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MEGAN GRUMBLING

Latest Articles

How to dress a wound

Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries
Kayleen and Doug first meet when they’re both eight years old and in the school nurse’s office: She has a stomachache, and he has “broken his face” whilst riding his bike off the school roof. Their bond, though awkward and cantankerous, is thus immediately grounded in the grisly intimacy of trauma.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 24, 2014

Traumatic irony

Michael Kimball's Ghosts of Ocean House
A creaky old oceanfront Victorian. Three adult siblings who don’t like each other, plus a couple of spouses. A codicil to their father’s will that requires them to spend an excruciating week together in the house. And, of course, various ghosts.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 15, 2014

Overextended family

Mad Horse's stirring A View from the Bridge
“I’m inclined to notice the ruins in things,” ponders Alfieri (Brent Askari). He’s recalling the downfall of a longshoreman who won’t give up a misplaced, misshapen love, a story that receives a superbly harrowing production at Mad Horse, under the direction of Christopher Price.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 11, 2014

Something's gotta fall

Love, tension, masculinity in The Rainmaker
While it hasn’t rained on the Curry family’s 1920’s-era ranch in far too long, the drought is more than literal in The Rainmaker .

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 11, 2014

Surpassed menagerie

Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs at PSC
Do Buggeln and Vasta make a Glass Menagerie out of Brighton Beach Memoirs? Well, not exactly.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 03, 2014

When life hands you fabric

Lyric's Avenue Q portrays the fuzzy years
One of the risks of being raised on PBS children’s programming, apparently, is the realization that one is not as special or as destined for greatness, in the grown-up world, as Big Bird seemed to let on.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | October 01, 2014

It's good to be witch

Puritanism at stake in Ogunquit's Eastwick
Trapped, suppressed, and unsatisfied with the small-mindedness of their small New England town, what are three divorcées of scandalous creative powers to do?

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 19, 2014

Prepare for the fall

Looking ahead at the season's dramatic arts
The season of theater at USM, Good Theater, Mad Horse, Portland Stage Company, and many more.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 18, 2014

Taking center stage

Acorn bounces from Westbrook to Portland
“I’ve always loved hidden treasures,” says Michael Levine, founding artistic director of Acorn Productions, as he climbs the stairs to the third-floor ballroom of Mechanics Hall, a gem of a historic space concealed in plain sight right on Congress Street.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 03, 2014

Barn full of wonder

A merry late summer throwback in Arundel
Although summer is winding down, there’s still time for this summery, feel-good theatrical throwback to simpler times.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 31, 2014

Bereave it or not

Tripaldi's Open Casket darkens Footlights
A dramedy about death, lust, and love by Portland actress and playwright Megan E. Tripaldi.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 22, 2014

Welcome obscenity

Mad Horse stages intimate, shocking Cabaret
When dancers or denizens at these close tables rustle, giggle, or whisper something titillating, it sounds like the prurience is coming from someone in our own party.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 22, 2014

Wherefore art thou?

Monmouth's R&J and the quest for passion
Monmouth's R&J and the quest for passion

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 14, 2014

The dream lives on

Theater of 'unwavering ideals' in its 78th year
The Deertrees experience is not just theater shows, and not just its program of concerts. Deertrees is also a certain ethos of small-town summertime in Maine.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 31, 2014

Steel poppies

City Theater revives stripper romp
Linda Sturdivant directs a spirited and attractively appointed production of the musical The Full Monty , the Americanized version of the 1997 British film, at the historic City Theater, in Biddeford.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 18, 2014

The most brutal sport

Billy Elliot scores big at Ogunquit Playhouse
Ballet is not for pussies.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 11, 2014

Distilled portrait

MSMT’s Chamberlain pays faithful homage
The greatest love of the show’s title—for both Chamberlain and its audience—remains the war itself.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | July 10, 2014

Make/Believe

PortFringe is back with 50+ performances over six days and nights
Portland is already in the thick of the PortFringe 2014, the city’s third annual festival of eclectic, wide-ranging theater from here and afar. This year’s festival of 50 shows runs June 24-29 at six venues — Empire, Geno’s, Mayo Street Arts, SPACE Gallery, and the Portland Stage Studio Theater and Storefront — and includes a first-ever Family Fringe program.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 25, 2014

As we like it

Raising the curtain on Maine's summer shows
PortFringe, Fenix Theatre Company, Maine State Music Theatre, Deertrees Theatre, and more

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 18, 2014

A complex fall from grace

The colors and casualties of Grey Gardens
Ray Marc Dumont directs a taut, colorful, riveting production of Grey Gardens for Mad Horse Theatre Company.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | June 11, 2014

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