The Huntington Theatre recruited director Maria Friedman and two of her lead actors from the 2012 West End production of Merrily We Roll Along to stage the Stephen Sondheim musical in Boston, and for good reason. The show, told backwards in time, about three friends who end with acrimony and selling out, but start with…
If the timing of this seems crazily off, it’s because the contents of this post (and more!) first appeared in my monthly email newsletter in July. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. With the appearance of the Washington Post…
Last week I saw a performance of Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men On Boats produced by the Speakeasy Stage Company at the Calderwood Pavilion. All I knew about the production was that it told the story of John Wesley Powell’s voyage down the Colorado River, mapping territory in 1869. And that all the 10 characters — all…
My friend David is a great archaeologist and I remember his clothes always being filthy. I think those things are related. Remember that old Monty Python skit where old men argue about who had a tougher life growing up? Conversations like that happen on digs all the time, and apparently even after digs. Reading about…
If the timing of this seems crazily off, it’s because the contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter in June. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. A number of weeks ago, David Montgomery, a…
I’ve rediscovered tennis. I played when I was a teenager and rarely has a year passed when I didn’t play a few games, but this spring, I signed up for a town round-robin and found myself playing regularly twice a week for the first time in ages. Thinking about the game — my game —…
If the timing of this seems crazily off, it’s because the contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter in June. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, we’re preparing for the end…
This winter, I was back in Sudan and had a videocamera with me. We’re finishing up the El Kurru International Archaeological Project and the dig director, Geoff, asked me to make a short film about cultural heritage in El Kurru village. To do that, I took camera and editing classes from my local cable access…
The contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. On Take Your Child To Work Day, Cognoscenti published my essay I Took My 11-Year-Old Daughter to Work… In Sudan. Great headline! I…
In an ongoing attempt to remember what we do in our annual-ish trips to Toronto, I write these travelogues. They are peculiar to our taste and meanderings. Be warned! This year, we figured the 150th birthday of Canada would feature lots of fun stuff. (By the way, when I was a kid, we celebrated the…
Jack Cheng, PhD 