• [ASP] Macbeth w/ Cate & Abby

  Daggers in men’s smiles. Scorpions in king’s minds. Serpents under flowers. Scotland is infested with paranoia and conspiracy in this high-octane rendition from ASP Artistic Director Christopher V. Edwards.
  
  Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, the Macbeths will stop at nothing to grasp their rightful throne — be it assassinating rivals, harnessing psychological warfare, even fracturing reality itself. With classic ASP verve and artistry, this new spin on one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written blurs the lines between free will and control, as the despotic tyrants slowly learn who is really pulling the strings.
  
  With ambition and political intrigue at center stage, ASP is delighted to kick off our 22nd Season with one of the Bard’s most celebrated tragedies.

  Before the show, projected on the stage is home-video style footage of the actors playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, with a small child (implicitly their child). I had recently seen a Tumblr post about a production that opened with a child's funeral. (Which apparently isn't as unusual as the post suggests? I Googled "Macbeth funeral production" on my phone at the show, and the AI overview started with "Modern stage and film productions of Macbeth sometimes include a funeral scene, particularly for a child, as an artistic interpretation to provide a motive for the couple's ambition. In the original Shakespeare play, this funeral does not exist, but Lady Macbeth references having a child in the past, a detail that leaves room for interpretation by directors." and listed a bunch of productions. I have not fact-checked, but notes on the Tumblr post align with the idea that there have been other productions that have opened with a funeral.)
  
  The show proper did in fact ~start with a funeral. There were 2 adult women characters, so I was initially somewhat confused as to which one was Lady Macbeth. There's a woman who turns out to be sort of the Handler for the witches/their counterparts in the Macbeth household (the playbill lists her as "H.E.C.A.T.E."), and at first I was had assumed she was Lady Macbeth because, like, she's a woman who shows up at the beginning and seems to be a big deal.
  
  We didn't particularly get Cold War-specific vibes, though there's definitely a bunch about people being drugged, tortured, etc.
  
  And there are some nice conceits of like Macbeth's letters being projected up on to the screen as Lady Macbeth reads them, but we see parts of them have been redacted.
  
  The Director's Note says:

  Quite often, productions of Macbeth lean on the supernatural: a swirl of witches, omens, and fate pressing down on mortals. I am struck by something more terrifying. The horror of Macbeth is not locked in the occult, but in the human capacity for cruelty when power is within reach.
  
  Strip away the cauldron and spells, and what remains is people choosing—sometimes willingly, sometimes under pressure—to commit atrocities. For me that is more unnerving than supernatural prophecies.
  
  Our version—MK-Beth, as we lovingly nickname it—begins with that premise: what if the Weird Sisters weren't sorceresses after all, but the architects of state-sponsored psychological manipulation? Set in a covert Cold War, the play unfolds through the lends of mind-control experiments, drug trials, and clandestine operations (à la MK-Ultra). The Weird Sisters become scientists and handlers, not fortune tellers. Macbeth and his wife are test subjects as much as they are conspirators. Their choices blur between autonomy and programming, desire and design.
  
  As the Macbeths rise, we watch not only the corrosion of their morality but also the unsettling possibility that government-sanctioned manipulation is guiding their every step. Have they been stripped of their free will — or simply given a push that allowed their darkest impulses to bloom?
  
  By reimagining Shakespeare's tragedy in this way, MK-Beth asks us to reconsider ambition, conspiracy, and complicity in an era where truth itself could be weaponized. It becomes a story not only of vaulting ambition, but of the fragility of the human mind when caught in the machinery of unchecked power.

  We weren't entirely sold on it being no supernatural at all -- because no one has ever been able to drug people to do exactly as the drug-administer-er wants (or even to have wholly predictable effects).
  
  We stayed after the show for a conversation with the director. He talked about how in Shakespeare's plays, the Clown character is anachronistic -- speaks to the present moment (the present of the audience). Which helps explain his choice to have the porter scene include a whole diatribe about AI and stuff, but I still did not like it. It's right after the death of the king, and I was like, "Ah, yes, this is the humorous interlude after some heavy drama," but no, it was a whole diatribe -- complete with a rewrite of the 7 ages of man speech from As You Like It.
  
  Evan (the ASP staff member ~interviewing the director) mentioned a Malcom-focused sequel (I think from approximately Shakespeare's time?), which I have not been able to find from Internet searches. I guess I could email him?
  
  
• [ArtsEmerson] The 4th Witch w/ Abby & Cate

  Manual Cinema returns to Boston with their signature stage-magic to conjure Macbeth from a brand new perspective.
  
  The 4th Witch is a fantastic new tale, inspired by elements of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in which a girl escapes war and flees into a dark forest. Orphaned and exiled, she is rescued by a witch, who adopts her as an apprentice. As she becomes more skilled in witchcraft, her grief and rage draw her into a nightmarish quest for vengeance against the warlord who killed her parents: Macbeth.
  
  Using inventive practical effects executed in plain sight, the troupe brilliantly employs shadow puppetry, live music and actors in silhouette, to create an entire new world in The 4th Witch. Manual Cinema has built a devoted fanbase in Boston over the course of their thrilling past productions at ArtsEmerson including Ada/Ava and Frankenstein. Do not miss its triumphant return this fall!

  Sept 10 we got tickets to opening night (Oct 30). Oct 9, Abby forwarded me an email from ArtsEmerson and said, "Okay, I watched the video in this email and I'm super excited to see this, now. Also, no dialogue. 😮"
  
  [digital program]
  
  It's set in France, with World War vibes (Macbeth's army has tanks and bombs and gas masks), which I had not expected.
  
  There is technically no dialogue, though there are sometimes projected intertitles ("when shall we three meet again?" type lines from Macbeth), and displays of stuff like newspaper headlines sometimes help indicate what's going on.
  
  It starts out pretty slow, which surprised me since it was billed as a 65-minute show.
  
  I'm a little hesitant around "the power of this person's grief etc. gives them huge powers" because, like, she surely wasn't the only person who lost her parents to Macbeth. But the 4th witch's development is generally well-done. I didn't love the reveal of what was going on with the witches -- though because it's the girl's story, not theirs, we understandably don't get much insight about what they were thinking.
  
  The combination of shadow puppetry and live actors in profile was really impressive -- and meant we were often torn between watching the staging and watching the projection.

• Lesbian Space Princess (2025, Australia)

  With silly humor full of in-community jokes, the Teddy Award-winning LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS is an animated sci-fi adventure for any queer person who has ever feared they weren’t cool enough.
  
  BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER meets Adult Swim in this hilarious and heartfelt romp that won the prestigious Teddy Award at this year’s Berlinale. Hailing from the land of Clitopolis, awkward princess Saira yearns for the approval of her moms and their kingdom. It’s not her fault she prefers table magic to partying! But when her emotionally unavailable bounty hunter ex-girlfriend is kidnapped by Straight White Maliens, Saira sees an opportunity to win back her love and prove she’s just as cool and gay as the rest of her planet.
  
  With a silly sense of humor full of in-community jokes, LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS is an animated sci-fi musical adventure for any queer person who has ever been afraid to be their authentic self — even if that self is a big gay loser.

  In the intro to this, one of the filmmakers (Emma) said, "And we just wanna say to all the queer people and people of color watching this movie, for the next 87 minutes, you rule the gay-laxy."
  
  I think that really elides how much discomfort and sadness there is throughout much of the film as Saira struggles.
  
  I will also note this is very cis-normative. Like, jokes about the clit being hard to find were fine, but stuff like the penis guarding the Straight White Malien planet I did not love, as someone who loves a trans woman.
  
  [In the Q&A afterward, one of the filmmakers (Leela) named, "we need to protect trans rights" -- talking about the scary state of the world and the importance of standing up for what's right -- which I appreciated.]
  
  I also learned from that Q&A that Leela does/did musical comedy -- was in a musical comedy band with the voice actress for Saira.
  
  
• SHORTS: QUEER TEEN POWER

  An affirming shorts program for LGBTQ+ teens and allies, featuring diverse stories of resilience, magic, and joy—presented with the NYC Department of Education for the eighth year.
  
  Now in its eighth year, NewFest is thrilled to collaborate with NYC’s Department of Education and GLAAD on this uplifting shorts program curated for LGBTQ+ teens. These upbeat, affirming films — from intergenerational bonds to magical drag foxes — give queer youth the chance to see themselves on screen and feel inspired to tell their own stories.

  The intro said, "an affirming program, centering LGBTQ+ teens and featuring stories of resilience, magic, and joy"
  
  I definitely somehow misunderstood and though these films were made by queer youth (in "collaborat[ion] with NYC’s Department of Education and GLAAD"), so I was confused when the first one was set in Pittsburgh, the second one had Stephen Fry...
  
  ( Queer Teen Power shorts playlist )
  
  
  
• SHORTS: THE QUEER REBELLION

  From ACT UP to Black trans joy, these shorts showcase queer resistance in all its forms—activism, euphoria, and radical imagination.
  
  From ACT UP’s historic protests to today’s Black trans leadership, these shorts spotlight queer defiance across decades and identities. Whether through street activism, Black trans euphoria, or experimental visions of liberation, THE QUEER REBELLION celebrates community power, radical imagination, and the refusal to be erased.
  
  ( The Queer Rebellion shorts playlist )

  
  
  
• Niñxs

  Fifteen-year-old Karla, growing up trans in rural Mexico, shares her story with filmmaker Kani Lapuerta, together creating a tender, intergenerational portrait of adolescence filled with courage, humor, and authenticity.
  
  Fifteen-year-old Karla navigates the turbulence of adolescence while making the life-changing decision to legally transition. Supported by her parents and community yet confronting the prejudices of her rural Mexican town, Karla tells her own story alongside trans filmmaker Kani Lapuerta, who has documented her since childhood.
  
  Together, they craft a vivid portrait of what it means to grow up proudly trans in a world mediated by the ever-present lens of a front-facing camera. NIÑXS is a nuanced and intergenerational coming-of-age story that reimagines small-town life—and a whimsical reminder that no one escapes the painful, awkward, and beautiful parts of adolescence.

  ( discussion of gendered language in Spanish )
  
  
  
• Night in West Texas -- feature-length documentary (USA, 2025)

  In 1981, James Reyos, a gay Apache man, was wrongly convicted of murdering a priest. Peabody-winning journalist Deborah S. Esquenazi’s searing documentary follows the decades-long fight to clear his name.
  
  In 1981, James Reyos, a young gay Apache man from Odessa, Texas, was pressured into confessing to the murder of a Catholic priest and sentenced to 38 years in prison. Nearly four decades later, armed with new evidence, justice-driven lawyers from The Innocence Project of Texas fight to clear his name.
  
  With NIGHT IN WEST TEXAS, Peabody-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated documentarian Deborah S. Esquenazi transcends the tropes of true crime to expose decades of systemic injustice stacked against marginalized communities. The result is a powerful and deeply moving portrait of a man seeking redemption and a legal system reckoning with its failures.

  “In this nuanced deconstruction of the true crime genre, director Deborah S. Esquenazi continues her biting exploration of the ways the judicial system is stacked against minority groups, and how the damage it creates cannot be undone with a simple overturning.” – Jorge Molina, Industry Manager & Programmer

  I don't know who writes these blurbs.  Reyos was not pressured into confessing.  Like, he confesses due to his unhealthy emotional processing of a traumatic event, so one could pedantically argue he was "pressured" into confessing -- but it's not like cops found him and pressured him into confessing.
  
  
• SHORTS: ALL ABOUT THE T

  A trans-led program of bold, unfiltered shorts—original, smart, and brilliantly made. Rooted in resistance and care, these films embody the strength and spirit of trans lives. No T, no future.
  
  A trans-led, nonconforming program of bold, unfiltered short films — original, smart, and brilliantly made. Rooted in community, resistance, and care, these radical works center self-determination beyond mere survival. Dissident bodies come together to claim space, embrace each other, and create futures. ALL ABOUT THE T means no compromise.

  From the intro: "uplifting and unfiltered shorts. original, smart, and brilliantly made. rooted in resistance, and care, these films embody the strength and spirit of trans lives and those who love them."
  
  ( All About the T shorts playlist )
  
  
  
• She's the He

  When high-schooler Alex convinces his best friend Ethan to pretend to be trans to get girls, Ethan discovers she isn’t pretending. Chaos, comedy, and self-discovery collide in this sweetly subversive queer teen romp.
  When high-schooler Alex convinces his best friend Ethan they should pretend to be trans to hook up with girls, Ethan makes a startling discovery: She isn’t pretending. Blending farce with genuine emotion, this subversive comedy takes rightwing locker-room panic to its funniest and most poignant conclusion. With a fresh spin on the coming-out narrative, debut director Siobhan McCarthy pays homage to iconic high school comedies like SHE’S THE MAN and BRING IT ON while adding a distinctly queer twist. Led by Misha Osherovich and Nico Carney, an ensemble of trans actors deliver both irreverence and heart–cementing this as a new teen comedy classic.

  “On paper, SHE’S THE HE sounds like it could go totally off the rails — but Siobhan McCarthy and the hilarious ensemble pull it off with skill and wild charm. Bold, irreverent, and unexpectedly sweet, it’s the queer teen comedy we didn’t know we needed until now.” – David Hatkoff, Executive Director

  
  
  
• Here Come the Dolls shorts program w/ Abby
  
  This was maybe the weirdest shorts program of the season?
  
  In the intro, one of the programmers said, "a set of genre-defying shorts where trans women reign. From ritual and revenge to sisterhood and catharsis. Bold, visionary, and unmissable, the dolls are here to stay."

  Genre-defying shorts where trans women reign—from ritual and revenge to sisterhood and catharsis. Bold, visionary, and unmissable: the Dolls are here to stay.
  
  An audacious shorts program celebrating the vision and brilliance of trans women and those who love them. From vengeful resurrections to satanic rituals, shoplifters waging war on capitalism to secret cults, shadow selves to harrowing births, these genre-defying films crown the Dolls as auteurs, protagonists, dreamers, and disruptors.
  
  ( Here Come the Dolls shorts playlist )

• watched the first episode of Dead End: Paranormal Park on Netflix (prompted by the right-wing furor about it)
  

• [Sept 10 climate change book club] What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (2024) -- I ended up having a conflict for the meeting, but did end up starting to read the book and was into it more than I was expecting ... though I have also had a lot else going on, so it took me a while to finish it
  
  
• [Oct 29 DEI book club -- October is both Filipino American History Month & LGBT History Month] Horse Barbie: A Memoir of Reclamation by Geena Rocero (2024, 336 pages) -- memoir by a trans woman who moves from Manila to the U.S., having been a trans pageant queen in the Philippines
  
  
• [Nov 2 feminist sff book] The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older (2023) -- Hugo nominee, novella, “a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter”

[bff book club] Saving Our Own Lives: A Liberatory Practice of Harm Reduction by Shira Hassan (with Foreword by adrienne maree brown & Introduction by Tourmaline) (2022)

[Nov 4 Rainbow Book Group] Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe (2025) -- Coast Salish author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes

[Nov 19 DEI book club] Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology ed. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (2023) -- short story collection

November is Native American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month.

O. suggested a horror novel.  I suggested the book we didn't get to do for climate change book club this March.  No one else suggested anything, so I went back to last year and saw that A. (who started the book club) and A.D. (who often has plenty of book suggestions) had suggested books, so I picked 1 from each and made this proposed list:

• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (2020, 305 pages) -- horror novel [suggested by O. this year]
  
• The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet by Sheila Watt-Cloutier (2015, 368 pages) -- nonfiction [suggested by me this year]
  
• This Place: 150 Years Retold (2019, 287 pages) -- graphic novel anthology [suggested by A. last year]
  
• Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology ed. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (2023, 400 pages) -- short story collection [suggested by A.D. last year]

Reading Next:

I mean, I have a lot that I'm reading right now. I guess December book club books after these?

[Dec 2 Rainbow book group] Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (2021) -- I've heard good things about this since like before it came out, so am glad for the excuse to read it; a little surprised we're doing a YA book, but

[Dec 10 climate change book club] Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee (2023, fiction) -- I feel like I've seen largely negative reviews of this, but maybe I'm confusing it with one of the many other Arthur books that have come across my dash? skygiants seems to have liked it -- though fuck, I forgot this book is like 500 pages

Work DEI book club is taking December off. January topic still TBD. January doesn't have much in the way of heritage/identity months, so we're mostly on our own for a theme -- though I learned that apparently it's Muslim American Heritage Month in Illinois, so that's one option.

Feminist sff book club is next doing She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan (2021) -- which is long (and the first book in a duology), so we decided to push that meeting out into January (and literally no one has replied to the Doodle poll, so who can say when we're meeting).