Emily Edelman’s 2024 Favorites

A few highlights of the 2024 theater season:

Living Room Theatre’s “Amor and Psyche,” a retelling of the classic Greek myth written by LRT cofounder Randolyn Zinn, contains updated language and situations capable of connecting with a modern audience as well as the best costumes I saw all season. 

Bridge Street Theatre’s “ChipandGus” involves two college professors who meet once a month to play table tennis. The story rolls out over a number of these meetings, and the show’s two actors are playing the game almost nonstop throughout, which involves significant mental and physical dexterity on their part, not to mention a certain amount of unscripted improvisation.

Kristine Nielsen’s performance in Dorset Theatre Festival’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” was absolutely something to witness, as was Carolyn Hennesy’s in Great Barrington Public Theater’s “Survival of the Unfit” — neither role was easy or appealing, but both actresses fully inhabited their characters, much to the audience’s chagrin, disgust, occasional confusion and ultimate delight. 

Mac-Haydn Theatre’s “Something Rotten “ was my favorite of the season, and I saw it twice. The show was captivating from its first moments, full of theater jokes and Shakespeare references, and included impressive origami-inspired egg costumes that were made in-house. 

“Seared” at theREP (formerly Capital Repertory Theatre) had my favorite set (though Dorset’s “Beauty Queen“ was a close second), a fully stocked and completely realistic restaurant kitchen, right down to the labels on the food storage containers and the handwashing station with subsequent signage, essential for the subject matter as well as the fact that the play that requires its actors to prepare meals onstage.