Payton McCarthy

When one hears the name, William Shakespeare, one often thinks of tragic lovers, murderous revenge, or tormented royals. If you have not yet become a converted worshipper of The Great Bard, you may even dread the idea of sitting through what you may expect to be hours worth of old, confusing language which is beyond hope of translation, and opt to take a nap instead. Well, whatever expectations you may have from the timeless theatrical master's material, you may leave them at the steps of the Center for the Arts as you enter the fantastical and delightfully entertaining world of A Midsummer Night's Dream. While this story is similar to the classic Romeo and Juliet tale through its introduction of the two star crossed lovers which the show follows, the magical forest on the outskirts of Athens (or, as the Center's production depicts, a world inspired by 1920's New York) is anything but reminiscent of fair Verona or its tragic occurrences when civil blood made civil hands unclean.

Ten strangers are assembled to Indian Island as the guests of the mysterious U.N Owen (or 'unknown') in Agatha Christie's legendary classic, And Then There Were None. However, as the initial dinner party is interrupted by the prerecorded voice of the group's absent host accusing each individual of murder, things take a dangerous turn. One unidentified guest among the ten (and then there were nine, and then there were eight, and then... well you know how it goes) begins to off his or her cohabitants one by one through the dark nursery rhyme which becomes a maddening and suspenseful sort of prophesy of impending doom to the terrorized group. Now playing at The Arts Center of Cannon County through October 13th, the Cyndie Verbeten directed production and her team of deeply skilled artists have assembled a production that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat, constantly questioning each potential mastermind, and leaves theatre-goers begging to know who is responsible for the shocking deaths at hand.

Fifty years following the premiere of Mart Crowley's iconic pre-stonewall comedic drama about a group of gay men living in New York, The Boys in the Band offers an interesting perspective to modern audiences of the many issues which tend to plague a group of people who are seen as “different”, and how much (or rather, as audiences will likely find, how little) those issues have changed over time within the gay community. This wildly entertaining evening full of laughs, queens, booze, shirtless hunks, self-loathing, and lasagna is one which is sure to wow audiences with the exceptional performance of its cast, while providing deeper insights into what it means to be a societal outsider, and how that treatment often manifests itself both internally and externally.