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Lauren Guglielmello

The Cherry Orchard

September 30, 2025

The production by Adult Film, in association with BKE Productions, incorporates a multimedia approach to telling the story, based on a translation and adaptation by John Christopher Jones, who appears as the character Firs in filmed sequences. The show is dedicated to him, as he passed away before the show was scheduled to open. Ryan Czerwonko, the artistic director of Adult Film, is both the director of this production and plays Ermolai Alexeyevitch Lophakin, the son and grandson of serfs once owned by the estate, who has now become a very successful merchant. Lophakin is the principal protagonist of the tale who will resolve the fate of the cherry orchard and the estate. The ensemble of actors beautifully embodies the characters, exploring some of the subtler elements of their personalities. [more]

Outraged Hearts: “The Pretty Trap” & “Interior: Panic”

May 19, 2025

Unfortunately, The Fire Weeds’ production directed by Jaclyn Bethany (who appears in both plays) is very uneven. An attempt at expressionism handled differently in each does not work for these Tennessee Williams’ plays. While “The Pretty Trap” eschews props for pantomiming, in “Interior: Panic” lighting designer Zoe Griffith has taken the stage direction “the light is normal” and literally bathed the stage in pink-red light periodically to suggest Blanche’s hallucinations. However, this is both distracting and intrusive. Of course, theatergoers are likely to know the longer more famous versions which are more fleshed out and have pertinent information not in the one act versions. [more]