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Provincetown Theater

Arts Briefs and Listings

Arts Briefs and Listings for Feb. 13 through Feb. 19

By Howard Karren Feb 13, 2020

Snowy owl — Snowy Owl: Queen of the North, followed by a discussion with Mass. Audubon’s Norm Smith and naturalist Joel Wagner, will screen at WHAT on Saturday. (Photo Robert Holden)

‘Sea Change’ Film Series Returns

The “Sea Change” environmental film series is back for its eighth season at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater at 2357 Route 6, presented in collaboration with the Mass. Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and WCAI.

Three films will screen, followed by talks with scientists and naturalists. The first, Snowy Owl: Queen of the North,about the majestic Arctic birds that can be seen on the Cape in late winter, is scheduled for this Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. Mass. Audubon’s Norm Smith and naturalist Joel Wagner will lead a discussion afterward.

The Serengeti Rules will be screened on Saturday, March 21, at 7 p.m., with a panel of scientists, and Damsels and Dragons will be screened on Saturday, April 25, at 7 p.m., followed by a discussion with insect experts.

Tickets for the screenings are $12 at what.org.

Ruby Rose Fox Channels Leonard Cohen

Experimental pop folk artist Ruby Rose Fox will perform “Me & You & Leonard Cohen,” an intimate and stripped-down interpretation of the late poet-songwriter’s ballads, on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall at 335 Main St. Tickets are $22 in advance at wellfleetpreservationhall.org and $23 at the door.

The Boston-based Fox, whose last name was formerly Cohen, first performed at Wellfleet Preservation Hall in 2018 to a sold-out crowd. She has always considered Canadian legend Leonard Cohen to be her muse.

24 Hour Plays, Provincetown — Members of the Provincetown Playwrights’ Lab for the 2019 “24 Hour Plays” are (clockwise from left); Frank Vasello, Dian Hamilton, John Shuman, Candace Perry, Judith Underwood, and Nathan Butera (with Carlo). (Photo courtesy David Drake)

Faster, Playwright! Kill! Kill!

The need for speed endures: The 24-Hour Plays is back for its 10^th-anniversary edition, with seven playwrights writing brief one-acts, and seven directors and 21 actors rehearsing and performing them, all within the space of 24 hours.

The event is presented by the Provincetown Theater, in conjunction with the Provincetown Playwrights’ Lab, and produced by Frank Vasello and Nathan Butera, with Ellen Rubenstein as stage manager.

The seven playwrights this year are Lucy Blood, Linda Fiorella, Tamora Israel, Bob Keary, Jody O’Neil, Fermin Rojas, and Kate Wallace-Rogers.

Performances are on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 16, at 2 p.m. at the Provincetown Theater at 238 Bradford St. Tickets are $20 at provincetowntheater.org or (508) 487-7487. Shows typically sell out; buying in advance is recommended.

‘Free Expression’ Show at Four Eleven

Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown is offering a new exhibit of paintings, “Free Expression: Art About Loving, Living, and Creating,” opening on Saturday, Feb. 15, from 3 to 6 p.m. at 411 Commercial St.

Gallery artist Pete Hocking is curating the show, which will feature work by Naya Bricher, Liz Carney, Madelyn Carney, Janine Evers, David Foley, Mary Giammarino, Helen Grimm, Jenny Humphreys, Paul Rizzo, Laura Shabott, Julie Smith, and Hocking himself.

Winter hours for the gallery are Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through Feb. 29.

Music and Theater Highlights

CONCERTS

Diana DiGioia: Monday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m., with open mic, at Coffeehouse at the Mews, 429 Commercial St., Provincetown. $5 donation benefits WOMR and Provincetown Theater.

Feed Your Love Open Mic: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 7 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. Free.

Ruby Rose Fox, “Me & You & Leonard Cohen”: Saturday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. Tickets $22 in advance at wellfleetpreservationhall.org, $23 at the door.

Bert Jackson: Rowena Myers Waking Up Winter With Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2 p.m. at Snow Library, 67 Main St. in Orleans. Free.

Jonathan Hawkins and Jon Richardson, “Love Songs: a show for those in (or out of) love”: Saturday, Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m. at Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial St., Provincetown. $29-$39 at onlyatthecrown.com.

Jazzical Cats: Fred Fried, Peggy Gerber, and Michael Ryle: Winter Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 15, 1 p.m. at Truro Public Library, 7 Standish Way. Free.

Eve Yvonne Makilya and Jim Brosseau: Winter Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 15, 1 p.m. at Eastham Public Library,190 Samoset Road. Free.

Outermost Contra Dance: music by Rose Clancy and Jacqueline Schwab, Friday, Feb. 14, 7 p.m. (6 p.m. potluck) at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. $10 donation.

Gregg Sullivan: Winter Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 15, 5 p.m. at Truro Vineyards, 11 Shore Road, Truro. No cover.

PIANO BARS

Mike Flanagan: Thursday, Feb. 6, 7-10 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 7, 8-11 p.m. at Tin Pan Alley, 269 Commercial St., in Provincetown. No cover.

Jon Richardson: Friday-Saturday, Feb. 14-15, from 9 p.m. at Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial St., Provincetown. No cover.

THEATER

Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim: Opens Thursday, Feb. 13. Shows Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m., through March 1 at Eventide Arts, 713 Route 6A, Dennis. Tickets $25 at eventidearts.org.

IMPROVincetown: Saturday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. at Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St., Provincetown. Tickets $20 at pilgrimhouseptown.com.

Jimmy Tingle’s 2020 Vision: Friday, Feb. 14, 8 p.m. at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, 2357 Route 6. Tickets $15 at what.org.

Snow White: Opens Saturday, Feb. 15. Thursday and Saturday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Sunday, 2 p.m., through Feb. 23, at Academy Playhouse, 120 Main St., Orleans. Tickets $20, students $10 at apacapecod.org.

The 24-Hour Plays: Saturday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 16, 2 p.m. at Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. Tickets $20 at provincetowntheater.org.

Winter Vacation Magic with the Amazing Richard & Co.: Wednesday-Friday, Feb. 19-21, 2 p.m. at Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre, 105 Division St. in Harwich. Tickets $15 at capecodtheatrecompany.org.

DRAG

Drag Bingo with Tiki Bronstein, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. at Atlantic House, 4-6 Masonic Place, Provincetown.

Drag Karaoke at Governor Bradford, 312 Commercial St., Provincetown: Dana Danzel, Friday-Saturday, 9:30 p.m. No cover.

Valentine’s Drag Bingo with Mackenzie, at Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St., Provincetown. Saturday, Feb. 15, 6 p.m. $25, fundraiser for the Provincetown Business Guild.

Arts Briefs and Listings

Arts Briefs and Listings for Feb. 6 through Feb. 12

By Howard Karren Feb 6, 2020

This large drawing of the Wellfleet fire tower by Truro artist Jennifer Moller is part of her show at Higgins Gallery at Cape Cod Community College with a reception on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Jennifer Moller)

Jennifer Moller at Higgins Gallery at 4Cs

The Higgins Gallery at Cape Cod Community College and director Nathalie Ferrier are holding a reception for Jennifer Moller’s show, “pools, mighty plenitude and seas,” on Wednesday, Feb. 12, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Tilden Arts Center at 2240 Iyannough Road in Barnstable.

The exhibit features large drawings, photographs, and a video installation by Moller, an interdisciplinary artist who lives part-time in Truro and teaches in Boston. It will be on view through March 4. Moller will be an artist-in-residence at the Higgins Gallery this spring.

Playwright Steven Myerson will attend the staged reading of his play To the Extreme! on Tuesday at the Provincetown Theater. (Photo courtesy Provincetown Theater)

Staged Reading Goes To the Extreme!

The Provincetown Theater’s Winter Play Dates 2020 series continues on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. at 238 Bradford St. with a staged reading of Steven Myerson’s To the Extreme!, which the theater calls “a political (and poetic) social satire for our times.”

Winter Play Dates is curated by the Provincetown Theater’s artistic director, David Drake, and Gary Garrison, former executive director of the Dramatists’ Guild. The playwright and curators will participate in a talkback at the end of the reading.

Admission is free with first come, first served general seating.

Jessie Buckley in Wild Rose — Jessie Buckley stars in Wild Rose at Wellfleet Preservation Hall on Saturday. (Photo Neon)

Wild, Weird, and Wonderful Rose in Wellfleet

Wellfleet Preservation Hall launches its monthly off-season film series, “Wild, Weird & Wonderful Women,” with Saturday, Feb. 8, screenings (at 4 and 7 p.m.) of Wild Rose, the story of Rose-Lynn Harlan, a working-class ex-con from Glasgow, Scotland, who tries to make it as a Nashville, Tenn., country singer. Jessie Buckley stars and sings, memorably, in this gritty drama co-starring Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo and directed by Tom Harper.

Tickets are $10 in advance at wellfleetpreservationhall.org or (508) 349-1800, or $11 at the door. Screenings are at the hall at 335 Main St. in Wellfleet.

"Memorable" — The 2020 Oscar Nominated Short Films program, including the animated short pictured here, “Memorable,” is playing at the Waters Edge Cinema in Provincetown. (Photo courtesy ShortsTV)

Music and Theater Highlights

CONCERTS

All Worn Out Jug Band: CD Release Party for Still Kickin’, Friday, Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall,335 Main St. Tickets $16 at door, $15 in advance at wellfleetpreservationhall.org.

Diana DiGioia: Rowena Myers Waking Up Winter With Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2 p.m. at Snow Library, 67 Main St. in Orleans. Free.

Shaun England: Monday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m., with open mic, at Coffeehouse at the Mews, 429 Commercial St., Provincetown. $5 donation benefits WOMR and Provincetown Theater.

Tim Eriksen: Saturday, Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m. at First Encounter Coffee House, 220 Samoset Road, Eastham. $20.

Catie Flynn: Saturday, Feb. 8, 5-7 p.m. at Truro Vineyards, 11 Shore Road, Truro. No cover.

Kim Moberg: Friday, Feb. 7, 5-7 p.m. at Truro Vineyards, 11 Shore Road, Truro. No cover.

Peking and the Mystics: Five Tufts alums harmonize a cappella on Saturday, Feb. 8, 1 p.m. at Truro Public Library, 7 Standish Way. Free.

Kareem Sanjaghi Quintet: Tea and Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 8, 3 p.m. at Wellfleet Public Library, 55 W. Main St. Free.

Mark T. Small: Winter Music Series, Saturday, Feb. 8, 1 p.m. at Eastham Public Library, 190 Samoset Road. Free.

PIANO BARS

Mike Flanagan: Thursday, Feb. 6, 7-10 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 7, 8-11 p.m. at Tin Pan Alley, 269 Commercial St., in Provincetown. No cover.

THEATER

Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim: Opens Thursday, Feb. 13. Shows Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2:30 p.m., through March 1 at Eventide Arts, 713 Route 6A, Dennis. Tickets $25 at eventidearts.org.

Mosquito Story Slam: “Leap of Faith”: Saturday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. at Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. Tickets $15 at provincetowntheater.org.

Once in a Lifetime, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman: Shows Friday at 7 p.m. and

Saturday at 2 & 7 p.m. at Cape Rep Theatre, 3299 Main St, Brewster. Tickets $10, students $5, at caperep.org.

To the Extreme!, by Steven Myerson: staged reading, with playwright and director talkback following the performance, Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m., at Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. Free.

DRAG

Drag Bingo with Tiki Bronstein, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. at Atlantic House, 4-6 Masonic Place, Provincetown.

Drag Karaoke at Governor Bradford, 312 Commercial St., Provincetown: Dana Danzel, Friday-Saturday, 9:30 p.m. No cover.

THEATER

The Curtain Rises on Provincetown Theater’s 2020 Season

A look at the year ahead with Artistic Director David Drake

By Howard Karren Jan 23, 2020

“It was deliberate,” David Drake, the artistic director of the Provincetown Theater, says of his schedule of new productions for 2020, his third year at the company. “Doing this season with a lot of LGBTQ representation — it’s the gayest season I’ve ever done — was on purpose, because we’re having our rights attacked, tearing away at our dignity. We need to claim it — but enjoy claiming it.”

The first Winter Play Date at the Provincetown Theater is a free public reading on Tuesday of Popcorn Girl by Sean Ably, pictured here. (Photo Chad Runyon)

Subscriptions are up, and the Provincetown Theater is resurgent under Drake’s leadership and a revitalized and engaged board led by David Wilson. Drake’s first season, when he presented You Can’t Take It With You; Love! Valor! Compassion!; and The Laramie Project, all ensemble pieces, was, he says, about “gathering” and bearing witness — coming together as a community with the theater at its center, where it hadn’t been in a while. Last year’s season, which featured August: Osage County; Sweeney Todd; and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play, was about “emotions,” Drake says. And the emotions were certainly intense. He’s been batting a thousand with all the theater’s homegrown productions, and 2020 promises to continue the streak.

Mae West, pictured here, wrote The Drag in 1927. Though the play, replete with a drag ball, was shut down before reaching Broadway, it will open the 2020 season of the Provincetown Theater this May. (Photo courtesy Provincetown Theater)

It begins on May 14 with Mae West’s The Drag, described by the playwright as “a homosexual comedy in three acts.” The show, from 1927, was written before West became a major Hollywood star and was shut down by censors before it ever reached Broadway. “It has the funniest lines, and it’s an attack on puritanical attitudes toward sex and gender,” Drake says. “There’s a drag ball.” West is a natural icon in the world of drag. “She’s not a natural beauty,” Drake says. “She’s a construction: the jewelry, the hair, and the dresses.”

On June 29, the Provincetown Theater will present the world premiere of Sarah Schulman’s The Lady Hamlet, a backstage comedy about dueling divas who want to be the first female Hamlet on Broadway. There will be post-show talkbacks with Schulman, a novelist, playwright, teacher, and queer activist.

That’s followed by Jerker on Aug. 3, by the late Robert Chesley. It’s a 1986 love story of two men in San Francisco at the height of AIDS paranoia — a two-person play of phone sex (full title: Jerker, or The Helping Hand: A Pornographic Elegy With Redeeming Social Value and a Hymn to the Queer Men of San Francisco in Twenty Telephone Calls, Many of Them Dirty). “I did a reading of it in New York about four years ago,” Drake says. “I knew it was still relevant.”

Robert Chesley is pictured here in 1989; the author of Jerker, the phone-sex play, which will be revived at the Provincetown Theater in August, died of AIDS in 1990 at age 47. (Photo Robert Giard)

On Oct. 8, Bekah Brunstetter’s comedy The Cake takes the stage. Brunstetter is the creator of the NBC series This Is Us,and the play is based on current events: a North Carolina baker refuses to create a cake for a lesbian couple. Complicating the issue, one of the women getting married is the daughter of the baker’s deceased best friend, and her fiancée is black, making the denial that much more divisive. “There are a lot of layers to that cake,” Drake says.

The season wraps up with Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten on Nov. 19. When he first took the job, Drake said that he was hoping eventually to be able to put on an O’Neill classic at the Provincetown Theater, and now he’s ready. “It’s his most forgiving play,” Drake says.

The Drag and Moon for the Misbegotten bookend the season with older plays. “They’re all by impactful American writers,” he says, “and this season we have plays written by three women,” which is noteworthy, because in the past two years there have been none.

Drake is intent on keeping the Provincetown Theater a year-round operation, and to that end, he cites the monthly Mosquito Story Slams that are lined up through April (next date: Feb. 8), and the 10^th annual presentation of “The 24-Hour Plays” by the Provincetown Playwrights’ Lab on Feb. 15-16.

Also back is a program of “Winter Play Dates,” five staged readings on Tuesday nights every other week, starting on Jan. 28 with Sean Ably’s Popcorn Girl. “It’s based on an actual murder that happened in a silent-movie theater in L.A. in the 1990s,” Drake says. A reading of Steven Myerson’s political satire To the Extreme! is scheduled for Feb. 11; Squall, a thriller by Elizabeth Hemmerdinger about two women trapped on a Maine island, will be Feb. 25; a new work by L.M. Feldman is set for March 10; and Michael Wallerstein’s Chasing Happy, a gay romantic comedy set in Provincetown, is coming March 24.

The readings are done with local actors and only a few days rehearsal, and they’re free, followed by a talkback with the author. “They’re not auditions,” Drake says. “We’re helping to develop these plays.”

Another program that nurtures talent is the theater’s playwright residency program, which this year will bring C.A. Johnson (All the Natalie Portmans) to Provincetown.

It’s all part of Drake’s plan to make the Provincetown Theater a nexus of creative energy, and to have a trip to 238 Bradford St. be a regular part of people’s schedules, both townies and tourists. In year three of his tenure, that’s exactly what seems to be happening.

Winter Play Dates Begin

The event: Reading of Sean Ably’s Popcorn Girl

The time: Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m.

The place: Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St.

The cost: Free

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Arts Briefs and Listings for Feb. 13 through Feb. 19

Arts Briefs and Listings for Feb. 6 through Feb. 12

The Curtain Rises on Provincetown Theater’s 2020 Season

A look at the year ahead with Artistic Director David Drake

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