Rating: NNNNN
hope terry in FLAME
Terry’s clown Ruby has audience charm, but her script, about Ruby’s obsession with sparklers, is underdeveloped. NN (JK)
christian lloyd in THE SISTER SEASON
Jared Mitchell’s dull look at an upscale gay T.O. couple is all but undirected, so Lloyd’s focused, well-thought-out turn as the bitter control queen stands out. NN (GS)
ERIC J. ROSE from PAGAN LOVE SONGS
Sue Balint’s impressionistic play about two troubled young adults reads like second-rate MacIvor, but director Rose adds shape and texture to the staging. NN (GS)
MELANIE CONLY in the medium
Though Vanessa Grant as a fake, troubled spiritualist fails to ground Gian-Carlo Menotti’s opera, Conly as her sensitive daughter brings passion and charm. NN (JK)
martha schabas in wallflower
As an artists’ model, Schabas shines, conveying a range of emotions in a tedious, navel-gazing look at a 19th-century British art movement. NN (JK)
ryan mcvittie and allison rees-cummings in rabid
Kevin Rees-Cummings’s script about hate-filled skinheads is pure chaos, but the electric McVittie and Allison Rees-Cummings make the show bearable. NN (GS)
anne tager page in no song, no supper
As an 18th-century actor, Page lights up when she’s “performing,” but the historical narrative surrounding the stage bits is sketchy and confusing. NN (JK)
the company in HE SAID YES/HE SAID NO
A group of energetic young artists tackle Brecht’s twinned lesson plays using stylized forms — Noh drama and pop-cult cartoon — but the segments don’t hang together well. NN (JK)
JON McCURLEY and LAUREN WEDLOCK from BILLY AND THE MONSTERS
McCurley’s gross-out musical isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but McCurley and Wedlock’s designs for the monsters are superb. They look like big, evil Euro-rodents. NN (GS)
