Author Archives: Achy Obejas

Alegria Cirque du Soleil at Cityfront Center, through August 27 Considering the slick-tech wonder of its presentation, the greatest triumph of Cirque du Soleil’s spectacle is its paradoxical simplicity. As we sit under the troupe’s big top and watch act after act–a parade of beautiful, androgynous, anonymous creatures–we realize we know all the “tricks.” And […]

Heidi House at N.A.M.E. Gallery, March 10 and 11 The word “normal” is an imperative in Heidi Arneson’s description of her childhood home. For once it’s not meant ironically–in Heidi House, a beautiful metaphorical representation of Arneson’s early home, the family seems functional. There are no hints of incest, abuse, alcoholism, or any of the […]

Sweat Dreams at the Organic Theater Company Greenhouse, Lab Theater, through January 30 Sweat Dreams, the follow-up to last year’s immensely successful all-women revue I’m Sweating Under My Breasts, has a great deal more confidence: the writing’s sharper and more nuanced, and the actors tell their stories more naturally. I’m Sweating Under My Breasts was […]

AH ME OH MY Jenny Magnus at Link’s Hall, August 31 Nothing leaks at a Jenny Magnus show; everything is sealed in tight. Even when the inevitable microphone fails or prop collapses, she never misses a beat. So I approached Magnus’s Ah Me Oh My with some trepidation. Performing as part of the Chance Dance […]

HULA, PART I (RIDER) Joan Dickinson at N.A.M.E., June 3, 4, 10, and 11 A year or so ago Lynn Book ended up costarring with a thunderstorm during a performance at the Blue Rider. The moment was fantastic: Book standing in a doorway, the wind howling, her costume billowing, clouds breaking in grays and blacks […]

LOVVE/RITUALS AND RAGE Root Wy’mn Theater Company at Randolph Street Gallery, May 27 and 28 The great contradiction of performance art is that though it has habitually posed as radical and political, as ironic commentary on the academy, it is in fact very much a part of the institution it supposedly critiques. Even the issues […]

WIRELESS BALLROOM Loofah Method at Live Bait Theater, through May 22 Wireless Ballroom, Loofah Method’s new show, has a moral to its story–it’s a classic, really, the one about not forgetting the human heart. But unfortunately, even as the Loofahs warn us of the dangers of technology, they’re completely overwhelmed by it; even as they […]

COLOR ME EDWARDO Edward Thomas-Herrera at the Avenue Theatre, March 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, and 30 Color Me Edwardo, a performance made up of poems by Edward Thomas-Herrera–some of which were already staged as part of his Tango Edwardo last year–is often quite charming, but Thomas-Herrera’s uneasiness about how he wants us to view […]

Iris Moore and Christina Cobb at Randolph Street Gallery, February 18 and 19 Iris Moore, who will probably never do a sitcom, is something of a pure artist. She does what she does because it feels right to her and because she has something to say. If there are other considerations–say, extending an engagement, playing […]

I’M SWEATING UNDER MY BREASTS Pretzelrod at Cafe Voltaire I’m Sweating Under My Breasts is an evening of monologues by eight of the city’s busiest and, in some cases, best up-and-coming women theater artists–not one of whom has staked any prior claim on the local performance scene. And despite the assertions of director Dorothy Milne […]

MUSIC FOR THE TOOTH FILING CEREMONY Jeff Abell at Randolph Street Gallery, November 19 and 20 Most drag personas, it seems, go to one of two extremes: they either exoticize and idealize feminine beauty, or they mock the patriarchy, the women who feed into it, or both. But drag personas are also like DNA: unique, […]

LEWD FOOD FLUXUS BANQUET at the Arts Club, November 16 The offerings were divine at the Lewd Food Fluxus Banquet, the service impeccable, the timing perfect, and the company charming. And that, in essence, was what was wrong with it. Lewd Food, part of the Fluxus extravaganza taking place in town, seemed a weird, almost […]

MONKHOOD IN 3 EASY LESSONS Dan Kwong at Gallery 2, October 2 101 HUMILIATING STORIES Lisa Kron at Smart Bar, October 1-3 In Monkhood in 3 Easy Lessons Dan Kwong tells us that common Western expectations and stereotypes of men oppress Asian American males. And although he brings plenty of props, movement, and energy to […]