward early moments with George the morning of the wedding delightfully.
Several supporting players add memorable texture to Grover’s Corners. Patricia Duran draws attention in all the right ways as Mrs. Soames, the town’s wide-eyed wedding lover, and Christian Tannous tackles three distinct roles: the pedantic, giggle-prone Professor Willard; the friendly milkman Howie Newsome; and the bitter Simon Stimson. As the youngest Webb and Gibbs siblings, Joshua Percy adds a boyish energy as both Wally Webb and the paperboys, and Ellis Holden is sweet and curious as Rebecca Gibbs, grounding her scenes with unaffected charm. Algy Alfred rounds out the cast as a brusque questioner of Mr. Webb and Mr. Carter, who quietly reminisces about his son’s knowledge of the stars in the third act.
So, that’s the way they were, in their growing up, and in their marrying, and in their living, and in their dying. Though this handsome production is full of warmth and crafted beauty, and imbued with tenderness, it doesn’t always let us feel the full weight of that cycle.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through December 20 at Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring. For more information, call 832-767-4991 or visit 4thwalltheatreco.com. $40-$70. Ticket discounts are available for those under 25 and seniors 65 and older.
With the holiday season around the corner, a proliferation of robots are on sale—but unlike the Furbies and Poo-Chis of the past, today’s robots are powered by AI. And consumer advocates are warning parents to steer clear.
Children’s advocacy group Fairplay published an advisory on Thursday urging families to resist the urge to purchase toys powered by AI LLMs.
“AI toys use the very same AI systems that have produced unsafe, confusing, or harmful experiences for older kids and teens,” the advisory reads. “Yet, they are being marketed to the youngest children, who have the least ability to recognize or protect themselves from these dangers.”
The advisory offered four other reasons to avoid AI toys. It warned that they can prey on children’s trust, blurring the lines between corporate-made machines and caregivers, as well as disrupt children’s understanding of healthy relationships. It also noted that the toys can collect and potentially sell sensitive data even “when they appear to be off.” It finally warned that AI toys can monopolize attention, displacing foundational activities like “actual imaginative, child-led play.” The advisory was endorsed by 160 organizations and individuals including groups like the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy, Better Screen Time, and Mothers Against Media Addiction.
The advisory falls short of actually naming and shaming specific AI-powered toys or brands. But it comes about a week after U.S. PIRG Education Fund released its annual Trouble in Toyland report that assessed four different AI-powered toys. PIRG’s report noted that the toys gradually lost the ability to steer away from inappropriate topics over the course of longer conversations. The Kumma teddy bear, made by Chinese company FoloToy, was reportedly the worst offender. Running on OpenAI’s GPT-4o, it discussed everything from how to light matches and where to find knives, to various sexual fetishes, Futurism reported.
Shortly after the report was published, FoloToy confirmed to PIRG that it suspended sales of all of its toys, and an OpenAI spokesperson said the company “suspended this developer for violating our policies.” OpenAI is currently embroiled in numerous lawsuits alleging the chatbot encouraged discussions that led to suicide and mental breakdowns, according to The New York Times.
The office, many people would have you try to believe, is a serious place where serious people do serious things to bring in serious revenues — and earn serious rewards. Just look at the uptight traditional ideas about what’s acceptable office wear to get a hint at this notion. But new research suggests that if you’re careful about it, mingling a little of a particular childhood trait into your office habits might actually be a good thing. Playfulness, it seems, can earn you respect from your colleagues and bosses.
The research, newly published in Nature, defines playfulness as being a complex, “multifaceted trait” which melds being social with lightheartedness, intellectual creativity, and being whimsical. It’s quite easy to imagine someone behaving like this in the home, or at a non-work social activity, and the researchers point out that there’s plenty of studies into the value of play in these settings — but not necessarily about its value in the workplace.
What might playfulness in a work setting look like? It’s pretty easy to imagine that a playful office character might be one who uses puns, and maybe gentle pranks from time to time…but it doesn’t have to be so directly humor-related — playfulness could include silliness or irreverence at opportune and non-disruptive moments, like suggesting a silly answer to a question in a group environment. Playful people are “often spontaneous and intrinsically motivated,” (i.e. they may be true to their own ideals, even in a strict team setting) the report notes, and being playful in the office is a “highly observable” phenomenon.
The study concludes that the key thing being playful in an office setting does is signal that a particular person is being authentic. And this authenticity really can shape the relationships that a playful worker has with their colleagues and superiors. In fact a worker can earn “unique social power when perceived as authentic,” the report notes, placing that person in a pivotal role in building relationships among team members. The effect may be even more pronounced in a highly competitive team climate, with authenticity leading to “more social support, less social undermining, and higher leadership judgments from their peers.” In other words, a playful person seen as being true to their own character earns better support from their colleagues, which will carry through into day-to-day duties, there’s less chance for the kind of in-fighting between workers which can impact efficiency, and being authentic may make your peers see you as more of a leader-type.
You may have gotten this far and thought all this is so much psycho-babble. But there’s actually plenty to learn from this study for your own organization.
As long as being playful doesn’t stray into being disruptive, the fact that this trait is linked to authenticity is important. Many reports link authenticity with better workplace results, since it’s good to be around authentic people — particularly in leadership roles.
The report also notes that there may be a trend among workers to suppress their “natural instincts to play” due to “increasing competitive pressures in the contemporary business world.” And with so many headlines covering layoff after layoff, the pressure AI is exerting on the job market, the rise of more strict management thinking, and many other factors this makes sense.
But the researchers suggest “employees should not be afraid to express their playful nature in the workplace, as it can facilitate positive social effects, especially in a highly competitive work climate.” Similarly, since some people are not naturally playful, and authenticity is about being genuine, then the report encourages companies to “make room and allow for play and playfulness at work,” which may boost innovation, team dynamics and allow workers unique qualities to “shine through at the workplace.”
Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is one of the bestselling books of all time, so successful that Hollywood brought it to the big screen with A-lister Tom Hanks. If you’ve read it, or seen the movie, you probably wouldn’t think a stage adaptation inevitable, but that’s what Rachel Wagsstaff and Duncan Abel did, adapting it as a play that you can catch now over at the Alley Theatre.
Based on its enduring popularity, there’s clearly something in there that resonates with folks. The question is, how well does that something translate to the stage?
Our not quite intrepid hero here is Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist in Paris for a conference. He is, unexpectedly, called to the Louvre, where a detective, Bezu Fache, shows him the body of curator Jacques Saunière, shot dead and lying starfished on the marble floor. Prior to his death, Saunière drew a pentacle with his own blood and, ostensibly, Fache has called on Langdon to get some insight into the meaning of the symbol.
Though Langdon quickly explains the symbol and deduces that Saunière has positioned himself as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” thereby making himself a symbol, his expertise isn’t the only reason Fache called him. It turns out that Saunière and Langdon were supposed to meet that night, though Saunière cancelled at the last minute. It’s clear that Fache is suspicious of Langdon, but his investigation is interrupted by the sudden arrival of cryptographer Sophie Neveu.
Sophie sneakily warns Langdon that he’s in danger, and when they get a little privacy, she reveals that Saunière was her estranged grandfather, and he left behind one more message Fache had yet to reveal: “PS Find Robert Langdon.”
Fache believes the message implicates Langdon in the killing, but Sophie believes the message was for her, telling her that she needs Langdon to solve her grandfather’s murder. Together, with the police and Saunière’s fanatical killer hot on their trail, Sophie and Langdon set off to unravel a mystery hidden in plain sight that has the potential to “shake the pillars of Western civilization.”
Chris Hutchison and Dylan Godwin in Alley Theatre’s production of The Da Vinci Code.
Photo by Melissa Taylor
If you were at all cognizant around the time Brown’s novel was released in 2003, you will remember the overwhelming popularity of his fast-and-loose romp through facts and history. There’s a lot going on, with the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar, and more all coming together to make an improbable, but irresistible page-turner.
Wagsstaff and Abel undertook the unenviable task of adapting Brown’s novel, condensing the 454 pages of my hardcover copy into approximately two hours (including a 15-minute intermission). The result is…okay. There’s a bit too much exposition, and though the important beats are present and accounted for, we hit them at a pace that doesn’t leave much time for the characters to develop, and we skate by the puzzles (i.e., the fun part) as too often characters encounter a challenge and solve it in seconds.
Director Rob Melrose and the design team, the real heroes of the evening, did their best to compensate for the script’s shortcomings. Melrose helms quite the cinematic production, with sound designer John Gromada, who contributes original music to the production, underscoring the show’s movie-like feel with his suspenseful score. The theatricality is heightened by Victoria Beauray Sagady’s sophisticated projections and Thom Weaver’s lighting choices, shifting from a stage filled with striking, glowing color to an unforgiving spotlight dramatically isolating a character at the drop of a hat.
Speaking of items of clothing, Helen Huang’s costume designs are both apt (Langdon’s tweed jacket, Sophie’s sensible blue suit) and playful (the red heels Elizabeth Bunch dons as Vernet and the chain at Dylan Godwin’s belt).
Michael Locher’s sleek and dexterous set allows fluid movement from scene to scene, easily going from the Sorbonne, with the first three rows of the audience arranged in chairs as if conference attendees (a fun touch) to the Louvre, with a marble floor and I.M. Pei’s iconic glass pyramid visible, to then a number of locations – a church, a mansion, a bathroom, a private jet, etc. There are also two eye-catchingly beautiful, towering archways put to good use throughout the show.
The play pays short shrift to its characters, meaning that we don’t get much of an emotional connection to them until the second act, and even then, it may be more of a testament to the actors than what is actually on the page.
Chris Hutchison and Susan Koozin in Alley Theatre’s production of The Da Vinci Code.
Photo by Melissa Taylor
As the “Harvard geek,” Robert Langdon, Zack Fine is unassuming and reluctant, a man who mostly seems to go along because it seems like the right thing to do. Fine and Melissa Molano, as the much more gung-ho Sophie, settle into a fun, playful banter in the second act that gives them a chance to show off a little chemistry. Molano hits the right emotional notes at the end, particularly as she encounters a remorseful, but composed Susan Koozin and an at-a-loss Victor J. Flores.
Todd Waite is a highlight as Sir Leigh Teabing, a character of a character, who is as amusing as he is hoity, while Dylan Godwin, as Teabing’s butler, Rémy, is a stolid, but menacing presence. Also, menacing, though in a different way, is Chris Hutchison’s Silas, who is both disturbing and pitiable.
Christopher Salazar does his best with the one-note Fache, while Michelle Elaine is able to do more with policewoman Collet (not the least of which is deliver a consistent accent).
Rounding out the cast is Kevin Cooney, who brings gravitas to Saunière, a role that asks little and offers even less, and Elizabeth Bunch, who adds in some fun character moments in supporting roles, even if they sometimes feel like they are from a different show.
Despite its seeming ubiquity, not everyone is familiar with The Da Vinci Code. The gasps from the audience at a certain reveal made that clear. Fans of the book won’t get that, both the Alley’s production does still offer one thing to fans and newbies alike: A real stunner of a production, so as you’re swept away in the mystery, you also get quite the view.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays through October 19 at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $36-$135.
It’s the last Best Bets of September, and the arts are in full swing around Houston. To close out the month, we’ve got an epic of a stage production, a celebration of Latin American and Hispanic composers, and a collection of the best short films you can find. Keep reading for these and everything else that makes our picks for the best of the week.
When Alex Thompson’s short film Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting screened at Sundance, the first frame, with its “so-real-you-can-touch-it CG image” of two griffins, “elicited gasps of amazement.” You can join film lovers from around the world to view and vote on the shorts featured in the 28th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival – including Thompson’s – at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on Thursday, September 25, at 7 p.m. Audience ballots will determine the winners of Best Film and Best Actor from the ten curated films, which come from seven different countries. The films will screen again at 7 p.m. Friday, September 26, and 2 p.m. Saturday, September 27, and Sunday, September 28. Tickets can be purchased here for $8 to $10, and get your tickets in advance; some screenings are likely to sell out.
A string arrangement of Benjamin Britten’s 1932 Double Concerto for Violin and Viola, the sketch of which was only discovered more than 20 years after his death in 1976, will be the centerpiece of Kinetic’s season-opening concert, Notes Unspoken, at the MATCH on Friday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. The conductor-less ensemble will tackle Britten alongside Michael Torke‘s December, Libby Larsen’s String Symphony, and the world premiere of Rice University graduate Alex Berko’s Unstrung for string orchestration. Berko, who originally composed Unstrung for the Louisville Orchestra in 2024, has said the piece, “a deconstructed bluegrass tune,” was his attempt “as a new Kentucky resident and admirer of” the genre “to pay homage to the art form.” Tickets to the performance can be purchased here for $15 to $35.
ROCO returns to Miller Outdoor Theatre to open their season on Friday.
Photo by Rolando Ramon
Four world premieres and a not-oft-heard symphony make up ROCO’s season-opening program, Feels Like Home, which you can hear on Friday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. when the chamber orchestra visits Miller Outdoor Theatre. The premieres, which will be performed alongside Emilie Mayer’s 1847 Symphony No. 4 in B minor, draw from various sources of inspiration, including husky rescues and a ROCO member’s work in hospice care. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, September 25. Or, as always, you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required. The concert will be performed a second time at The Church of St. John the Divine on Saturday, September 27, at 5 p.m.Tickets are pay-what-you-wish here with a suggested price of $35 and a minimum of $0.
“A percussive pulse drives the lover’s declarations in ‘And now you’re mine,’” one of five sonnets written by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and set to music by American composer Peter Lieberson in Neruda Songs, which you can hear at Jones Hall on Friday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. during the Fiesta Sinfónica. Conductor Gonzalo Farias will lead the Houston Symphony and special guest mezzo-soprano Josefina Maldonado in the orchestra’s annual celebration of Latin American and Hispanic composers. This year, audiences can expect musical selections like “I Feel Pretty” and “Somewhere” from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, the Habanera from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, Albert Gonzales’s arrangements of Rafael Hernández Marín’s “El Cumbanchero” and Daniel Alomía Robles’s “El cóndor pasa,” and more. This concert is free, but ticket reservations are required here.
Now, almost 20 years later, Cheryl L. West’s 2015 stage adaptation of writer-director Doug Atchison’s film is serving as The Ensemble Theatre’s season opener, and the question is, was it lightning in a bottle or does the story in Akeelah and the Bee still resonate today?
The play begins with 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson of Chicago, Illinois, waking up screaming after hearing gunshots outside her window. We quickly learn that Akeelah lives in a tough neighborhood, in an apartment with her mother, an overworked nursing assistant, and her older brother, an unemployed high school dropout, and attends a school, Southside Middle School, where, if the place ever had better days, they are now long gone.
Akeelah has an aptitude for spelling, a gift she traces back to her late father, but she wants no part of “that spelling thing” because kids at school make fun of her for it. When she wins the school spelling bee, however, the principal, desperate to change the school’s image, sees it as an opportunity. He believes she can go far – to district, then state, and maybe nationals – but she’ll need proper coaching. He encourages her to train with Dr. Joshua Larabee, a professor and former English department head at Northwestern. More importantly, though, Larabee once made it to the National Spelling Bee himself.
Bria Washington and Jason E. Carmichael in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
Though they get off on the wrong foot, Dr. Larabee does agree to coach Akeelah, but the road to the national title in Washington, D.C. proves to be lined with obstacles, the least of which is that Akeelah’s navigating it all behind her mother’s back.
West’s adaptation premiered at the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company in 2015. As such, though relatively loyal to the 2006 film, it may be even more family-friendly. The big beats are all still present, as are the inherent themes (race and class, inner-city violence, grief, self-worth, the power of community). All together, they add up to a classic underdog story. It’s easy to root for Akeelah because, as conventional and fairly formulaic as the story is, it’s got a lot of heart.
Director Eileen J. Morris leans into that heart by emphasizing the community around Akeelah, which makes the lively production welcoming like a warm hug. Strong performances from the cast also keep the story from coming across as trite, starting with Bria Washington as Akeelah.
Washington is a terrific Akeelah. She is child-like in her enthusiasm, and the ease with which she can go from excitable and talkative to overwhelmed with emotion perfectly reflects the balancing act Akeelah often finds herself in as she tries to find her footing in the world. Washington has great chemistry with all of her castmates, but her interactions with Jason E. Carmichael are most memorable.
Carmichael puts his commanding presence and booming voice to good use as Dr. Larabee who, under the cold exterior and impeccable posture, is revealed to have a secret pain. As they warm up to each other, his relationship with Washington’s Akeelah becomes utterly charming, as in the scene where he introduces a jump rope into her spelling routine.
April Wheat, Bria Washington, and Konnor Sheppard in The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
As mom Gail, April Wheat is a foil, but an unintentional one. As such, in Wheat’s hands, she is never unlikable. As Reggie, Akeelah’s brother, Konnor Sheppard is the ideal mix of caring and troubled. Reggie is a sweetheart of a brother, and his relationship with Akeelah is the best drawn of all. Rounding out Akeelah’s initial support system is Kendal Thomas’s Georgia, who is loud in her support of her best friend and flashy in style.
James West III skillfully plays the perpetually “on it” building super Drunk Willie, a kindly older man who (as his name implies) takes more than his fair share of nips, and Principal Welch, a beleaguered man not afraid to blackmail a child, or plead on bended knee, if it might benefit his school. Joyce Anastasia Murray gets her share of laughs as Batty Ruth, a bigmouthed, nosy neighbor who shares an unexpected past with Drunk Willie.
When we first meet Joshua Nguyen as Dylan, he is frustratingly arrogant (you know he’s doing it right when the audience can’t help but groan and drop oh god’s when he speaks. Nguyen shows another side of Dylan as the play progresses, especially as Johnny Barton establishes his antagonistic role as Dylan’s Dad, a man who demands nothing less than excellence from his son and is aptly described as “a little Hitler” by Georgia.
Utility players in the cast include Helen Rios, who plays (among others) Akeelah’s nearly nonverbal schoolmate Izzy, seemingly too shy to speak or lift her head, and an over-polished reporter working nationals; Sannia Bell, as rich girl Trish and two spelling bee competitors (one offensively Texan and the other an early victim of the pressure the kids feel to win); and Aliyah Robinson, whose turn as Ratchet Rhonda, the attitudinal cheerleader who shakes down Akeelah for snacks, outshines her more prim role as a spelling bee judge. Johnny Kelley appears first as jokester Chucky, but settles into the character Javier, a dorky and considerate friend to Akeelah.
The cast of The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Akeelah and the Bee.
Photo by Jordan Guidry
With almost half the cast playing double (or triple or quadruple) duty, Costume Designers/Dressers Dawn Joyce Peterson and Ann Ridley, as well as Sharon Ransom’s hair and makeup, do yeoman’s work distinguishing character. Equally supportive is Liz Freese’s set, which is beautifully decorated with fun Pop Art, comic book-style illustrations, which pop under Kris Phelps’s lighting design.
Not only did the set have a three-dimensional quality, with its layered levels, the use of the theater’s entrances and exits, aisle, and seats gave the cast even more space to play. It is a nice touch having cast sit in the audience, as during the final, when Akeelah’s camp forms a cheering section on one side of the audience while Dylan’s dad takes a seat on the other.
Adrian Washington’s sound designs complete the world in both comedic (Reggie’s baby at the district bee) and serious (the ever-present threat of gun violence nearby) ways. They also establish joy, as when musical interludes and dance, with choreography from Monica Josette, erupt on stage. One sound-related quibble is that it seemed to dip in the second act, with the dialogue getting noticeably quieter, but I’ll assume that’s a fluke that will be fixed going forward.
The verdict is that Akeelah and the Bee is designed to make viewers feel good and, in that, it hits the mark. Though it has its overly sappy moments, it’s here to entertain and inspire, which it can do for the right audience – meaning those that are not grinchy about a good time and a happy ending. And these days, who wants to be a grinch about a good time and a happy ending? We can certainly use both wherever we can find them.
It’s National Locate an Old Friend Day, and if you find an old friend and would like to make plans for the weekend with them, we’ve got some ideas for you. This week, both a popular movie and a bestselling book come to the stage, a choir all the way from Mexico City stops in for a joint concert, and much more await you, so keep reading for these and all of our picks for best bets.
A classic Russian folklore character that symbolizes “rebirth, beauty, and magic” will take center stage on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. when the Houston Symphony opens its season with Valčuha Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird at Jones Hall. Music Director Juraj Valčuha will lead the orchestra in the concert, which also includes Florent Schmitt’s Psalm 47 and the world premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Houston Symphony-commissioned Liberty Bell, plus special guests Angel Blue; Houston Chamber Choir, under Artistic Director Betsy Cook Weber; and Houston Symphony Chorus, under Director Anthony J. Maglione. The concert will be performed again on Saturday, September 20, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 21, at 2 p.m. Tickets to in-hall performances can be purchased here for $29 to $159. Saturday night’s concert will also be livestreamed, with access to the video performance available here for $20.
If you’re used to his serious, sacred cantatas, hear another side of Johann Sebastian Bach on Friday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m., when Ars Lyrica Houston opens its season with Bach’s Divine Comedy at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. The program will feature three works by Bach, including The Dispute between Phoebus and Pan, which refers to a comical singing contest drawn from a Greek myth, by way of the Roman poet Ovid. Matthew Dirst, the artistic director of Ars Lyrica, has described the secular cantataas “theatrical, tongue in cheek, and it’s filled with clever references to contemporary music taste.” Tickets can be purchased here for $15 to $80. If you can’t attend the performance in person, you can buy a $20 ticket to view the digital livestream here.
Despite Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch garnering some famous fans after opening in 1961, folks like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Eleanor Roosevelt, and eventual film and musical adaptations, the play didn’t get a Broadway revival until 2023.
The revival proved the play still had plenty to say, so much so that it’s now the first production of Main Street Theater’s 50th anniversary season, and it’s a doozy.
But first.
The play begins in the recent past with the titular Purlie Victorious Judson returning home after a 20-year absence. Purlie’s family home sits on a Georgia cotton plantation owned by the bullwhip-carrying, Confederacy-loving Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, who keeps the Black cotton pickers in debt to keep them working for him, a practice Purlie sees akin to slavery. But Purlie’s back with a plan, the “all-consuming passion” of his life now to buy Big Bethel, a rundown barn that was once a church, and return it to its glory so he can preach freedom in the cotton patch. As Purlie says, “Freedom is my business.”
To get Big Bethel, though, Purlie needs money; specifically, the $500 inheritance Cotchipee owes his late cousin Bee. Enter Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a young woman Purlie’s recruited from Alabama to impersonate Cousin Bee. Though Purlie has a supporter in his sister-in-law, Missy, his brother, Gitlow, is afraid Purlie’s scheme will land them all in jail, a risk he is loath to take as Cotchipee recently named him “Deputy for the Colored.” On top of that, Lutiebelle looks nothing like Bee, nor does she have Bee’s education. But for this, Purlie’s got an ace up his sleeve: “White folks can’t tell one of us from another by the head!” he declares.
Kendrick “KayB” Brown, TiMOThY ERiC, Wykesha King, and Krystal Uchem in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.
Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography
It’s hardly a spoiler to say things don’t go exactly to plan in Purlie Victorious, a still stinging satire that proves to be resonant today, 64 years after it originally premiered. It’s both a testament to Davis’s writing and, unfortunately, an indictment of our society. The dialogue is witty and memorable, with lines like, “Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of White folks,” eliciting knowing hums from members of the audience.
Director Errol Anthony Wilks keeps the show moving and accessible, though his choice to lean fully into the comedy is at times at the expense of letting the play’s more serious beats breathe (Lutiebelle laundry-listing her best traits for a second time following an encounter with Cotchipee, for example). Davis’s characters are sketched in broad strokes from stereotypic archetypes, but subversive in places and bold in others, and Wilks and the cast are skillful at playing those notes. And there’s no one more bold than Purlie himself.
Davis not only wrote Purlie Victorious, he originated the role, and you can tell it’s a part he wrote for himself it’s so good. Purlie is a hero, quick and clever, and wonderfully verbose. And TiMOThY ERiC, recent co-winner of the Houston Theatre Award for Best Actor, wears the role of Purlie like a second skin.
“Something about Purlie always wound up the white folk,” says Missy, and embodied by ERiC, it’s easy to see the threat he poses, his delivery convincing, captivating, and wildly entertaining. It’s fully on display in the second act, as Purlie is in full sermonizing mode as he recounts his alleged confrontation with Cotchipee, traversing the stage and holding court in a way that’s got the other characters and the audience hanging on every word. He’s just as good at slipping in some quieter one-liners (“First chance I get I’m gonna burn the damn thing down,” Purlie says of his childhood home).
If there’s one thing, it’s that at moments, the louder ERiC gets, the more likely we are to miss a word here and there, some bits just lost to the ether.
(The sound design, by Jon Harvey, is otherwise stellar, from the place-defining banjo-picking played during transitions, to the crystal clarity of the off-stage dialogue, and the ambience, chicken clucks and dog barks heard under scenes adding weight to the world of the plantation.)
Seán Patrick Judge and Domenico Leona in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.
Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography
From the moment she arrives at the farmhouse, breathless and wide-eyed, Krystal Uchem endears as Lutiebelle, a young woman proud of who she is even when she’s being criticized (such as when Purlie insults her name, saying, among other things, it means “cheap labor in Swahili”). Uchem plays the physicality of the role well, from the way she sits to eat, leaning forward with her legs akimbo, emphasizing her youthfulness, to half-hunched and hobbling, unaccustomed to heels, as she tries in vain to be Cousin Bee.
Wykesha King is a force as Missy, as quick to challenge Purlie as she is to see the value in what he’s trying to do. As her husband, Gitlow, Kendrick “KayB” Brown is more of a foil to Purlie. Gitlow plays the game, sensible in his subservience and willing to say anything Cotchipee wants to hear, though behind Cotchipee’s back, it’s a different, and hilarious, story.
Seán Patrick Judge is quite the presence as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Stalking onto the set and dressed in all white, we know exactly who he is before he even starts ranting, raving, and dropping some vile ideas about race. Cotchipee has support from The Sheriff, played with on-the-nose ineptitude by Jim Salners, but not his son, Charlie, whom he calls a “disgrace to the Southland.” Domenico Leona, as Charlie, proves to be an ally to Purlie and co., influenced obviously by his sweet relationship with Andrea Boronell-Hunter’s Idella. Idella, who works for Cotchipee, raised Charlie as her own, and it’s apparent how close they are in just how lost she sounds when Charlie goes missing.
James V. Thomas’s wood-paneled set, with props design and set dressing by Rodney Walsworth, is both a good base and nimble. The sparse furnishings and flippable walls are quickly altered to indicate new locations as needed, with the angles and lines that dominate the space adding a compelling and relevant visual. The set, as well as Macy Lyne’s period-evocative costumes, areall warmly lit by Edgar Guajardo.
Put it all together, and you have a lively, energetic production with heart and conviction. Perfect to open a 50th anniversary season.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 12 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45-$64.
If you’re still trying to decide what to do this coming week, look no further. Below you will find our picks for the best bets over the next seven days. We’ve got a Tony Award-winning musical stopping by on its national tour, a stage legend visiting Miller Outdoor Theatre, and much more. So, keep reading before you finalize any plans.
Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha will make his Miller Outdoor Theatre debut on Friday, September 12, at 8 p.m. when the orchestra drops in for Valčuha Conducts West Side Story. Leonard Bernstein himself “extracted nine sections” from the score to his hit Broadway musical to create Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which will be joined on the program by dances from Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia, originally commissioned in 1941 to be a ballet “based on Argentine country life”; Mexican composer Silvestre Reveultas’s Sensemayá, based on a poem inspired by “an Afro-Cuban snake sacrificial ritual”; and Maurice Ravel’s rousing crowd-pleaser Boléro. The performance is free, and you can reserve a ticket here starting at 10 a.m. today, September 11. Or, as always, you can sit on the Hill – no ticket required.
Performing Arts Houston is bringing Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, September 14, at 7:30 p.m. to play a one-night-only set of classic jazz, big band tunes, and American Songbook standards. The actor, well known for roles in films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and Wicked, has been playing with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – so named for a family friend who lived to be 100 – for 30 years, with their most recent album, Still Blooming, featuring appearances from folks like Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Scarlett Johansson, coming out this past spring. In previous shows, Goldblum has been noted for his commentary, “a merry blend of comedy and jazz,” and “his singing voice.” Limited tickets remain and are available here for $49 to $149.
Paul Hope Cabarets will present their first concert of the season on Monday.
Photo by Tasha Gorel, Natasha Nivan Productions
For some folks, lightning doesn’t strike twice, but on Monday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m., you can celebrate those memorable musical one-offs when Paul Hope Cabarets presents One Hit Wonders and Minor Music Makers at Ovations Night Club. During the program, you can expect to hear songs like Bob Merrill’s “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round” from the 1961 musical Carnival, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion’s “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, and Meredith Willson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones” from the 1957 musical The Music Man, among many other recognizable works. The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 22, and Monday, October 6. Tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $26.50 to $41.80.
In a little wooden house in upstate New York, three crosses decorate the wall. They are centrally placed, impossible to ignore, and perfect to obscure the fact that the residents of this little house are, in fact, Jewish.
In Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker, the year is 2029, eight years after the successful attack on the U.S. Capital on January 6, 2021. In the years following the insurrection, there have been brutal and concerted efforts to “get rid of the wrong kind of people.” For those left, home inspections are the norm. We learn of a wall that may now exist between the U.S. and Canada, a repopulation mandate, and a recent edict that forbids women from going to college.
Paul and his daughter Sarah, who goes by the name Mary, have fled their New York City home. They are now living in Granville and passing as Christian. Paul, a former city planner, now works at the local Walmart. Sarah is a high school senior, struggling to hide who she is and what she believes amongst the people of her new town and especially in front of her 17-year-old boyfriend John, a Granville local and inspector, tasked with searching Sarah’s home with a gun at his side.
Complicating matters is a mysterious woman who is dropped off at Paul and Sarah’s doorstep, a well-worn suitcase in her hand and a note pinned to her shawl.
“This is your Great Aunt Chava. It’s your turn to hide her. Good luck.”
For Laufer, Chava is a touch of magical realism in her worthy, and sadly necessary, addition to a subgenre of dark and dystopian works, warnings in the form of intellectual exercises in alternate history by folks like Sinclair Lewis and Philip K. Dick. We learn that Chava is 1,000 years old – “give or take” – and traces her own history back to the Crusades. She has since found herself everywhere from Kentucky to Yemen, encountering Nazis, Cossacks, and the Ku Klux Klan. She quite literally gets dropped “wherever something bad is happening to the Jews.”
Olivia Knight and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.
Photo by Gentle Bear Photography
The Last Yiddish Speaker is aching and funny, and thought-provoking above all else. And this production, from Mildred’s Umbrella in collaboration with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, is directed by Rhett Martinez with perfectly paced precision. Martinez navigates the play’s potentially tricky tone with ease, letting us feel the weight of this world and its stakes without overwhelming us.
And whether by necessity or design, Martinez’s traverse staging is quite clever and dynamic. Edgar Guajardo’s set is woody and rustic and perfectly evoking its rural locale, as do Samantha Hyman’s costumes. The set runs from wall to wall, audience members looking on from either side. Guajardo favors bold lighting choices, the color blue particularly prominent, likely for its moody feel and symbolic meaning.
Equally moody and ominous is Guajardo’s sound design. Several sound cues, however, were interestingly abrupt and (if intentional) unnecessarily distracting. And if there’s one thing you wouldn’t want to risk distracting from, it’s the terrific performances from Martinez’s four-actor ensemble.
Deborah Hope is a treasure, so it should be no surprise that she can play a character carrying the weight of an entire culture, its history, and language, on her proverbial back. Hope carries not only that weight, but Chava’s own – centuries of husbands and children long gone – in her hunched-over shoulders and little, shuffling steps, in eyes too knowing and sudden bouts of weakness and breathlessness that suggest she’s not immune to its effects. But most affecting is the way Hope balances “ancient being with a magical charge” with “Great Aunt Chava,” a motherly figure with such warmth, an irresistible twinkle in her eye, and a wicked sense of humor that leads to an incredibly funny exchange between Chava, Sarah, and a translation app.
(It’s worth mentioning, though probably unnecessary, that I’m no expert on Yiddish. But I was thoroughly convinced and impressed, so props to Dr. Mina Graur, the production’s Yiddish consultant.)
Austin Brady and Jason Duga in The Last Yiddish Speaker.
Photo by Gentle Bear Photography
As Sarah, Olivia Knight is electric. Sarah is whip-smart and understandably bristling at the restrictions she’s forced to live under. Even when she pushes farther than she should, risking her own life and that of her father, it’s painfully clear why and where she’s coming from. (There’s a particular monologue about a Hawaiian bird that is bound to bring tears to your eyes.) The heart of the play is Sarah’s growing connection with Chava, and Knight’s scenes with Hope are incredibly sweet and tender. Knight also has a great rapport with Jason Duga, who plays Sarah’s father, Paul.
Paul is frustrating by design. He is disconnected from Judaism and motivated by fear, his only real goal (protecting his daughter in the best way he can see) making him a foil to Sarah and, albeit briefly, a threat to Chava. His fear colors his exasperated back-and-forths with Sarah and his ingratiating comments to John and eventually explodes in his outbursts. Duga, however, is excellent at keeping Paul from slipping into one-note territory. Though his desperation may be at the fore, he never lets us lose sight of the internal conflicts that have brought him here.
The fourth member of this ensemble is Austin Brady, who tackles the role of John, Sarah’s small-town boyfriend. John reads as smarmy at the top, with Brady’s approach to him noticeably more performative than his castmates. It may have been to up the suspense on just how sincere John’s love for Sarah would prove to be when push came to shove. Still, Brady excelled in matching Knight’s energy and in portraying John’s growing discomfort as Sarah continually challenged him.
To say that The Last Yiddish Speaker is timely doesn’t quite do it justice, as we’re living in a moment where the timeline could still easily branch off in a direction like the one Laufer envisions in her play. It adds a certain bit of unease, but it’s that tension that tells you just how necessary works like this are and makes it more than worth seeing.
Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. Sundays through September 21 at the Joe Frank Theatre, Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, 5601 South Braeswood. For more information, call 713-729-3200 or visit mildredsumbrella.com. $18-$29.
It’s Eat an Extra Dessert Day, so consider stopping on your way to, or on your way home from, one of our best bets for a sweet treat. This week, we’ve got a ballet returning to Houston after 17 years, two classic film restorations, and much more. Keep reading for these and all our picks of the best things to check out this week.
Go down the path of an alternate history, one where the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was ultimately successful. In this world, a white supremacist, Christian nationalist government rules, and a father and daughter, Jewish, are living in upstate New York, hiding their identity when a 1,000-year-old Yiddish-speaking woman shows up at their door. That’s the premise of Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker, a co-production between Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company and the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, which will open tonight, September 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC. Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. Sundays through September 21. Tickets can be purchased here for $18 to $29.
Thirty-five years ago, in July 1990, Houston played host to the 16th G7 Summit, attended by then Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, who participated in the unveiling of a model for the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park. He also gifted funds to construct a garden pavilion, or azumaya. On Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Japan Festival Houston will honor this history when it returns to Hermann Park for two days of Japanese food, cultural exhibits, family-friendly activities, martial arts demonstrations, cosplay, and traditional and contemporary performances, including two performances by alumni from Takarazuka, an all-female musical theatre troupe – one on Saturday, September 6, at 8 p.m. at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The free festival will continue Sunday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Artistic Director Dr. Betsy Cook Weber will lead the Houston Chamber Choir in season-opener Mozart Requiem.
Photo by Jeff Grass Photography
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Haydn brothers, Franz Joseph and his younger brother Michael, were not only contemporaries, but at times neighbors, friends, collaborators, and rivals; Michael Haydn was once Mozart’s chief competition for the job of organist at one of Salzburg’s largest churches. Considering their intertwined lives, Houston Chamber Choir will open its season, its first conducted by new Artistic Director Dr. Betsy Cook Weber, at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church on Saturday, September 6, at 7:30 p.m. with Mozart Requiem, a program set to feature all three composers. During the concert, featuring members of the Houston Symphony, Mozart’s titular piece will be bookended by works by the Haydns: Franz Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum, which will open the program, and “Exsurge” from Michael Haydn’s cantata Applausus, which will close it. Tickets are available here for $10 to $50.
At one point inAnnie Baker’s 2009 playCircle Mirror Transformation, now being staged by Mighty Acorn Productions, the teacher of an adult acting class encourages her students to be “open and willing to go with it.” And that happens to be perfect advice for potential audiences as well.
But first, the set-up.
In small-town New England, it’s the first week of a six-week adult acting class at the local community center. The small class is led by a 51-year-old woman named Marty, the teacher quoted above, and the class includes Marty’s husband, James; Schultz, a recently divorced carpenter who still wears his wedding ring; Theresa, a former actress and transplant from New York attempting to cope with a recent breakup; and Lauren, a soon-to-be high school senior who wants the part of Maria in an upcoming school production of West Side Story.
Marty leads the group through a variety of standard acting class games, which in turn ask the would-be performers to play tag, have a conversation using nonsense words, and embody the qualities of, say, a bed or a baseball glove. As the weeks progress, so does our understanding of the characters as well as their understanding of themselves and each other.
There’s an idea that’s prevalent when it comes to good dialogue: It’s how people would talk if they just had more time to think about what to say. Typically, that means the uhs and the ums, the meanderings and the stumbles, get edited out. Baker’s script does the opposite. It’s in its naturalism, and in the fits and starts of thoughts unfinished and sometimes repeated, that Baker finds depth. Through the sentence fragments, hesitations, and interruptions, Baker offers us glimpses of her characters, portraits gaining color and shape as the play progresses.
Christian Tannous and Anna Flynn in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
As such, Circle Mirror Transformation is character-driven. Regarding the plot, there’s not much to write home about. To sustain the show, you need an especially adept director and a talented cast to hold an audience’s attention. Mighty Acorn has both.
Director David Kenner puts on a clinic in handling the subtleties of Baker’s script – in an unforgiving environment, too. The play takes place on a corner-set stage in a room much like one that would host a real five-person acting class. It’s small, intimate, the cast close enough to touch as they use the main entry door as just that – in and out for breaks and arrivals.
Mark Lewis’s set is simple and effective – wood paneling on the floor, an exercise ball here, a bulletin board there, and mirrors along one side. On the other wall, a dry-erase board to count down the weeks and a critical directive: “Listen. Stay open. Commit.” Lewis actually dons multiple hats for the production, credited as scene, lighting, and sound designer.
Then, of course, there’s the stellar ensemble this production boasts.
Tracy Ahern and Foster Davis in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
There’s a new age-y vibe to Tracy Ahern as the well-meaning and warm Marty. (Of course, she would have a dreamcatcher and just look at those flowy teal pants). At times, Ahern is positioned outside the action, guiding the class with a benevolent hand, but it’s when Ahern is an active participant, and Marty’s vulnerability comes through, that she is at her best – particularly, in scenes with Foster Davis.
When the play begins, the lights go up on the entire cast lying on the floor, playing a counting game with their eyes closed. Except Davis’s James, that is, whose eyes are noticeably open and darting around. Davis imbues James with a kindness that matches Ahern’s Marty, but it’s not long until we start seeing past the veneer, learning about James’s estrangement from his daughter and finding marital resentments. In one especially memorable scene, Ahern and Davis roleplay as Lauren’s parents, deftly blurring the lines between real Marty’s and James’ conflict underneath it all.
Christian Tannous plays Schultz like a ticking time bomb. Emotionally, Schultz is a man standing on ever shaky ground. He’s brusque, the kind of guy who says things like “What’s your deal?” when a “New in town?” would probably suffice. He seems easily excitable, with a lot of frustration and anger underneath, and his unpredictability makes it hard to take your eyes off him.
Anna Flynn, Callina Anderson, and Foster Davis in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.
Photo by Jeff McMorrough
As Theresa, Callina Anderson shows off an ease with and enthusiasm for the acting class that is only compromised when she’s reminded of her recent past. She is as visibly haunted as she is joyous at times, like when she’s hooping (as in that circular thing you swivel around your waist). Anderson is also a master at finding the undercurrent in her interactions, notably in scenes with Tannous and Davis.
Anna Flynn rounds out the cast, capturing that certain world weariness that only teenagers seem to have. As Lauren, she begins the play detached, finding Marty’s lesson plans suspect and openly questioning how any of her games are supposed to help with acting. Flynn’s arc is ultimately the most interesting, as by the end of the six-week class her demeanor has shifted, allowing Flynn to deliver a tender and powerful monologue that is not only not to be missed, but framed beautifully under Lewis’s pinpoint lighting design.
For most of the show, Lewis approximates standard rec room lighting, which makes the moments when it’s played with, as during the in and out of the room entries and exits, the nicely chaotic transitions, and one standout moment when Tannous acts out an explosion, more effective. One less-than-appreciated element on the sound side is the too-loud toilet flush that practically becomes its own character in the second act.
If you need one specific reason to see Circle Mirror Transformation, you can find it in one exercise the class does. In each of the first five weeks, we see the characters take turns introducing themselves as one of their classmates. And each introduction quickly goes from surface-level biographical details and “fun facts” (“I’m from New Hampshire” or “I really love the southwest”) to things like “I’m in a lot of pain” and “I think the problem is not my father so much as my fear of being my father.” Seeing the looks on each face as they listen to someone tell their story…well, that kind of acting is worth the price of admission alone.
One time change later, and it’s another week, another list of best bets. This week, we’ve got an immersive theater experience, a musical trip back to the Harlem Renaissance, and a celebration of Islamic arts. Keep reading for these and more events that got our pick for the best things to do this coming week.
Delve into Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi’s eighth book of madrigals, published in 1638, during Ars Lyrica’s latest program, Madrigals of Love and War, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Six singers – bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca, countertenor Michael Skarke, sopranos Amia Langer and Erica Schuller, and tenors Steven Brennfleck and Thomas O’Neill – will join eight musicians playing period instruments to perform a selection of Monteverdi’s part-songs, including one of his most famous works Lamento della Ninfa, as well as instrumental pieces from fellow Italians from the early Baroque period like Giovanni Paolo Cima and Bartolomeo Montalbano. Tickets to the in-person concert can be purchased here for $15 to $80, or you can stream the performance from home with a $20 digital ticket.
Step back in time to the Harlem Renaissance for a jazzy evening inspired by nightspots like the Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom when the Houston Symphony presents It Don’t Mean a Thing: Swingin’ Uptown Classics with Byron Stripling at Jones Hall on Friday, November 8, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. Conductor, trumpeter, and singer Stripling will lead the Symphony, along with guests Carmen Bradford and Leo Manzari, in a program of jazz standards from artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway. The concert will also be performed on Saturday, November 9, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 10, at 2 p.m. In-hall tickets to any of the performances can be purchased here for $40 to $115. If you can’t make it, you can access a livestream of Saturday night’s show here for $20.
For the first time, the 11th Annual Islamic Arts Festival, a two-day celebration touted as the largest festival of Islamic arts in the country, will be held at the University of Houston starting this Saturday, November 9, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In addition to more than 5,000 works of art on display, a variety of activities for children, and live demonstrations of calligraphy, henna, and ebru, this year, festivalgoers can attend a spoken word program, a film festival celebrating Muslim voices in cinema, a performance by the Spain-based Al-Firdaus Ensemble, and a Muslim comedy show. The festival continues on Sunday, November 10, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission to the festival is free, but a $15 ticket (or $45 VIP seating ticket) is needed to attend Saturday’s comedy show and performance by Al-Firdaus Ensemble.
Celebrate the Latin American collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and be present for the unveiling of new sculptures by six local Latinx artists on Sunday, November 10, from 1 to 5 p.m. during the Myths and Leyendas Fall Festival in the museum’s Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza and the Cullen Sculpture Garden. The family-friendly festival will feature art activities, music and dance performances, plenty of food vendors, film screenings from the Houston Latino Film Festival, and a game of lotería. Admission to both the festival and general admission to the museum will be free all day, and you must reserve a ticket here. If you can’t make it, the sculptures – created by artists Loriana Espinel, Diana Gonzalez, Francisco Pereira, Jean Sandoval, Alma Soto, and Ashley Raquel Trejo – will remain on view through November 17.
LOS ANGELES (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —Lingokids, the top early learning app for children, today announced the launch of its new animated series, “Baby Bot’s Backyard Tales”. The latest video series from the award-winning learning company invites viewers to join beloved character Baby Bot and his friends on magical adventures in the backyard. Each mini-episode is crafted to engage children in humor and play while imparting important lessons about kindness, compassion, creativity, and honesty.
“We’re thrilled to welcome ‘Baby Bot’s Backyard Tales’ to the Lingokids family. This engaging co-viewing show offers families a delightful way to bond while learning together,” said Cristobal Viedma, founder and CEO at Lingokids. “This new series underscores our dedication to creating educational entertainment that nurtures crucial social-emotional skills, empowering children to thrive both now and well into the future.”
The series kicks off with three captivating episodes designed to address common social-emotional topics and life lessons:
The Mysterious Magic Stick: A tale of honesty and respecting others’ belongings.
The Best Nest in the World: An exploration of empathy and appreciating differences.
Bee-YOU-tiful!: A heartwarming story about body positivity and self-acceptance.
“Baby Bot’s Backyard Tales” is now available on the Lingokids app, where users can enjoy an exclusive 1-week anticipated premiere of new episodes before they get aired on the company’s YouTube channel.
About Lingokids
Lingokids is an educational tech and media company dedicated to transforming the way children learn traditional and modern life skills. Through its unique Playlearning™ approach, Lingokids provides engaging, interactive learning experiences, empowering children to lead their own educational journeys. Launched in 2015, Lingokids has become a trusted platform for over 95 million families worldwide, offering the award-winning Lingokids app, podcasts, videos, and more.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
Wizards of the Coast had a lot going on at this year’s Gen Con — in addition to the regular hubbub of being the biggest name in tabletop role-playing games at the biggest tabletop convention whose namesake is literally Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. You know, the place where D&D was born. But this year’s D&D Live presentation was also an opportunity for Wizards to show off its new project: a virtual tabletop that goes by the codename Project Sigil.
Framed as an actual play performance, the event was originally slated to last only two hours, but unsurprisingly ran long thanks to excellent showmanship by the star-studded cast. Participants included Aabria Iyengar as Dungeon Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan as a Dwarven cleric, Samantha Béart reprising her role as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, Neil Newbon as Astarion from BG3, and Anjali Bhimani as a human wizard.
Polygon senior editor Charlie Hall attended the event in person and said the actors “chewed through the scenery in the first half,” leaving slightly less time for the team to switch to play around with Project Sigil. Hall said the Project Sigil showing was “halting” but ultimately well-received — and any snafus aren’t too much of a surprise given the platform hasn’t even entered closed beta yet. (Wizards is still accepting requests to join the closed beta, which is expected in fall 2024.)
Lucky for us, Gen Con filmed the whole game, lovingly titled “An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action,” and you can now watch on YouTube in all its silly glory. According to Hall, the entire playthrough is worth a watch.
“Let’s just say,” said Hall, “there’s an epic reveal in the second half that gives your favorite actual play performers plenty of room to explore… the source material.”
Playwright Adi Teodoru hopes that seeing her play, Melville & Hawthorne, just might make you want to dig up a copy of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
If you do, one of the first things you might notice is that Melville dedicated his book to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville met the author of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, and the two spent more than a year living just a mile from each other in the Berkshires. The time the two spent together deeply affected Melville as he developed Moby Dick, and we know this from letters the two exchanged, but they don’t tell the whole story.
“These two are generally considered to be the peak of American literary canon, and many people tend to read Moby Dick, myself included, not realizing that the book is dedicated to Hawthorne. But even those that do, I don’t think, ever consider it beyond two authors that lived next to each other and inspired each other.”
While studying at the University of Houston, Teodoru first encountered Melville’s letters to Hawthorne, which she says “read quite amorous for a relationship at that time.” Further research revealed that following Hawthorne’s death in 1864, his son, Julian, began writing a biography about his father and approached Melville, asking for the letters Hawthorne sent the man. Melville, however, stated that he burned the letters because they were too personal.
“It immediately became a mystery that I wanted to solve,” says Teodoru.
In 2008, Teodoru set out to fill in the missing pieces of their story, and this weekend, Thunderclap Productions will present the result when they open the world premiere of Melville & Hawthorne as part of their John Steven Kellett Memorial Series.
The series seeks to produce a play focusing on equality and LGBTQ+ themes annually.
Teodoru’s play is rooted in fact, so much so that she says her favorite part of the play may be “people coming out of it and researching everything that happens in it and realizing that it’s, I would say, 99% true.”
According to Teodoru, “the thread of the show” is Melville’s writing of Moby Dick, a standard in high school English classes across the country that most everyone has either read or at least knows from “the CliffsNotes version so that we can get through the test,” jokes Teodoru. But the focus, she says, tends to be on the whale-obsessed Ahab as opposed to the fact that almost all of the characters in the book are people of color or the romance between Ishmael and Queequeg, which is “in the text.”
“Melville had some very specific opinions in this book about equality and people being equal in a time where that kind of idea was really innovative,” adds Teodoru, noting that the book written in 1850 and 1851, a time when the country was heading into a civil war. “[Ishmael’s] love for Queequeg transcends not only Queequeg’s race and ethnicity but also the fact that it would have been forbidden, which is probably why Moby Dick did not do well during Melville’s lifetime.”
Though he may have held innovative ideas, with Teodoru describing him as “a man out of time,” Melville was also known to be abusive, someone described by his family as “a monster or a beast.” He was also disliked by society. Partly, Teodoru says, because of his ideas, and partly because of the way his personality was molded by a life spent in poverty and working on the sea as a whaler.
“I had in my mind this idea of the romantic hero and then I came up against the hard wall of reality. I had to readjust my thinking, not just about him, but about the progression of the plot; how do we start off thinking about Melville and how do we end the play thinking about Melville,” says Teodoru. “The play is as much about Melville’s relationship with Hawthorne as it is ours [the audience’s] relationship to Melville as a person.”
Since Teodoru started writing Melville & Hawthorne in 2008, there have been several iterations, with Teodoru saying that each reflected her development not only as a writer, but as a person. However, she points to the influence of current events, and specifically the events of 2020, on the play.
“It was mind-boggling to me the parallels between the time Melville was living in and what we’re living through now,” says Teodoru. “In 1851 to 1852, this nation was essentially drawing the lines of the two-party system and people were choosing sides. This was really the first time the nation decided there are two sides to our views and those two sides have continued to combat each other throughout our history and, of course, we still do that today.”
Despite featuring modern themes like social justice, racial equality, and sexual liberation, one subject you will not see is homophobia. For this reason, Teodoru calls the play “a safe space” for audiences.
“I always wanted this story to be about love, a period love story for queer audiences, which you almost never get to see on stage. You have all your Pride and Prejudices and your Bridgertons – which, of course, I’m obsessed with – but we don’t get to see a lot of it on stage and feel [a sense of] comfort,” says Teodoru, who adds that audiences should feel safe to “come and fall in love and have your heart broken.”
While Teodoru is hesitant to reveal too much about the show, she does acknowledge that “we know history says they did not end up together, and I did not change that. I did want it to be realistic.” Regardless, Teodoru hopes that audiences will still enjoy the story whether they’re there “to see a queer story or just a story about two authors and the writing of a book.”
“I think this story has a little bit for everybody,” says Teodoru. “I’m just hoping that people will come and find something to relate to in the story and then go out and read The Blithedale Romance and Moby Dick and the American canon.”
Performances of Melville & Hawthorne are scheduled from August 1 through August 10 at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and August 3, 5 and 8; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, August 4; and 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 10 at the MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, visit thunderclapproductions.com. $15-$25.
If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner who participates in the console’s beta program for testing new features before the rest of the public gets them, you’ll receive access to an update on Thursday that includes some new features for PS5 Remote Play and 3D audio. Both features seem designed for households where multiple people are sharing just one PS5.
I’m a big fan of the Remote Play feature on the PS5, and this specific update is addressing a hyper-specific need for Remote Play users — but if it’s a need you happen to have, it’ll be great news. Basically, this feature lets PS5 owners “adjust Remote Play settings per user and choose who is allowed to connect to [their] PS5 console using Remote Play.” The PlayStation blog includes this handy picture of what it would look like in action, depicting multiple user profiles with a toggle switch that would presumably allow you to shut off each person’s access to Remote Play.
Image: PlayStation
My wife and I both use the PS5 in our house, but I’m the only person who uses PS5 Remote Play; I use it all the time on my Steam Deck. It’s actually even possible to get PS5 Remote Play to work on a Steam Deck if you’re away from your PS5 and not connected to your home internet; it’s difficult to set this up, but it’s feasible. That’s part of why I think this feature could end up being weirdly useful in very specific circumstances, such as households where a lot of people are using Remote Play, including people who are away from home.
It’s kind of passive-aggressive to just turn off somebody’s access to Remote Play when they’re no longer in the PS5’s vicinity, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. I can’t help but think of those times in my life when I’ve had a breakup and had to change my Netflix password. Obviously that’s a worst-case scenario. More likely, you’d just want to turn off this option if somebody isn’t living with you anymore, but they might still visit you and want to use Remote Play in the future. Again, pretty specific need, but nice to have.
There are also some beta updates coming to 3D audio profiles on the PS5. This is another update that benefits households where lots of different people use just one console; if multiple people each have a set of corresponding PS5 headphones for 3D audio, this update has their names all over it.
According to the PlayStation blog post, this “feature that lets your PS5 console create a personalized 3D audio profile just for you […] You can run through a set of sound quality tests to analyze a vast number of factors to create an audio profile that best fits your hearing characteristics.”
Here’s a video depicting what those sound tests are like and the options that are available. You’d go to go to [Settings] > [Sound] > [3D Audio (Headphones)] in order to make these selections.
Last but not least, the update includes adaptive charging options for PS5 controllers, but only for people who own the new slimmer PS5 model. If that’s you and you’re a beta features participant, you’ll be able to select adaptive charging as an option, which “helps save power by adjusting the length of time that power is supplied to your controller based on its battery level.”
While the acronym AI continued to take up the most oxygen in the convention hall this summer in Denver, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies continue to evolve as a practical classroom application as well. I was happy to have my annual VR state-of-play conversation Chris Klein, vice president of education at Avantis Education, who is frank about the potentials and pitfalls of these tools. Have a listen:
Avantis is the creator of ClassVR, an all-in-one VR/AR headset and content platform designed specifically for K-12 classrooms. Used by more than 2 million students in 200,000 classrooms in 90 countries, it includes all hardware, software, tools, training, support and implementation services needed to deploy VR/AR in the classroom. It also provides access to the Eduverse platform, ClassVR’s library of content which gives teachers access to hundreds of thousands of pieces of VR and AR content and resources to enhance lessons and engage students more deeply in their learning.
Key Takeaways:
Evolution of AR and VR: From novelty to educational tool, AR and VR continue to integrate into mainstream education, enhancing engagement and learning outcomes.
Educational Integration: AR and VR serve as supplements to traditional teaching methods, enriching lessons without disrupting established curricula.
Future Hardware Development: Avantis teases a prototype of a device at ISTI, signaling a commitment to evolving hardware that aligns closely with educational needs and educator feedback.
Industry Standards: The arrival of major players like Apple and Meta in the AR and VR space is expected to set industry standards and improve interoperability across platforms, benefiting educators and students alike.
New this year: ClassVR is launching Eduverse360 –an expanded library featuring more than 300,000 360° images and videos from around the globe allowing teachers to take students on compelling, immersive field trips without leaving the classroom. Responding to increased demand for curriculum-aligned content across all subjects, new math resources are also being designed to make learning relevant, accessible, and fun. Popular English resources have been expanded to support English language teaching for K-2 and English as an additional language. While in biology students can shrink down to insect size to see pollination in action like never before.
Avantis also introduced software enhancements designed to improve the user experience. These updates include:
A redesigned homepage that features curated playlists and subject-based browsing for easier navigation.
ClassVR’ s teacher and student notes can now be viewed in a sidebar alongside the VR content, enhancing the educational experience.
Teachers will also benefit from the dynamic preview of 3D models, allowing them to quickly assess and view models with just a few clicks.
User and content management enhancements, including streamlined administrator management of playlists and updates to administrator controls.
New professional development options. Beginning July 1, 2024, all customers get free access to Avantis’ online continuing professional development (CPD) training materials to assist them with self-paced instruction on how to use ClassVR. New customers also have expanded options for training packages.
Kevin is a forward-thinking media executive with more than 25 years of experience building brands and audiences online, in print, and face to face. He is an acclaimed writer, editor, and commentator covering the intersection of society and technology, especially education technology. You can reach Kevin at KevinHogan@eschoolnews.com
