Arts & Culture

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Review: Sons & Lovers

September 23rd, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Sons & Lovers is a new comedy by Donna Hoke about coming out of closets – the ones that LGBTQ folks have been in, and also the oh-my-god-I’m-50-and-look-at-my-life closet. Bill is 24 and everyone he knows knows… more »

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Review: Design For Living

September 16th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Noel Coward is a brilliant writer. He is clever, witty, biting, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. His style begs for ninety minutes of very tight, crisp dialogue to go along with the sometimes outrageous behavior of his shallow… more »

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Thespian Dreams

September 14th, 2017 by Marti Gorman

My parents met in the Green Room at Hobart-William Smith. She was a WASP from Buffalo, he was a second-generation Irish immigrant and Korean War vet from Massachusetts. They both loved the theatre, and they both loved to drink.… more »

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Review: John

September 10th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

There is nothing fast-paced about John by award winning playwright Annie Baker, Road Less Traveled Theater’s season-opening production. John meanders along with seemingly unrelated conversations, with pauses in sentences,… more »

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Review: Roommates

September 8th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

The world premiere of Roommates by local playwright Mark Humphrey opened Thursday at American Repertory Theater of Western New York. This short, three character two act play is a riff on fear, trust, responsibility, predators… more »

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Review: Peter and the Starcatcher

September 7th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Peter and the Starcatcher is a lively, almost carefree romp that tells the backstory of Peter Pan in a very un-J.M. Barrie-like manner. Based on the novel by humorist Dave Barry and novelist Ridley Pearson, and written for the… more »

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Review: The Little Mermaid

August 16th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Disney’s The Little Mermaid at Shea’s Performing Arts Center through Sunday is, in a word, a delight. Having neither seen the movie, nor any previous stage production of this very famous and popular musical, I had… more »

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From Ship to Shore

August 10th, 2017 by Marti Gorman

For years while living out West, I found myself sniffing out bodies of water, squealing in delight if I spied a lake in the distance or a sparkle of blue at the end of a street. On trips to any coastal city I invariably indulged… more »

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Review: An Octoroon

August 7th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

When Andre Sills as BJJ, the alter-ego of playwright Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins, quietly took the stage Sunday night in very snug underpants and nothing else, with house lights up at the Royal George Theatre in the opening scene… more »

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Hundreds of Backyards to Explore

July 27th, 2017 by Marti Gorman

When I travel, I inevitably find myself imagining what it would be like to live in the place I am visiting. I tend to walk in residential neighborhoods, rather than just frequenting museums and tourist destinations. "If I were… more »

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Exhibit Review: Shape of a Pocket at Squeaky Wheel

July 13th, 2017 by Jesse Mank

It’s in times of social unrest that art reveals its most essential power — the power to question and provoke in ways that words fail us. Art spaces become agents for public discourse, bringing people together… more »

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Playing with Her Legacy

July 5th, 2017 by Cindy Mantai

My mother, who has been gone ten years this month, would have been happy that I’m back in Buffalo. We could have done more together – read more books, seen more films, attended more plays and music events. Our relationship… more »

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Confessions of a Travel/Book Addict

June 28th, 2017 by Trudy Cusella

I love to travel. Plane, train or automobile, any destination—ask, and I’ll meet up with you. When I make a list to plan a trip, reading materials fall right behind picture ID in order of importance. But, when a woman… more »

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Review: Radium Girls

June 23rd, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Imagine your mouth aglow with a phosphorescent green light. You would literally be glowing in the dark. While that may sound like a rather fascinating hallucination, it was all too real for the young women who worked in the factory… more »

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The Artie Awards Ceremony 2017

June 8th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Monday was Red Carpet Night in Buffalo. Theater folk turned out in force--and in satin, sequins, feathers, and furs (well, we saw one fur) for the 27th annual Artie Awards at 710 Main Theatre, sponsored this year for the first… more »

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Review: Hay Fever

June 4th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Hay Fever, by Noel Coward, is a clever and rather silly comedy in three acts now playing at Irish Classical Theatre Company. It is about a wealthy, artistic family in England in the 1920s with an unusual bonding ritual. The family… more »

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New Girl. My Adventure at Lafayette High

June 1st, 2017 by Lesa Quale Ferguson

Once upon a time, one cold winter when I was 14, I moved from Ashland, Oregon where I lived with my mother, to Buffalo to be near my father. Over the course of the previous year, my father had unexpectedly left Northern California… more »

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Review: Desde el Puente (From the Bridge)

May 29th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

“What does it mean to be Latino?” That is the question of identity asked and answered with great feeling by a young man in the last of the ten short plays in Desde el Puente, the second annual bilingual one-act play… more »

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The Buffalo Traveling Roadshow Opera

May 24th, 2017 by Eileen Breen

A chat with NCO's Founder and General Director, Valerian Ruminski. Where did you get the idea of 'The Buffalo Traveling Roadshow Opera'? We have been wanting to do something like the Buffalo Traveling Roadshow Opera for a few… more »

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Happy Viewing in WNY and Southern Ontario

May 23rd, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

One of the many gifts in this life is that every day is a surprise, when anything might happen, and magic is always in the air. One can say the same about the gifts given to us by theater and all the people involved in it, from… more »

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Review: Wicked

May 19th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Wicked, currently settling in for a three week run at Shea’s Performing Arts Center, is wicked good. This production is the first I have seen of this popular musical that has bewitched audiences, young and not-so-young,… more »

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Albright - A Buffalo Enigma Revealed

May 18th, 2017 by Marti Gorman

You know who Albright was, right? Nearly everyone I ask - in Buffalo - nods in the affirmative. Of course. Albright. As in Knox. Either a slow, sheepish smile follows, as the person realizes that they haven't a clue as to who… more »

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Original Mother

May 10th, 2017 by Lesa Quale Ferguson

There are many different types of mothers -- grand, great-grand, birth, original, first, second, adoptive, step, single, divorced, God, fairy-god, nature, biological, in-law, lesbian, @#$%@, earth, deceased, stay-at-home,… more »

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Review: Kalamazoo

May 7th, 2017 by Ann Marie Cusella

Is late-in-life online dating very different from earlier-in-life online dating? Meeting on the Internet can be a harrowing experience at any age. People strive to show their best selves online. They must answer personal questions… more »

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Awed by Authors

May 2nd, 2017 by Jordana Halpern

By Jordana Halpern I remember my first book fair. I was just a teenager volunteering in the gymnasium at the Jewish Community Center in Ottawa (that would be Canada, eh?). The periphery of the room was lined with book-laden tables.… more »

Review: Sons & Lovers

Review: Design For Living

Thespian Dreams

Review: John

Review: Roommates

Review: Peter and the Starcatcher

Review: The Little Mermaid

From Ship to Shore

Review: An Octoroon

Hundreds of Backyards to Explore

Exhibit Review: Shape of a Pocket at Squeaky Wheel

Playing with Her Legacy

Confessions of a Travel/Book Addict

Review: Radium Girls

The Artie Awards Ceremony 2017

Review: Hay Fever

New Girl. My Adventure at Lafayette High

Review: Desde el Puente (From the Bridge)

The Buffalo Traveling Roadshow Opera

Happy Viewing in WNY and Southern Ontario

Review: Wicked

Albright - A Buffalo Enigma Revealed

Original Mother

Review: Kalamazoo

Awed by Authors

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Arts & Culture

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