May 9, 2025 | Vol. 54, Issue 9

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

‘Beastly’ Is Poignant But Fails to Address Elephant in the Room

The one-woman theater performance Beastly: An Autobiographical Feminist Folk Tale at the Boston Center for the Arts opens in a not-too-distant dystopian future where oil tycoons rule while the world burns. Melissa Hale Woodman, who created and starred in Beastly, delves into female sexuality, identity, and aging, while connecting these autobiographical experiences with critiques of patriarchy, corporate greed, and climate crisis. The show is told through interwoven short personal monologues with Woodman dressing up as animals to tell fables in […]

‘A Man of No Importance’ at Speak Easy Theater Compassionately Explores Queer Life

The musical A Man of No Importance, set in 1960s Dublin, delved thoughtfully into how love, community, and art can be spiritual bulwarks for a closeted queer person amid homophobia and conservatism. At Speakeasy Theater, this wonderfully acted and staged performance addressed queer themes of both “coming in” to oneself and coming out to the world with emotional depth, vigor, and bravery. Paul Daigneault directed this beautifully produced musical, his last show after 34 years at the helm of the […]

‘SenStory’ Breaks Mental Health Taboos With Performing Arts

Elderly Chinatown residents took the stage at the Pao Arts Center last month – some sang karaoke to their favorite classic Chinese songs, a couple of them showed off their jianzi (birdie foot game) skills to the rest of their crowd, while others watched bilingual improv theater sketches in Mandarin and Cantonese. But behind the music, crafts and performing arts enjoyed by the nearly 200 participants, the March 8 event, “SenStory: Home as a Verb” contained a central theme: How […]

Playfest 7 Looks at Generational Divide, Grief and AI Through Lens of Asian America

Playfest 7’s show at The Foundry in Cambridge last month told familiar stories of dealing with grief (and landlords), stumbling over artificial intelligence technology, and trying to get a point across the gap of generations within a family. And the all-Asian American Pacific Islander cast did so with humor, poignant dialogue and resonant performances. Written by different Asian-American Pacific Islander playwrights, the eight short plays at the seventh annual Asian American Playwright Collective Playfest built a diverse set of worlds. […]

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