There is a culture with salsa music, hip-hop dance, jazz trombone, street graffiti art, and the Spanish language that might look and sound different on the outside, but it has the same "growing pains" as many American cultures on the inside. That is, paying for college, moving out to live on your own, finding a job, and falling in love with someone your parents don't like. If you have been to the barrio of New York, you will recognize the scenery of a subway entrance, beauty salon, and bodega. If you know Spanish, you'll know that "barrio" means "neighborhood." If you haven't been there, then be prepared to learn a little about the rich culture captured by Lin-Manuel Miranda's conception of Washington Heights, New York. As composer and lyricist, he was nostalgic about his childhood and wanted to save a part of this memory, and that of folks like Red Sox player Many Ramirez and actor Laurence Fishburne, who also called the Heights "home." Paul Daigneault, who has directed over forty plays and musicals for SpeakEasy and been twice named Best Director by the Boston Theater Critics Association, directs In The Heights.

In The Heights is a relatively new production on the theater scene, winning four 2008 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It is a show about belonging in a family, a neighborhood, and culture. This show isn't the story of one person or two; it is the story of many individuals who make up the neighborhood family. Every family has dysfunctions, humorously called "malfunctions" in the show, and the barrio is no exception. Among the many interesting characters who express their desires, Usanvi, played by Diego Klock-Perez, is the narrator who owns the bodega and wishes to return to the Dominican Republic, which he can't even remember anymore. Vanessa, portrayed by Alessandra Valea, is Usnavi's love interest and she can't wait to move into her own apartment away from her alcoholic mother, but can't afford it. Nina, portrayed by Santina Umbach, would have been the first to go to college, but instead, is returning as a drop out from Stanford University. Benny, played by Jared Dixon, is the hard worker who wants to open up his own business, loves Nina, and can't speak Spanish. Abuela Claudia, performed by Carolyn Saxon, holds the history, is grandmother or mother to many, and is proud of all her "offspring." There are main characters, but there is no central character, instead there are the themes of family and growing up, where the only foreseeable "escape" is the fire escape and most folks feel powerless.

In The Heights has wonderful music brought to life by a live band. The dancers are refreshingly "typical folks" and range in height, body types, and ethnic looks. They easily move from acting as common folks on the street to break dancing, salsa, and hip-hop numbers. One of the more impressive musical numbers, "Blackout" is performed when there is a power outage in the neighborhood. The dancers use cell phones to show their movements. Because Karen Perlow's lighting was malfunctioning on the day we saw the show, the house lights were up, and the dance fell flat. I hope this will be resolved by the next performance!

In The Heights begs the question, if you won the lottery and were given the chance to leave your "home," however you define it, would you? See the show to learn who won the ticket and what he or she does with it, however understand, the lottery is the least of the themes, something like in the show Cats - one cat will win the right to be reborn, but the show is really about the characters and the journey they have had.

The Speakeasy theater is larger than a black box, easy to find, and has wide entrance halls. The audience included pre-teens to older adults on the afternoon we saw the performance. It is suitable for all theater going ages. Plan to take public transportation or arrive 45 minutes early, as parking was limited, even in the nearby garage.

In The Heights will play for five weeks - from May 10- June 8 - in the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. in Boston's South End.

Tickets start at $25. There are discounts for students and seniors. Persons age 25 and under are $25 at all times. Student rush tickets are $14, and go on sale one hour before curtain. There is a limit of one rush ticket per valid student ID.

For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call 617-933-8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

Imagine, if you will, Vienna in the 18th century. Marie Antoinette's brother's Royal Court is filled with white tights, fancy shoes sporting one-inch heels, longhaired wigs with bows, and that's just the men. Inspired from a short 1830 play by Alexander Pushkin called Mozart and Salieri, Amadeus, by British playwright Peter Shaffer, was first performed in 1979. The film version by the same name, based on Shaffer's play, was nominated for 53 awards and received 40, 8 being Academy Awards (including Best Picture). The play won seven Tony Awards (including Best Play). If these accolades don't whet your appetite to see New Rep's current production of Amadeus, perhaps seeing scenes emoting the power of music to inspire one's soul and set to the operas of The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute might change your mind.

This wonderfully executed balance between romp and drama tells a fictionalized account of the composer, Antonio Salieri's relationship with God, for Whom he has taken a vow of piety and fidelity in exchange for the gift of musical talent. Instead, he must accept his own mediocrity, made apparent once he hears the extraordinary talent of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri, played by Benjamin Evett, is jealous of the music created/emitted, seemingly effortlessly, by Mozart, played by Tim Spears, because it is packaged inside the body an "unprincipled, spoiled, conceited brat." Evett evokes/embodies the opulent formality of Emperor Joseph II's Royal Court, while Spears captures the world of a petulant, cuss-word-wielding, streetwise, charming imp. The play pushes the viewers to straddle other divisions, such as: mediocrity vs. brilliance, wealth vs. poverty, women as toys vs. women as equals capable to making negotiations, Italian vs. German operas, and the different levels of music appreciation.

Benjamin Evett, founding Artistic Director of the Actors' Shakespeare Project, holds his own with grace and attitude as both the narrator and a character, speaking long soliloquies of complicated lines, in both English and Italian, addressed often to the audience, sometimes to God. He reminded me of Teagle F. Bougere's performance as the narrator in Invisible Man, only Amadeus is much more fun! Tim Spears, a Boston University School of Theatre graduate, does the city proud with his high-pitched laugh/giggle, and crawling-on-the-floor version of the childlike composer, who can pull it together in an instant and compose a beautiful work of musical art, capturing the dual aspects of Amadeus's personality magnificently. In his own words, Amadeus says, "I am a vulgar man! But I assure you, my music is not."

The story is told from the aging Salieri's perspective, thirty-two years after Mozart's death, beginning with his announcement that he will be dead in the morning, and ending with a botched suicide attempt. Salieri has been so desperate for eternal appreciation that he masquerades as Mozart's friend, while sabotaging his "friend's" access to the Royal Court and ability to support his growing family. Salieri's "venticelli," or "little winds" report the gossip of what is going on with Mozart. These jester-type characters played by Michael Kaye and Paula Langton offer comic relief in this tragedy. Salieri tries to steal Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor and pass it off as his own, but Mozart's wife, Constanze, played by the charming McCaela Donovan, locks up the unfinished piece before Salieri can get his hands on it. In a final attempt to gain notoriety, the aged Salieri tries to claim responsibility for Mozart's death by saying that it was he who poisoned Mozart He has struggled his entire life to "do the right thing" for the Royal Court, the musical opera, and for God, and he just can't seem to get it right. Through a series of flashbacks, with all costume changes on stage, he recounts the moments of realizing the passionate music he loves was given by God to the scoundrel, Mozart, therefore, making it necessary to plan his demise - to challenge God, and to destroy his rival.

In real life, there is evidence that these two composers were peers and friends, as well as rivals. Salieri even tutored Mozart's son in music. However, the tension created in Peter Shaffer's plot rings true for a time when Italian operas were seen as the best. The rich language of this play puts an abstract classical symphony's sound into words:

The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.

The sparse set and props, designed by Cristina Todesco and Alexander Grover, often consisted of one piano and a red upholstered high-back chair against a giant Spirograph design which created a crisscrossed pattern of black on white, like a jacquard jester's leotard. The lighting, designed by Mary Ellen Stebbins, helped set the mood as a high, circular opening doubled as an entrance for characters to slide down from or as a rosette window, gold for court and multicolored, like stained glass, for God scenes.

For the next three weeks at the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, Amadeus, directed by Jim Petosa, will demonstrate the belief Shaffer, and perhaps many music aficionados, have that the composer, Mozart, was "God's Beloved" (the literal meaning of "Amadeus"). He was given a gift that was not appreciated in his own lifetime, but will be beloved for eternity, while other composers are left with names we cannot spell or hardly remember.

The audience was comprised of very few college students, and many folks were thirty-something and up. This is not a show for youngsters, due to vulgar language and sexual innuendo, but also because it is three hours long, with one intermission, and many long soliloquies, in the vein of Shakespeare.

The thirtieth season of the New Rep Theater is supported, like many theaters, by its seasonal subscription holders and by its sponsorships from restaurants to banks. It represents the best that a community can offer in terms of dynamic shows, talented performers, creative directors, and interesting perspectives on popular themes, packaged with support from the local businesses.

Amadeus is playing in the Charles Mosesian Theater April 28 - May 19, 2013. The New Repertory Theatre is the resident professional theatre company at the Arsenal Center for the Arts located at 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA 02472. It is easily accessible from I-95/128, Route 9, 16, and 20, the Mass Pike and the T. For more, see www.newrep.org.

I'm giving away a pair of tickets to each of the three shows! Email johnny@eventsinsider.com to win.

Bill Bellamy: Nice talking to you bro. How's things going there?

Events INSIDER: Things are going great. I'm white and I'm sorry.

Bill Bellamy: (laughs)

Events INSIDER: You're probably tired of being known as the inventor of the booty call.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah, that is so old. (laughs)... It's kinda cool because it's one of those things people know. I think Crazy Sexy Dirty is what I am and what I'm doing right now. Bringing you unconventional tornados of my personality is who I am. For me, my comedy is definitely elevated... It's the COMEDY. Its going to be crazy. It's going to be dirty. It's going to be sexy. It's a Friday night out. It will be like "Eddie Murphy Raw" where the fans yell, "I love you!", they point, people are screaming, the fellas are going crazy and the ladies are "ha ha ha ha ha."

Events INSIDER: Eddie Murphy energy. I like that.

Bill Bellamy: The cool thing about it is, people have been searching for the next big thing. You know, like WOW. People are going to really really wow. That's what's special about my career is that [my fans] grow old. When I was on MTV in the 90s some people were in high school, some people were in college. When I came to Woodstock I was on tour with Janet Jackson [in 1993] and I opened up for her [ near Boston at the Worcester Centrum ]. It was an arena and it was crazy. Fun raw high energy. Now when I came to Boston with Aerosmith and I opened up for them - that was bananas. So I have so much history with Boston... Really really cool city.

Events INSIDER: For people who aren't familiar with your work, how would you describe yourself?

Bill Bellamy: I'm an actor, a comedian, a host, and a personality. I've been in the business for 19 years.

Events INSIDER: You've got a lot of experience, especially hosting MTV and Who's Got Jokes.

Bill Bellamy: And I hosted NBC Last Comic Standing. I have a lot of time on the air. I was a presenter or host for MTV, and also MTV jams for 6 years there. I've started acting, and I've starred in nine movies so far.

Events INSIDER: Lot of good stuff.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah. Now I got a new hot sitcom called Mr. Box Office.

Events INSIDER: With Jon Lovitz, that's pretty impressive.

Bill Bellamy: I've got a lot of ammo. I've got 2 specials... One is called Crazy Sexy Dirty... The other is called Ladies Night Out.

Events INSIDER: Because you work for TV One, which advertises itself as a black station, do you think of yourself as a black comedian? Do you find that label constricting? Are you more "gonna laugh until I puke" or "intellectual wordplay"?

Bill Bellamy: I think you're gonna laugh until you puke. Your brain is going to come blow out of your head. Your hair is gonna grow, you're going to need a respirator. My comedy is very very universal. Obviously I'm a black man, but what my fuel is: it's more of a pop culture appeal. A lot of people love it, The audience is comformed by everything: White, blacks 25 to 45, a lot of chicks I don't know if you noticed but I LOVE fine women coming to see me.

Events INSIDER: So you're saying that your act is not specifically targeted to a black audience.

Bill Bellamy: No no no no. That's what I like about my audience. A lot of that is because all the things I've done in my career. Because of the things I've done at MTV... I'm doing everything, last week I premiered on at CBS with Who's Got the Last Laugh. I'm coming to [Boston now,] the city with amazing energy that I love... My sincerity really makes feel people good. And I know it's been a rough time [ with the bombings ] like we still need to get up and we can't let people make us not live our lives. They'll get up and do what we gotta do to stand up.

Events INSIDER: That's a perfect quote right there, giving a sense of your comedy. It will be uplifting. All comedy shows are uplifting but sometimes comedy shows are just like "marriage, who needs that". They're all funny but they're not all uplifting.

Bill Bellamy: Yeah we're trying to take it all the way up.

Events INSIDER: For the people who are familiar with you, maybe they think they've already seen your comedy special. I know how hard that is for comedians. Once it goes up on YouTube people say, "Thanks for that. Now what?"

Bill Bellamy: People that have seen the act [often] want me do the classics, they want to see the stuff they've seen on the special. [But] I shot it a year and 3 months ago. So I'm a year and 3 months ahead of you guys with material.

Events INSIDER: So you got a whole new load of material. You got loads of energy. It's gonna be fun and Bostonian. Do you do a lot of crowd work?

Bill Bellamy: I do Improv. That's what is so cool about my show. It's going to be big, insane it's going to be OH MY GOD. (laughs)

Events INSIDER: And you're going to leave people happy, 'cause Boston needs that.

Bill Bellamy: They're going to be happy... Comedy just got sexy.

Bill Bellamy plays the Hu Ke Lau in Chicopee, MA on Wednesday, May 1, the Comedy Connection Rhode Island in Providence, RI on Thursday, May 2, and the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA on Friday, May 3. Find him as @billbellamy on Twitter, and Bill Bellamy VIP on Facebook.

"Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage". Text and lyrics by Jason Craig; Music by David Molloy;Co-Directed by Rod Hipskind, Mallory Catlett. At Oberon, 2 Arrow St., Cambridge. Nightly performances through May 5th. See www.cluboberon.com.

Having read Beowulf as a kid, what I remembered most about it were monsters, a kickass brave warrior and some pretty juicy violence - including a couple of pretty neat (to a twelve year-old boy) beheadings. I didn't really pay much attention to its importance (or lack thereof) to Western literature or its psychological meanings or much of anything else, because let's face it, most twelve year old boys just aren't into that stuff. So when I went to see "Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage" at Oberon, I wasn't exactly sure what do expect, but what I got was pretty much what I had remembered - along with some laughs provided by imaginatively campy staging and a pretty rockin' and demented score.

Beowulf is written and staged in almost the way that twelve year old boys or stoners would stage it - if they were being guided by Frank Zappa.

For instance, one of the academics describes the epic work's structure as, "well, a long story poem, possibly in long-story-poem form." Which is as deep as any of the analysis goes, and it works to good comic effect.

The "long story poem" is then turned into a "song play" that opens with King Hrothgar (Brian McCorkle, who also plays piano and accordion) of Denmark losing sleep over the fact that his beloved man-cave mead hall is being terrorized by a diabolical troll named Grendel. The monster visits regularly over a 14-year period, killing his men and dragging their remains back to his mother's lair (yes, it's a monster that lives with his mom) to be eaten by the dad-less family. Mom warns Grendel in song that he should be careful when "poking a stick in that nest" when he's "murdering from midnight to morning." And she's right. Beowulf (Jason Craig) shows up to the rocking tongue-in-cheek tune of "Hey! It's That Guy!" as a kind of nerdy biker type with the swagger of an Elvis impersonator, who promises to vanquish the "man-beast beast-man" for the king. Which he does. After a brutal (and very funny) thumb-wrestling match in which Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm, the ogre returns to Mom's house at the bottom of the lake, where he dies weeping in his her arms.

There is much rejoicing at the mead hall and Beowulf is hailed as the conquering hero that he is, at least until a very pissed Mom shows up at the hall and kicks some butt Grendel-style. She kills one of Beowulf's men and drags him back to her watery lair. He of course pursues her, and following an F-bomb laden argument, he slays her too. Which of course leads to more drinking and rejoicing with Hrothgar and the boys. All of this is told in warped song and verse, with a little rock n roll, klezmer, and cabaret style music driving the action. There is a seven-piece band with piano, trombone, clarinet, accordion musical saw, drums, guitar and stand up bass as well as talented back up singers/dancers Anna Ishida, Shaye Troha. The costumes (with the exception of the female singers) looked like they were assembled on a drunken ten-minute supermarket sweep through the Garment District (which fits the show's campy style) and the props are from (again) a boys room (plastic swords, fish tanks, plastic action figures). In fact, the production company's website states, "Our design is inspired by the objects and materials thrown into the theatrical dumpsters of midtown Manhattan." So there's a method to the madness.

The tight band crosses many musical genres and the lyrics are both funny and coherent. The cast (particularly the women) are solid singers, and Jelliffe as Grendel's Mom and Academic stands out. Craig (who wrote the show) really owns the dim-witted ultra macho Beowulf and has a commanding presence as a singer and performer. But this show is not for everyone. There are lots of f-bombs, and the tongue in cheek style may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I howled consistently (the twelve year old boy in me lives!)

For more, see www.cluboberon.com.

Last year, the newly formed Stickball Productions (Bill Doncaster, Producer/Writer, and Maria Silvaggi, Producer/Director) presented Doncaster's adaptation of The Friends Of Eddie Coyle. It was cleverly and smoothly performed at Oberon, the ART's nightclub/theatre/bar just outside of Harvard Square. The show was an artistic and financial success, and was brought back as one of the offerings of last year's Emerging Artists Festival.

With Bouncers by British playwright John Godber, Doncaster directs a play that has been a runaway hit throughout Great Britain, where it opened in 1977, and in Chicago, where director Doncaster saw it in 1991.

And it's easy to see the appeal. Bouncers, at the Cabtab Lounge weekends through April 27, is performed by a quarter of charismatic and versatile actors who play four bouncers, as well as the patrons, male and female, who vie to get into the door of the club they guard. It's a "non-musical revue" made up of scenes, sketches, rap routines and monologues related to the nightlife portrayed. And though there's no singing, the four guys dance the Macarena in the opening of Act Two.

It was a fun opening, but it was also an example of the problem that got in the way of my enjoying the show as much as most of the full house audience. The material was very dated and very British. It's too bad Stickball didn't update the material and the references to make it more relatable in Boston in 2013. And given the world of these four bouncers, ranging from early 20s to middle-aged, the material leans toward a male dominated and somewhat sexist "Guys" sense of humor, going so far as to include visual and aural peeing and fart jokes. But the audience of mostly young men and women were on their feet at curtain call, clearly relating to the show's characters and tales.

The four actors, Joe Siriani, Seyi Ayorinde, Patrick Curran, and James Bocock, create a dozen or more characters, with great energy, versatility and a good command of the accents and vocal traits of all those characters. And while I would have liked a little more subtlety at times, the audience's favorite moments included the guys' physical comedy as they played a quartet of young women primping for their big night out. And in recreating two separate and famous dance numbers, they brought down the house.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

So just about everyone knows what a zombie is. Those dead, slow, shambling corpses with a taste for human flesh. They have become more popular over the years, so of course, they have been put into video games. Now you are running through endless hordes of zombies without even a scratch, and that get's kinda boring right? Well, with this new zombie game coming out known as "The Last of Us" the player will be faced with a much more challenging foe.

Arne of "The Last of Us" explains to us about the new terrifying zombies.

Events INSIDER: I'm trying to talk with you and yet I can't stop watching that one person behind you play the game! When I heard about the new take on zombies you guys had, with the fungal infection, instead of brain dead people, it's smarter than a lot of zombie games that are just running around.

Arne: We're trying to have a scientific basis behind it. It's an actual fungal infection that affects insects [ in real life ], so what if that infected humans? We actually built out a whole life cycle for it, for the fungus infecting humans, and they will have different looks and different ways that you'll use combat against them.

Events INSIDER: I don't know how people get infected yet, but I know there's a mode where they're not fully infected, and a fungus faced one, and one where they're dead and turn into a giant mushroom.

Arne: Right, the fungus controls the human bodies, so when they attack you it's because they're trying to reproduce, to continue that life cycle. That's exactly what happens in real life. I don't know if you saw when we were writing about that Planet Earth documentary. This fungus actually exists in the rainforest, and it targets specific insects. There is can move the insect to a location so the fungus can survive in the body and so that the insect can spread spores and infect a large number of others. So the idea is the same [ in the game ], the fungus is controlling human bodies so that they're able to reproduce.

Events INSIDER: I'm always afraid that the AI [ artificial intelligence ] is not going to be good enough. There are multiple games where I love trying to break the AI and see if I can make them do the stupidest things. So I'm hoping that these creatures will be able to do more than most can.

Arne: That's been a big focus for us. Especially here when you have a companion who's with you the entire time. We need to find a focus that's believable. They're going to know that they need to hide, or that they need to enter combat at certain points. So we're putting a lot of focus into making sure that they don't slow you down in certain points, but that they also act intelligently. If you're trying to sneak through, but you're being a little sloppy they need to be able to defend themselves. So they're very capable but you need to make sure that you're not putting [ your companions ] into danger themselves.

Events INSIDER: I've played multiple games where you have companions and they're so terribly stupid that it's almost annoying to play the game because you can't get them to go to the places that you need them to go to.

Arne: We want to make sure the game's fun, right? That's one of the reasons that we need to work on this. And that's one of our focuses. We want it to be a satisfying experience. [ It's a challenge because ] they have really interesting combat mechanics. The runners can see you as well as hear you. They're very fast and will try to overwhelm you. The clickers, the reason why they do a clicking noise is that they can survey the environment with echolocation. They're very aware of their surroundings but only in the direction that they're able to play. They also have very sensitive hearing, so if you make certain noises, you can distract them, but that's also how you alert them, so there's a lot of strategy in how you approach combat with them.

Events INSIDER: Although I get scared so easily I love playing horror games, and I can already tell that once I hear the clicking sound I'm just going to want to hide in a corner and cry.

Arne: If you hear them not make the clicking sound, then you know that they're not doing it, so as long as you don't make noise and you're being slow and stealthy you know they can only "see" in the direction that they're clicking. So if they're clicking and they're facing away from you, then it's still safe to pass by or to sneak up to them.

Not the type of zombies you were expecting? Right?

If you feel like having a challenging zombie apocalypse game, the Naughty Dogs "The Last of Us" is for you. Coming out June 14, 2013. You can get more information about the game here: www.thelastofus.com.

[ Editors note: We didn't get any photos of Watch Dogs, which is super secret, so I've sprinkled in some general PAX East photos here. ]

Ever wanted to be a hacker? Or possibly a secret anti-hero with more realistic powers? Then "Watch Dogs" is the game for you. This game brings the power of an unstoppable hacker to your console. Turn the city of Chicago against itself, save people in unsuspecting ways, or just wander about and do your own thing. This game created by Ubisoft is an open world hacking adventure.

Join the Events Insider staff as Nicholas Schmdt, the Community Developer shares a small view into the game called "Watch Dogs".

Events INSIDER: In your demo, it's implied that you can tweak and control anything in the city. I just want to ask you straight out: is that true?

Nicholas Schmidt: It is.

Events INSIDER: But the demo that we saw seems a bit like a linear quest. So if the game has linear plot points, then it's not really the whole city, right?

Nicholas Schmidt: The gameplay you saw [ in the demo ] right there is what we call a vigilante mission. And it's part of a concept that is the living city in the game. Every NPC that you see has a story and their own agenda.

Events INSIDER: And it's a single player game, right?

Nicholas Schmidt: It's single player, but it's also multiplayer, but I don't have any details on that.

Events INSIDER: I'm always skeptical when it comes to hacking... I've played games that promise "You can do all this stuff!", and I'm like "Yes!", but then I get the game and can only do half the things they told me I could, or only at certain points.

Nicholas Schmidt: By [ holiday 2013 ] I think you won't be a skeptic anymore!

Events INSIDER: All the hacking implies a sophisticated interface. Can you tell us anything about why the interface won't overwhelm players?

Nicholas Schmidt: I know that the dev team has been working hard at making it really accessible for everyone, and from what I see so far, it is accessible.

Events INSIDER: Thank you very much. If it lives up to it's promise -- and that's up to you -- it'll be the game of the year.

Nicholas Schmidt: Thank you. The team is working so hard right now. They work twelve hour days, these guys.

So the questions still stands do you want to be a hacker? Well, now is your chance.

If this game lives up to its promises, it could be game of the year.

Watch Dogs comes out Holiday 2013 and currently can be preordered. Check out the official Watchdogs website: watchdogs.ubi.com for more information and excellent trailers, and you will be hooked and inevitably hacked.

You've heard of Microsoft right? Windows, Apps, that Paint thing that kids fiddle with when they are bored? Though for a gamer the name Microsoft means much more than the widely used computer operating system.

Halo, an immensely popular FPS (first person shooter) game set in some AU (alternate universe) of Earth's future takes the player on an alien shooting, robot smashing, vehicle 'spoding adventure of pure awesomeness.

At Pax East we got the chance to speak to Kevin Franklin, the Lead Designer of Halo 4. We learned of four new map packs being released in April, 2013.

Events INSIDER: What are you going to show us today?

Kevin Franklin: We released Halo 4 back in November, and today we're showing off three new castle maps, which are part of a new expansion for Halo 4.

Events INSIDER: What can you tell me about these maps? What makes them more interesting than existing ones?

Kevin Franklin: In Halo, we always have a combination of really tight, close quarters maps, and then big team battle maps where people get to drive around in vehicles and play with a lot of their friends. And these maps are right in the middle, they're six on six, so you get to play a game with five of your best buddies and go online and have all sorts of fun.

Events INSIDER: I've always been a fan of the really big maps, because whenever someone gets close to me I panic and waste lots of ammo...

Events INSIDER: In Halo, my favorite characters keep dying. Is that going to keep happening?

Kevin Franklin: Well, I can't really talk about the future of our story, but we love our characters and will pay as much attention to them as I can.

Events INSIDER: Is there anything new in the expansion pack that adds to the abilities of the player, or is it simply an addition to the quests and adventures?

Kevin Franklin: This expansion pack is all about just maps -- so you get three new maps. We place the vehicles in different ways and they play much differently, so they really feel like new experiences. And you're going to have to choose different load out options, so if you were always going in with jet pack or thruster pack before, you might have to start trying out some different ones to get that competitive edge again on the new maps.

Events INSIDER: Can you summarize what's the #1 reason for this map pack why fans would say, "Amazing! I have to buy it now!"

Kevin Franklin: Well, if you're a fan of the game since the launch, this is the one where we really listened to the fans. We listened very carefully to what they wanted, what they were looking for, exact gameplay styles they were looking for, and we built around that.

Events INSIDER: Let's see if that's true. My favorite thing to play is the flood. I love that game style because it actually scares me when I see that I'm the last man standing. I find a corner to hide in and I see the flood all swarming towards me. So I was hoping that there would be a new map to play flood on.

Kevin Franklin: One of them, specifically Perdition, has all sorts of corners for you to hide in. It's an urban map and there are all sorts of locations with verticality, lots of jumps, so if you are in the flood, you can camp up there and drop on people.

Events INSIDER: The biggest thing about Halo to me is I just love the way it looks, the visuals.

Kevin Franklin: On this map, we worked with Certain Infinity, our partner down in Texas, and they really really care about the visuals... from the beginning they knew that they wanted to make beautiful looking maps. I think Perdition especially is a great throwback to some of the old Halo maps, but Outcast specifically gives players a perspective into a world in Halo that we've never seen before. On this planet, it was not touched by the Covenant, so all the other human planets have been ravaged by war, they were destroyed, they are burning embers of society, but Outcast has never been touched, so it's a pristine spot. And it really looks nice.

Events INSIDER: Thank you for your time. Is there anything you'd like to mention before we go?

Kevin Franklin: We have one new mode coming out with this that is called multiteam, which lets you [ fight as ] six teams of two. So it's two versus two versus two versus two. So you can imagine that it's a lot of chaos. Instead of just having four enemies to shoot at, you actually have ten.

So, if you are a fan of Sci Fi FPS games or just a fan of the Halo Series, then we suggest you check out Halo 4 and its latest map pack. For more information check this link: www.halowaypoint.com.

[ Editors note: I have two pairs of tickets to give away for this show. Email johnny@eventsinsider.com to win! ]

Anyone who has seen the NBC television show The Office knows Creed Bratton as an eccentric, quirky, hilarious quality control director with a mysterious rock-and-roll past that includes innumerable adventures. Did you know his character is based on the real life, Billboard-topping musician by the same name? That's right; Creed Bratton the character is played by Creed Bratton the musician. Events INSIDER caught up with Creed to talk about his music, his life and ultimately how they inspire each other. Creed will play a concert at the Wilbur Theater on Saturday, April 6th to promote his solo work and his upcoming album "Tell Me About It".

Events INSIDER: In the past with your band Grassroots you played a lot of rock and roll, but can fans expect you to play mainly folk music at this concert?

Creed Bratton: It's folk in that I have an acoustic guitar, but the content of the music is more poppy-folksy-jazzy stuff.

Events INSIDER: So "Poppy-Folksy Jazz" is what I'm writing down here...

Creed Bratton: Poppy Folksy Jazzy, but with a question mark. That's going to sum it up right there.

Events INSIDER: [ *laughter* ] Is there a direct translation of your work, in the sense that, will every fan of yours from The Office enjoy your performance, which is a concert, and not comedy?

Creed Bratton: Fans of The Office will like my concert even more because I'm going to talk about [ my role in The Office ], because of this album coming out in May, [Tell Me About It], which will be my sixth solo album. And there's an album they can listen to called Bounce Back [from 2010] that will give them an idea of the style. It's laid-back California style music, but this album, Tell Me About It, is an audio biography. It's like a bio ... a musical bio ... that tells the story of my being really down, being up with The Grass Roots, down for different things, then having The Office thing happen to me. I have Rainn Wilson on the record doing a comedy bit. I have the legendary, iconic, recluse P. F. Sloane, who people may not realize is still around. This album is a psychedelic album. Oh, maybe you should put that in the title! Add psychedelic to that.

Events INSIDER: So "Poppy Folksy Jazzy Psychedelic".

Creed Bratton: With a question mark.

Events INSIDER: *laughs*

Events INSIDER: One of your biggest songs in the recent years is "Rubber Tree". The song doesn't tell a story in the traditional sense; it's more conceptual. Walk us through the creation of that song. What does that song mean for you?

Creed Bratton: The Rubber Tree! This is a pop song. I heard that Angela Kinsey [the actress who plays Angela on the Office] grew up in Indonesia. I wanted to say something to make her laugh, so I was researching Indonesia, and found out that there are over a thousand species of poisonous snakes in Indonesia. It was amazing! Any place you walked, you could die. So I started singing this little song about how in Indonesia there are a thousand snakes that can kill you in a heartbeat... And then I heard out on the floor that there's a brand new dance called the Rubber Tree that can also kill you. So I was going to write a song about a dance called the Rubber Tree that if you if you did it in the right way you'd hurt your spine and you'd die. That was a good idea...

Then I shift into a second verse about shape-shifting reptiles which are like politicians. Then I went to the third verse naturally about Black Death coming to families that have gay soirees with young boys when they go into town, but yet don't consider themselves gay. And I know you guys are going to go, "This is a standard pop song, it's a typical format for a pop song," but I think I bring a different angle to that kind of song! [*laughs*] and when people hear that song no one gets that third verse, so maybe we should give them a heads up this time on the song, so they'll know. I was too clandestine in my presentation of the song.

Events INSIDER: So it goes over some peoples' heads?

Creed Bratton: Yea, I think so! I believe they should be able to get the idea, so they're prepared. But I have to say that the people that have heard the rubber tree - at my shows, they ask for it, they love that song.

Events INSIDER: There are a lot of videos where you have the opportunity to play with Ed Helms, who plays Andy on The Office. What is it like to play with Ed?

Creed Bratton: Oh it's so much fun because we're right there [on set together]! So when neither of us has to be in a scene... we get together a play and just sit down, just picking up stuff. I did a couple of shows with him, and of course he did the album [Bounce Back, 2010] with me, and we're going to do a show together in April here in L.A.

Events INSIDER: People love to hear personal stories and it sounds like your album coming up about your life must have some heartfelt stories...

Creed Bratton: Okay, I'll end with this story here. I have song that I wrote 30 years ago... I was 40 years old. I was in a down and out period of my life and had to file for unemployment. I didn't know what to do, and as I was walking [ on the street ] I thought I saw a woman that I had dated. My heart crushed and it was a really low point. I told my friends about it and they told me, "just keep writing songs and you keep acting and you keep doing what you do". So I do what I've always done; I can't change that, you know. So, I wrote a song about it, wrote a chorus, and came up with a melody. I sang it the other day for all the actors in the trailer and the girls were crying. So I'll be singing this song at the show called Unemployment Line and I defy anyone to feel that they haven't been slugged in their gut after they hear this song.

Events INSIDER: How does it feel to revisit that?

Creed Bratton: It's painful, but nobody said that art is easy. Art is tough.

Creed performs hits as well as music from his upcoming album "Tell Me About It" (May release) at the Wilbur Theater on Saturday, April 6th at 7pm, in Boston. See more at www.creedbratton.com and www.thewilburtheatre.com. The Office, in its final season, airs Thursdays at 9pm on NBC.

"Jesus Christ Superstar" by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Produced and Directed by Sal Clemente and Alan Ware. At the Norwood Theatre, 109 Central St., Norwood, MA through March 22, Friday and Saturday 8PM, Sunday @ 2:00 PM. See www.NorwoodStage.com.

There are some things in life that when you were a kid, you thought were completely awesome and it was inconceivable that you wouldn't always think of them as being so; but as you grew older, you found out that they really weren't so hot - like Bozo the Clown and Lucky Charms cereal. Not so with "Jesus Christ Superstar" - the early effort from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice that is still not only my favorite musical theater piece but also one of my favorite rock albums. Sal Clemente, co-founder of The Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra (URO), thankfully shares my passion for the work and he and his band mates have brought a terrific staging of the show to the newly renovated Norwood Theatre for this weekend only.

"A lot of the philosophical and emotional attachment I have for "Jesus Christ Superstar" comes from being a 10-year old kid and discovering it in my parent's record collection," said Clemente before the show. "For people my age (he's 50-ish), it was that record. It wasn't the movie. It wasn't a pop song on the radio, it was a record telling a story, and it was that whole album. I would put it on the turntable, put the headphones on and just get blown away by it." And Clemente's passion for this work still shows in this production. You don't have to be traveling down memory lane to enjoy this musical blast of Christ's last days of doubt and betrayal. URO takes out the album, blows off the dust and gives it a fresh life. One note: This is not a "play" so much as a musical celebration of the album. There are no period costumes, (although URO members wear their trademark Rock n' Roll get-ups, including hot rock chick gear). If you want to see a Broadway-style production, you can go the West Concord Theatre next weekend and see a traditional performance. But that doesn't not mean it's not theatrical, as the singers act out their parts with great drama and interact as if they were staging this for Broadway.

URO, whose calling card is re-interpreting rock classics by the Who, Led Zeppelin Beatles, Bowie and Queen and making them their own, does a slam bang interpretation of this album with a dozen singers and a top-notch band. It all starts with Jesus - and I mean that in a completely non-secular way.

Kyle Martin looks the part and does as good a job vocally as I have seen in any production (and I've seen many productions of this piece) and his acting chops are pretty solid too, as he endures the humiliations of Jesus' trial and punishment. The real test of any "Superstar" Jesus comes in the defining "Gethsemane", and his interpretation is mind-blowing. Clemente, too steps up to the plate in the other "starring" role as Judas, and he is especially good in the opening "Heaven on Their Minds" and the closing "Jesus Christ Superstar" number. The other featured role is Mary Magdalene, and Fatima Elmi belts out a heart-wrenching rendition of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" as the redeemed prostitute.

If you're expecting a note-for-note reproduction of this album, you won't be getting it, but you will see some clever and subtle re-interpretations of the songs, including a re-working of "Everything's Alright" with an interesting change to the cadence of the song. As strong as the leads are, much of the joy for me in this show came from the smaller parts, particularly Anthony Correia as Pontius Pilate, who simply owns the maniacally gleeful sneering of the Roman Prefect. Christie Beaulieu does a revved-up rendition of Simon Zealotes, as she enthusiastically exhorts Jesus to kick up his promotional game a notch, although I'll probably never hear the song again without thinking of a sexy Simon in fishnet stockings. Andrew Schwartz (a new addition to URO for this show) is dynamite as the deep-throated Caiphas, and Michael Leonard is a funny and convincing King Herod. The scenes/numbers with the full cast singing mines URO's real strength - their deep vocal talent - and they really knock it out of the park on "Hosanna" and "The Temple/Lepers".

Whether you grew up with this record on your turntable or have never experienced what happens when Rock n Roll meets Broadway head on - this is a great take for rock or theater fans.

For more, see www.NorwoodStage.com.

Most comedians try to be big personalities on stage, but Demetri Martin just wants to be real. There's no need for the standup comic and former Daily Show correspondent turned actor and author to become larger than life, shouting at the audience and shocking them into laughter. Instead, he sneaks jokes into dry one-liners that make you feel he's just speaking - in a way that bends your mind. Events INSIDER caught up with Demetri Martin in advance of his appearance at the BU Bookstore and Wilbur Theatre this Friday, March 22, 2013, part of a tour to promote his new book, "Point Your Face at This: Drawings".

Events INSIDER: So there are people who know you and people who don't--

Demetri Martin: Yea. The second group is bigger. The second group is the big one I'm trying to get to.

Events INSIDER: *laughter* I like to describe you as a modern Mark Twain. He was a dry humor guy. He would say, "Children should obey their parents... when they are present."

Demetri Martin: Yea, Mark Twain is amazing, prolific, funny, and so far pretty timeless. Mark Twain is unbelievable: that a guy could be that of his time, and ahead of his time, at the same time. [Comic] material that seems to tap into human nature, in its simplest form, is always appealing to me. It's not so topical, not so specific, not a George Bush joke, but about an aspect of human nature like jealousy, or frustration. That tends to be stuff I like.

Events INSIDER: You aren't one of those comedians who shouts "WAAZUP! How you DOIN' tonight?"

Demetri Martin: Yea, and it's weird. With social media and the rise of the Internet, everything's gotten even more in your face. People are clamoring for attention... I like to soft sell. But it seems like there are a lot of pitfalls along the way.

Events INSIDER: Is that problematic getting yourself out there, being a mellow comedian?

Demetri Martin: If I could have whatever I wanted, I would want to be known enough to get people to come to my shows, and then if I make a book, to sell the book - enough that I get to do another book. I have a couple of friends who've gotten legitimately famous and you have to be a certain kind of person to get that, and then to enjoy that if that happens to you. Maybe in the 1950's or the 60's it would have been different? But now there are camera phones, and blogs, everything. There's an onslaught of ways to be captured and to be reviewed, and it seems like a different ride, a different kind of life. But to be just on the fringes, that's pretty nice. It's not like I'm a famous person, I'm not a celebrity, but a comedian. I've done some acting, I've written one book - this is my second book here [of drawings]. So I'm just on the edge, which is nice. It's nice to have a hideout.

Events INSIDER: Maybe it's an act, but from the podcasts I've listened to and your appearances, you seem to be just a regular decent guy. How do you become a nationally known act and do that?

Demetri Martin: Aw, thanks. For me, I'm coming up on 16 years of standup, so for the bulk of my standup career I've been anonymous. So it's just about my material, not a celebrity thing or a fame thing... Standup keeps you firmly planted on the ground, because the audience is right there. They'll keep you where you belong. Even a comedian like Louis CK, who is legimately famous, has been doing it for a while. He's done his fair share of gigs in all kinds of rooms... [so] I think he was already formed, he was already Louis when no one was looking [before he got famous]. That can work really well in your favor.

Events INSIDER: Am I wrong to compare you to comedian Pete Holmes, who embraces the silly? Some of your jokes would play just as well in summer camp for 10-year-olds as it would for adults - not that you avoid vagina humor.

Demetri Martin: I think that's true. One of my influences, while I'm very different from them, is Monty Python... They did things that were inventive, smart, but also really silly. Either way it was usually funny to me, but they were just trying stuff. The idea of coolness wasn't too big a part of the equation; it was just about the ideas and executing them. If you focus on that, sometimes you end up with silly stuff, but have fun with it.

Events INSIDER: For the fans who do know you, is there going to be a twist or a surprise? Are we in the comfort zone or are we going to see a new Demetri Martin in the book and the standup?

Demetri Martin: In the book, it's my first book of drawings, a new kind of art book, so I think there's a lot in there that could be surprising to people. [They're] simple line drawings, 280 pages of drawings I did, and there might be a few that have appeared in my Twitter feed, but it's mostly all new content just for the book.

Demetri Martin: And in my standup, I'm have one foot in the comfort zone and one foot out. Because I tell short jokes, I'm always putting new things into the act, and I improvise quite a bit more off the page than I used to, so that makes it more interesting, but I'm not telling long stories or anything. I'm still doing jokes. I'm appearing in a bookstore, Boston University, in the afternoon, before I do the shows [on Friday], and I'll just go and talk. Usually you read from your book, but [my new book is] drawings, so I might hold up the book and talk about a couple of drawings, but mostly just talk to the folks who show up. That's fun because I get to meet people.

You can meet Demetri Martin at his booksigning at the Boston University Bookstore on Friday, March 22, at 3pm, at 660 Beacon Street, Boston, MA and see his shows at 7:30pm and 10pm at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston. See http://bu.bncollege.com and http://thewilburtheatre.com/.

Jewel: "Greatest Hits Tour"; one night only at the Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. Catch her again tonight in Ridgefield, CT before the tour moves to Washington, D.C. For more information on Jewel and upcoming tour dates and venues, see http://www.jeweljk.com/tourdates.html . The Wilbur Theatre is also hosting a number of other great upcoming performances, including the "UCB: Queens of Improv with Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch" this Thursday, 3/21. For more information concerning upcoming shows at the Wilbur Theatre, check out www.thewilburtheatre.com

Review by Revonda Mehovic

Jewel: "Greatest Hits Tour"; one night only at the Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. Catch her again tonight in Ridgefield, CT before the tour moves to Washington, D.C. For more information on Jewel and upcoming tour dates and venues, see http://www.jeweljk.com/tourdates.html . The Wilbur Theatre is also hosting a number of other great upcoming performances, including the "UCB: Queens of Improv with Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch" this Thursday, 3/21. For more information concerning upcoming shows at the Wilbur Theatre, check out http://www.thewilburtheatre.com/

Stepping into the Wilbur Theatre on Tremont Street is a bit like stepping back into time. From the worn, gilded balconies to the aged marble flooring, it has the faded grandeur of old movie theatres. I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't on the set of a remake for "The Majestic", or some similar film where an older theatre is given a second chance at vitality. Due to these qualities, I thought it was the ideal Boston setting for Jewel's Greatest Hits Tour concert. When I think of Jewel, I get nostalgic. She reminds me of the time when an overly-earnest girl with a guitar was something that the mainstream wanted to hear. I recall years ago being in a coffee shop where Jewel's "Pieces of You" was playing over the speakers and overhearing two construction workers discussing her music. "I really like her", one of them said, "She has a voice like water".

In addition to her "Greatest Hits" album, Jewel has released multiple albums in the recent past, including 2011's "The Merry Goes 'Round". Yet, in spite of this, I've always thought of Jewel as a singer-songwriter from the past rather than one currently creating new music. With these preconceptions, aided by the ambiance of the Wilbur theatre, I fully expected Jewel's concert to transport me back to that rather naive vision of the past. After all, when an artist finally creates a greatest hits album, it's a way of banking on nostalgia.

The leading act on the tour, Holly Williams, had me congratulating myself on my predictions. Holly Williams is a gifted artist, but she is stuck in the past. She fit all of my preconceptions of what I expected the concert to be. Her lyrics sounded like they came from a spiral notebook adorned with stickers, all of her music was personal and usually referred somehow to her family in Louisiana. I could see her music having a following with those who love artists that walk the line between folk an country, but it just didn't appeal to me.

Jewel's performance, by contrast, exceeded my expectations. From the moment that she sauntered onto the stage, it was clear that she was the leading act. Jewel has all the aura of being the coolest person in the room. On her arrival, the audience immediately went into a rapturous frenzy that I did not think that many of them would still be capable. After finishing her first song, Jewel languidly remarked that she'd just eaten a lot of peanuts, so that in addition to being thirsty she wasn't able to completely capture the full dynamic range that the the song required. From that moment, it became clear that whatever the audience feels about her, Jewel doesn't take herself too seriously. For the rest of the show, her performance became a mix of the incredible vocalizations and phenomenal guitar playing that she is known for coupled with wry asides. Before singing "Just Passing Time", she wryly remarked that she wrote it when she was 18 and now realizes that it could probably be referred to as a song about stalking.

In between shrieks of, "I Love you, Jewel", the audience made requests. Sometimes Jewel would actually play them, or promise to play them later. But just as often, she would say that she couldn't remember how to play a song, her expression indicating that she just didn't feel like it. If Jewel was any less of a musician, or had even a little less stage presence, it's possible that her more casual approach to performance would not have worked. Instead, what might be off-putting in a different performer came across as charming. I don't think anyone in the audience resented her playing what she wanted to play. She is a performer who became an icon due to several of her hits, but she is also someone who has since moved on. Although there were many who wanted her to play their radio favorites, they, like me, were just happy to her her sing. After all, she has a voice like water and can really play the guitar.

To catch her in concert, check out her other tour dates at: www.jeweljk.com. See more at the Wilbur Theatre at www.thewilburtheatre.com.

"Our Country's Good" Written by Timberlake Wertenbaker; Directed by Meg Taintor; Set Design: Mac Young; Costume Design: Emily Woods Hogue. At The Charlestown Working Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St. Charlestown, MA through April 6, 2013 (Wednesdays and Thursdays 7:30pm, Fridays 8:00pm, Saturdays 3:00pm & 8:00pm, Sundays 3:00pm). www.charlestownworkingtheater.org

Those going to see the splendid production of "Our Country's Good" and expecting to see a cliché warm and fuzzy tale about convicts bravely putting on a play against the odds while learning about themselves and the world around them might want to re-think their plans for the evening. This dark and often chilling production by Whistler in the Dark Theatre chronicles the early days of the convicts who first settled the British penal colony of Botany Bay in Australia around the time of the American Revolution. It offers an unflinching look at how these minor threats to society were treated as sub-human creatures - not so coincidentally at the same time that slavery was flourishing in the New World.

In the production, many of the prisoners are of the petty criminal variety - prostitutes, pickpockets and small time thieves - and are forced to withstand an eight month voyage from England to pay for their crimes on the other side of the world. Not long after the ship's arrival, Harry Brewer (sympathetically played by Alejandro Simoes) comes to see his superior, Lieutenant Clark, about the nightmares/hallucinations he is experiencing. Harry is plagued by guilt about having hanged two men convicted of stealing food. Further exacerbating that guilt is that one of the hanged men was also vying for the affections of "Duckling", a young convict woman whom Harry loves and is often driven to insane fits of jealousy over. The man's ghost is slowly driving Harry mad with nightly visitations.

Meanwhile, Clark is seeking ways to curry favor with the newly appointed Governor Arthur Philip (Jayson Rory James), and takes a suggestion from Harry that one way to do so would be to put on a play as a way of "humanizing" the convicts - something the Governor is rather keen on. Clark brings his idea to the Governor at a gathering of the colony's political, military and religious leaders and is begrudgingly granted permission to proceed. Clark chooses George Farquhar's 1706 comedy "The Recruiting Officer" and starts holding auditions and rehearsals, but not without some grief from some of the Marines that take perverse pleasure in enforcing punishment on the convicts. During the process, some of the actors are severely flogged and one of the lead actresses - Liz Morden (Meredith Stypinski), a thief - is accused of stealing food and may be sentenced to hang. (Where's the Actor's Equity Association when you need them?) In addition, many of the "actors" are illiterate and belligerent to the process - which makes for some pretty funny scenes as Clark tries to whip the play into shape for a performance for the whole colony.

But the subplot of the play is set against the backdrop of the brutal conditions that the prisoners labor under, and is demonstrated through a series of vignettes. There's Ketch (Chris Larson), the thief who is now the colony's official hangman, who is reviled by the other convicts for accepting the choice to either "hang or be hanged" for stealing food; Wisehammer, the Jew who says he is innocent, feels he has no real country and isn't quite accepted by fellow cons; and the constant struggles of Harry as he grapples with his guilt and sanity. The play also explores how a society metes out justice in such a heavy handed, moralistic way without considering circumstances like poverty and oppression.

This is a terrific ensemble piece, with all of the actors playing multiple roles: switching from convict to officer as well as Scotsman to Irishman to Brit. The accents are spot on and sometimes require a little work on the part of the audience to tune in and catch all of the dialogue. And with all of the character changes and set up, the play takes a little while to find its groove, but once it does it is truly absorbing. There are many standout individual performances, but the tortured characters of Harry and Ketch were the most compelling for me, as well as that of the sweet-faced Lynn Guerra, who plays the lead in the play within a play. The set design by Mac Young (who also does a convincing job as the high-status Lt. Clark) is spare and imaginative, and the scene changes are cleverly accompanied by the cast singing period songs.

The Charlestown Working Theater has also recently instituted a "pay what you want" policy, with a suggested ticket price of $25 for this worthy production. In addition, the play within the play, "The Recruiting Officer" will be performed in the middle of the run beginning March 22nd.

For more, see www.charlestownworkingtheater.org.

A Raisin in the Sun, Written by Lorraine Hansberry; Directed by Liesl Tommy; Presented by The Huntington Theatre Company at Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre 264 Huntington Ave., Boston through April 7th. www.huntingtontheatre.org

There are some works in theater that lend themselves to modernization, for instance "West Side Story" being updated into late 1950's New York from "Romeo and Juliet." But some should be left in the specific time and place where they were originally conceived. So when The Huntington Theatre Company's excellent production of "Raisin in the Sun" opened with a decidedly hip-hop musical blast (which I'd ordinarily enjoy), I turned to the woman next to me and said, "I hope they're not going to screw with this." She assured me that they wouldn't (she knew, as her daughter played one of the lead roles) and I was relieved to see that when the lights came on and the crummy apartment that houses three generations of the Younger family came into view, it was indeed "somewhere between World War II and 1959" - as in pre-civil rights America. And that is important, because even though anyone who reads the comments section of any online newspaper article that mentions the Obamas can tell you, racism isn't dead, it's just that the institutionalized versions of that cancer are a lot less obvious. And although race is a dominant factor - the Youngers are a "colored" family struggling with economic deprivation in the slums of Chicago - the universal theme of how a sudden infusion of money into a family can potentially bring as much harm as good is also the substance of this blistering production.

The play opens with Lena Younger (the wonderful Kimberly Scott) about to receive a $10,000 life insurance check (about $85,000 in 2013 dollars) for the passing of her husband. She has her own ideas about what she's like to do with the windfall - namely put a down payment on a house like her workaholic laborer husband always wanted to do, and to also pay for her daughter Beneatha's medical school education. But son Walter (an incredibly intense Leroy McClain) has his eyes on "investing" the money with some of his less-than-upstanding buddies - in a liquor store. Walter's wife Ruth (Ashley Everage) sides with her mother-in-law, causing friction between Walter and her, and he accuses her of "always holding him back." Walter is a guy who has "big ideas" for a man who has spent his adult life as a chauffeur for a wealthy white man, and he also appears to have a profound fondness for booze and blaming other people for his lot in life. He spends much of his idle time thinking of how he'd spend his time and money when his ship comes in, but he never seems to find a way to get on board.

Beneatha (Keona Welch) is a beautiful, radically progressive 20-year old for her time, rejecting the advances of a wealthy young black suitor in favor of the attention of a Nigerian immigrant who tries to seduce her with the promises of returning her to her imagined African roots. She rejects the ideas of the American Dream as inherently shallow, but it's readily obvious that her ideals are not particularly well grounded in reality. Ruth is a good mother to the couple's son, Travis, and although weary of her husband's childish wish life, essentially goes along to get along in the early going.

Lena, who walks a fine line between a loving bedrock matriarch and controlling mother, decides to put a down payment on a house, but also allows for Walter to assume some responsibility for making choices with the money. What he does and how it plays out for the family is the substance of the play and the cast delivers beautifully in this production. As Walter, McClain is a spectacular study in a man who has never quite grown up into a responsible adult. He is alternately petty, loving, manipulative, domineering, confident and full of doubt, and some of his scenes are the most powerful I have seen on any stage this year. As Beneatha, Welch is a complex study in pre-feminism pride, rejecting conventional mores but not really sure where she wants to go after rejecting those ideas. And Everage plays Ruth beautifully, with a combination of resignation and fear before she becomes more whole as the plot moves forward.

The set is really imaginative, with the see-through two-bedroom apartment mounted on a carousel and rotating as needed to eliminate scene changes. The supporting actors are terrific too, with Will McGarrahan playing the part of the representative from the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park and Maurice E. Parent as Walter's drinking buddy/business associate, Bobo. This is a terrific production of a ground-breaking work.

For more, see www.huntingtontheatre.org

"The Lover": the first production of Bridge Repertory Theatre of Boston. Performances run now through March 17th at the Calderwood Pavillion located at 527 Tremont St., Boston. Written by Harold Pinter, directed by Shane Gozansky. Scenic and lighting Design by Luke Sutherland; sound design by Ed Young; costume design by the company; stage manager Kate Rourke; fight choreographer Angie Jepson. The current production stars McCaela Donovan, Joe Short, and Juan Rodriguez. Running time is 1 hour 15 minutes with no intermission. More information on this and upcoming productions can be found at bridgerep.wordpress.com.

For their inaugural play, "The Lover" by noble laureate Harold Pinter, Boston's newest theatre company,"Bridge Repertory Theatre" creates a sense of anticipation before the actors have even said their first lines. A man and a woman sit ramrod-straight in wooden chairs, their eyes covered with sleep masks as the audience fills in around the minimally decorated stage. The actors seem almost as much a part of the set as the table center stage, or the matching wardrobes. It's eerie. The stage is at the same level as the audience, making it almost unbearably intimate. I found it hard to shake this feeling even after the play was in full swing. In Bridge Rep's production of "The Lover", you feel as though you are in the middle of a couple's private battle to maintain their relationship. Unfortunately, they are unable to communicate in a direct manner. Instead, they resort to playing a ritualistic game where the lines between fidelity and infidelity blur.

In the beginning of "The Lover", you are lulled into thinking that Richard, played by Joe Short, and Sarah, portrayed by McCaela Donovan, both members of the Actors' Equity Association, have a stellar marriage. It seems not just perfect, but Disney-perfect. They awaken to romantic 1960's prom music. As they dress in a synchronized fashion in his and her outfits of khaki and white, they manage to evoke the feeling of earlier musicals. Both Short and Donovan deserve kudos for pulling this stunt off with such grace. If they had less chemistry together, our introduction to them could have been nauseating. As it is, it manages to emphasize the artifice that permeates their marriage, but without being off-putting.

As they dance around each other, performing their morning routines, Richard and Sarah cast shy, yet genuine smiles at each other. Their comfort with each other and their respective roles in this Stepford-esque suburban lifestyle seems obvious. This seeming comfort soon dissolves when Richard yells over the vacuum cleaner to ask Sarah if her lover is coming over that day. From this point on, there seems to be a strain between them. Their conversation is glibly polite and seems less communicative than their earlier silences. This theme continues as the play progresses. Sarah and Richard are unable to communicate with each other on more than a superficial level unless they are involved in one of their erotic marital games. Rather than being titillating, these games come across as comically depressing, barely managing to disguise the emptiness in their lives.

Donovan and Short's performances make "The Lover" worth seeing. They both throw themselves into their respective parts with a wild abandon that demonstrates an incredible depth of artistic range. They transform from their uptight, suburban roles into their various alter-egos with barely enough time to catch their breath. Short and Donovan make it painfully clear than none of the roles played by the married couple completely fulfills them. Their lives as content, sophisticated suburbanites is as artificial as all of their other caricatures. Yet, underneath all of these superficial interactions, Donovan and Short manage to convey a depth of feeling for each other that belies the necessity of all of the games. The overall effect is incredibly frustrating, like watching someone needlessly repeating the same mistake again and again.

"The Lover" is an interesting choice to use as a first performance piece. Written in 1962, it has not managed to completely stand the test of time, although it does have some poignant qualities. Many of the elements of "The Lover" which would have been shocking in the '60's are now fodder for sit-coms, such as the game where married people pretend to be other people in order to spice up their love life. I would love to see an updated version of this play. While we may not have the same gender-roles of the 60's, we still have rituals that we use to maintain the status-quo. The director, Shane Gozansky manages to play around with this somewhat by having Sarah and Richard succumb to not only to their carnal desires for their alternate selves, but also to their insatiable lust for twinkies and natural light. This is a play which goes far, but not quite far enough.

"The Lover" manages to emphasize the difficulty of truly communicating, even with those to whom we think we are closest. I really enjoyed it, but found myself wanting more from the experience. This performance is like an appetizer, it leaves you barely sated and hungry for their next production.

For more information, see bridgerep.wordpress.com.