MCLA Beacon Online

By Mark Burridge

Managing Editor

Solid acting and an interesting script helped make “Dolly West’s Kitchen,” a success.Mill City Productions presented the play last weekend with three more shows scheduled for this coming weekend.

The play, starring sophomore Sarah DiMarino as Dolly West, is about an Irish family who deal with a number of issues, displayed through plot development.

The family struggles to see each other eye to eye, and when two American and one British soldiers move in, it just ramps up the ever-increasing tension between the family members.

DiMarino is easy to see in the kitchen and as the household’s main leader. The weight of the situation is piled on top of her and it is easy to see the effects on the character in DiMarino’s performance. Her true-to-life emotion and lifelike facial expressions help meld DiMarino and West together in the eyes of the audience.The audience is forced to wonder how Dolly West is able to handle the stress of being the final word in the family while trying to reconnect with her once loved Alec (Ross Jacobs).

Playing the family’s mother Rima, Jackie DeGiorgis really stole the show. The witty dialogue and wonderfully timed delivery helped make her hilarious and at the same time very heartfelt. It is easy to over play a cranky old character, but DeGiorgis found the proper zone between insignificant and over-done. MCLA alum Patrick Harris played the homosexual American soldier named Marco Delavicario. His performance was cleverly understated, as the obvious front he put up hid his insecurities, leaving the audience to see the human within him while still embracing the funny exterior.

Aimee Cellana’s performance as the flirtatious sister of Dolly was acceptable, but didn’t stand out against the other presentations around her. The character’s emotional responses came off a little forced rather than natural and believable. The set design featured the inside of a kitchen with a pathway behind that led to an isolated area in the background, where characters would sometimes go for private moments.

The costumes were appropriate for the time period of the piece and overall were effective.

The play was very believable and mixed the sadness of the times and events with the charisma of the family and characters. The audience is left with a fuddled feeling, because of the play’s partially hopeful ending. The play succeeds in presenting the complexity of the human relationship, while not bogging the audience down in philosophical technique.

By Eli Jace

A&E editor

There’s a party in August that we ought to go to, and it’s hosted by Chicago-based band Wilco. The Solid Sound Festival runs through MASS MoCA August 13 – 15, just in time for that last blast of summer. For the east coast it will be the only chance this season to hear Wilco’s sweet distorted melodies live.

That is, unless you’re “willing to travel west of the Rockies,” Katherine Myers, director of marketing and public relations for MoCA, said. Each night Wilco will headline with one of their searing live sets, playing songs from their seven albums. Wilco’s newest album,“Wilco (the album),” came out last year.Opening each night will be the band member’ side projects: Glenn Kotche’s On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, The Autumn Defense with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, and Mikael Jorgensen’s Pronto.

The final full lineup is still yet to be determined, according to Myers. Laced with the musical performances will be interactive installations, film installations, workshops, a concert poster screening demonstration, DJs and a comedy stage. Wilco guitarist Nels Cline will work magic not only each night on stage, but also with his interactive guitar pedal exhibit called the Solid Sound Stompbox Station.Wilco sought out MASS MoCA after a show they played at Tanglewood in the Berkshires with the idea for the festival, according to Myers.

“They wanted a bit more time, space and context to develop a more interactive, lasting relationship with their audience,” Myers said.MASS MoCA, with its 150,000 squares of feet, is the perfect spot for the band to do just that. All of MASS MoCA’s open spaces, indoors and out, will hold the festival’s plethora of events. They will also be “carving out some new space as well,” Myers said.

Early bird tickets for all three days will be available until May 31 for $86.50. After June 1 they will rise to $99.50. Both deals include all fees and parking. Tickets can be purchased at www.wilcoworld.net or solidsoundfestival.com. It would be wise to hurry. According to Myers, fans from Chicago and California have already bought tickets.