Yes, I’ve Paid the Price
At its heart, Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn is a play about four women sitting around talking about feminism. As Aurora Theatre Company’s Bay Area premiere demonstrates, however, it’s a heck of a lot more entertaining than that sounds. Catherine (a marvelously self-assured Marilee Talkington) is a hotshot feminist academic writing about pop culture—torture porn, reality TV, you name it—but she’s returned to her home town to take care of her mother after a heart attack. Lillian Bogovich’s upbeat and eager-to-please Alice seems pretty spry and would much rather wait on her daughter than vice versa.
Kids Reenact
In the wake of a child murder and a school massacre, a town’s kids congregate to remember the events the adults want to forget. My review of 99 Stock Productions’ Millicent Scowlworthy is on KQED Arts.
