This week, Jared is safely back in a theater to enjoy two plays: A modern Greek comedy at the Huntington about climate change, and a one-woman show that blends the lowbrow and highbrow.
“Hurricane Diane” At Huntington Theatre Company through Sept. 26
Live theater is finally back — “Hurricane Diane” is the first indoor theater performance in Boston since the start of the pandemic, 538 days after Huntington Theatre Company closed. Written by Madeleine George, the play imagines the Greek God Dionysus comes to modern New Jersey as Diane, a gay gardener who wants to warn the world of the dangers of climate change. Despite its serious theme, the ensemble comedy is full of laughs, according to Bowen. And, the Huntington requires masks and proof of vaccination for all guests, ensuring comfort and safety for theater-goers.
“In ‘Hurricane Diane,’ this storm fronts as a hilarious and pointed revelation of where we stand aiding and abetting climate change. It’s even better that New Jersey housewives, with some divine intervention, can show us the way,” Bowen said. “It’s a great laugh and we need lots of laughs right now.”
Jacqueline Novak’s “Get On Your Knees” at Emerson Colonial Theatre through Sept. 19
Novak’s first run of the one-woman show “Get On Your Knees” was extended four times in New York, and now it’s left the Big Apple for the first time and landed in Boston. Bowen calls it an “uproarious blend of comedy and theater” that examines an intimate act between a man and a woman with an intellectual and poetic lens — successfully blending the highbrow and lowbrow.
“As a woman, sometimes it feels like we're divided into these different personas,” Novak told Bowen. “Here's me as a ‘good daughter,’ here’s me as a ‘good student’ ... and to me, there's something about bringing the crass and the sexual right up next to those other things and going: ‘Look — they can both exist in the same person.’”
Are you excited or nervous to return to live theater? Tell Jared about it on Facebook or Twitter!
