Animals Out of Paper This 2008 play by Indian-American writer Rajiv Joseph concerns three emotionally fragile people: Ilana, a reclusive origami artist, holed up in her studio and blocked by depression following the collapse of her marriage; Andy, a determinedly optimistic high school teacher and origami fan with a crush on Ilana; and Andy’s student Suresh, a smart but troubled teenager with uncanny and untrained skill at turning blank paper into animal figures. Andy convinces Ilana to take Suresh on as an apprentice. But when Suresh accompanies Ilana to an origami conference in Nagasaki, the triangle develops some dangerously sharp edges, with painful but liberating results for all involved. Joseph’s plotting relies too much on angst-ridden backstory for Ilana and Suresh, and his metaphors are sometimes heavyhanded. But the 100-minute one-act works thanks to Joseph’s well-crafted dialogue and his clear affection for his characters. Shattered Globe Theatre’s production, directed by Devon de Mayo, features excellent performances by Cortney McKenna (Ilana), Joseph Wiens (Andy), and the dynamically physical Awate Serequeberhan (Suresh), who skillfully reveals flashes of the wounded sensitivity behind his character’s hop-hop bravado. —Albert Williams
The Gilded Age Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, though not much read anymore, receives a spirited adaptation from Paul Edwards and the folks at City Lit. Twain and his neighbor supposedly wrote this book in alternating chapters, without knowing how it would end, as a kind of dare from their wives. The shaggy dog that resulted has been trimmed for the stage, though Edwards still retains too much of the novel’s rambling, aimless quality. Mike Speller and Philena Gilmer delight in various ensemble roles, and Jacquelyne Jones alternates quite well between toughness and sweetness in the role of adopted daughter Laura. The play tries to honor Twain’s original subtitle; its scenes set in Washington—full of political blowhards, backroom deals, and desperate journalists—succeed wonderfully in doing so. —Max Maller
Spring Awakening With a score that includes songs like “The Bitch of Living,” “The Word of Your Body,” and “Totally Fucked,” Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s great musical won’t be anybody’s pick for the high school spring show this year. But give it time. After all, a 2011 national tour was tamer than the 2006-’09 Broadway production, and this version from Marriott Theatre suffers from an even greater excess of decorum. Preopening news stories made much of the idea that Marriott was risking its blue-hair subscriber base by staging the hit adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s play about teenagers trying—and failing—to cope with sexual repression in 1890s Germany; director Aaron Thielen apparently decided the risk was too great. He’s got the thing onstage, all right, but doesn’t take chances even with hairstyles. Though the cast perform beautifully, there are ways in which they’re already stuck in a parent-safe high school presentation. —Tony Adler
