When Margaret Cho emerged in the early 1990s as a major new voice in comedy and a stand-up headliner, fans were ignited by her brutal honesty, taboo-breaking storytelling, and unapologetic […]
Theater
FIVE QUESTIONS
Paige Turner Really Is That Nice
The ‘Barbie Girl’ sits down with the Independent for a chat
Paige Turner is a self-described “Barbie Girl” who grew up in Indiana, moved to Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, and now spends her summers in Provincetown. But ask her […]
THEATER
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Despair
Christopher Durang gives Chekhov a hilarious spin
Anton Chekhov was not a happy camper. He wallowed in the unfulfilled dreams and unrequited loves of the bourgeoisie in czarist Russia. His dramatically sophisticated and heart-wrenching plays — Three […]
THEATER
Shattered Illusions
In Harbor Stage’s stark Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is crashing
The Harbor Stage Company’s second offering of the summer is Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1949 tragedy, Death of a Salesman, in a stark, audacious, and emotionally searing production directed by […]
DRAG DESK
Joey Arias Sings in the Key of Life
The chanteuse brings a lifetime of heart and soul to the stage
It’s nearly impossible to describe a Joey Arias performance to someone who hasn’t seen one. It’s not just a show. It’s an experience: seductive, surreal, unfiltered, and always authentic. It’s […]
ARTS FUNDING
Pushing Against the Tide of Cutbacks
Arts organizations tighten belts and turn to private and state sources
Provincetown artist Laura Shabott, playwright Patrick Riviere, and the executive director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival were relieved to learn that they had been selected for grants from […]
DRAG DESK
Varla Jean Merman Just Wants to Make You Laugh
After three decades in the drag business, Jeffery Roberson is still learning new tricks
The day after the debut of his new summer show at the Crown & Anchor last month, Jeffery Roberson — the beating heart of Provincetown drag, better known as Varla Jean […]
CIRCUS
Behind the Buzz
This summer’s Cirque by the Sea production takes sweat, cooperation, and creativity
The mosquito has a monologue. The bees perform synchronized aerials. And the praying mantises fight to the death. What’s the Buzz?, the latest production from Payomet’s Cirque by the Sea, […]
COMEDY
Nothing Is Off Limits for Judy Gold
Onstage and off, she’s fierce about family, politics, and being funny
The astonishing thing about the opening night of Judy Gold’s annual run at the Post Office Café & Cabaret wasn’t that she killed it. She did kill it, resoundingly, but […]
THEATER
The Past Resembles the Present in Sacco & Vanzetti’s Divine Comedy
Kevin Rice’s new play addresses America’s history of scapegoating immigrants
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants who joined the early-20th-century anarchist and labor movements in Massachusetts. In 1921, they were convicted of killing a paymaster and a guard […]
SPEECHLESS
The Telling Sound of Silence
In his autobiographical play, It Goes Without Saying, mime Bill Bowers says a lot
In the quiet valley town of Missoula, Mont., sprawled at the feet of five mountain ranges, Bill Bowers’s parents — both descended from generations of ranchers and farmers — did […]
THEATER
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
An adaptation of a Willa Cather short story explores connections to place and community
The Willa Cather short story that Brenda Withers has adapted as a play is set in a 19th-century Nebraska farm community, but in the Harbor Stage Company’s production of The […]
THE DRAG BUG
If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It
Mackenzie takes her act to Lower Cape Pride
Mackenzie Miller, Provincetown’s self-declared “neon hype girl,” was born in the great state of Alaska, in Big Lake, an hour north of Anchorage. There, in the “arctic tundra,” she says, […]
PERFORMANCE
Grief and Laughter in Equal Measure
Sam Morrison found inspiration in Provincetown and catharsis in comedy
Six years ago, a chance meeting on Commercial Street changed the world of comedian Sam Morrison. The encounter marked the start of a relationship that Morrison recounts in his one-man […]
FRONT LINES
War Reporting as Breakthrough
A conversation with Phil Klay on the challenges and dilemmas of depicting violence
Phil Klay’s short story collection, Redeployment, about the experiences of American soldiers fighting in Iraq and returning home, won the 2014 National Book Award for fiction. His second book, Missionaries, […]
