Two new stage productions explore themes of family, community and tradition

Peter Mill as Arnold Beckoff in "Torch Song"

Jared Bowen is the Emmy award-winning Executive Arts Editor and host of The Culture Show, a daily radio program and podcast at GBH exploring the creative process through a lively mix of local and national artist profiles, performances and exhibitions.

Molly McCaul is an Associate Producer for the GBH News arts and culture team. A lifelong Massachusetts resident, they are passionate about local and live music in Boston and beyond. You can reach them at molly_mccaul@wgbh.org.

December 08, 2022

Updated December 09, 2022

Every week, GBH News Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen highlights the best of New England's arts and culture. This week, two productions take the stage plus an exhibit that looks at artist Alex Katz's enduring love of theater and dance.

"Torch Song"

Now playing at the Moonbox Productions Roberts Studio Theatre through Dec. 23

Harvey Fierstein’s "Torch Song" is a holiday love story set in the 1970s centered on protagonist Arnold Beckoff, a gay man working as a drag queen, who looking for love as told through three vignettes. Moving from the early '70s into the '80s, the play examines what it means for Arnold to be a gay man raising an adoptive child, and what life is like for Arnold’s mother, who appears following the loss of her husband.

Bowen says that during performances of "Torch Song," the audience became invested: “There are a lot of exclamations from the audience [with] people becoming so invested and coming down on one side or the other.” However, the beauty of the work is that “you side with both Arnold and his mother. You understand where both of them are coming from because they’re both coming from places of love. But it plays out very naturally in 'Torch Song.'"

two men sit on the edge of a bed in "Torch Song" — Jack Manning (Alan) and Cristhian Mancinas-Garcia (Ed) in "Torch Song"

"Trad"

Now playing at the Boston Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre through Dec. 18

Short for “traditional,” this 80-minute Mark Doherty play brings audiences to the idyllic Irish countryside. The story follows a father, Da, and his 100-year-old son as they set out on a journey to find Da’s newly discovered grandson. As Bowen explains, "Trad" uses family as a metaphor for the Irish tradition and the way the country has changed over the past century.

Recreating a journey of this scale within the confines of a small black box theater requires a “great skill of the actors in this piece” which "Trad’s" cast deftly possess, Bowen notes. The ultimate question of the production is: “Is that what tradition is? Everyone is standing still and looking backwards?” Described as “tight,” “funny” and “poignant,” the play comes at a time when media today is highlighting the complexity and variety of Irish art.

Two men in brown suits sit on a bench during a production of "Trad" — Colin Hamell (Da) on the left and Derry Woodhouse (Son) on the right perform in "Trad"

"Alex Katz: Theater and Dance"

Now on view at the Colby Museum of Art through Feb. 19

This free museum in Waterville, Maine presents an exhibition on the career of 95-year-old artist Alex Katz. Coming from an era of abstract expressionism, working through pop art and minimalism movements, Katz has firmly established his own moment. In addition to his visual art, Katz “has always been somebody who’s been fascinated with theater and dance,” Bowen notes, something that shines through in his depictions of social dance.

Perhaps inspired by the closeness and energy of dance and theater, this exhibition stands out for how it stages Katz’s work. Bowen says that “these pieces are close together, so it feels like they have this frenetic dance energy to them because it’s such an unusual hang. It’s just got this great charge and movement in an otherwise still gallery space.”