JPMorgan Chase & Co has opened a branch in Harvard Square, according to a notice it filed with the Treasury Department last week. This location is the bank’s first branch in Cambridge.
On June 13, Chase quietly opened a branch on 9 JFK St. in Cambridge. Prior to the branch opening, the bank only had an ATM in the Harvard MBTA stop, but not a physical branch location.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Massachusetts city is ranked the top place to live for families out of America’s best zip codes all of which can help fight isolation and build social ties, according to Fortune.
The publication recently released its annual list of 50 best places to live for families, and Cambridge ranked number one.
“Home to world-renowned educational institutions Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge embraces its dual position as a college town and bustling metro, just across the Charles River from Boston,” Fortune wrote.
Cambridge, with a population of 117,200, is known for its universities, museums, craft breweries, outdoor spaces, the Head of the Charles Regatta, and its bustling squares.
“It’s most well-known, Harvard Square, is full of charming historic buildings, cafés, boutiques, theaters, and performance spaces,” the publication wrote.
The median sale price for a single-family residence in Cambridge in 2022 was $913,759, and the median household income was $116,709, according to Fortune.
Locals also enjoy living in Cambridge because of a few other perks which include low crime rates, and quality public schools, 41% of which were rated above average by the national nonprofit GreatSchools, according to the publication.
Fortune analyzed nearly 1,900 cities, towns, villages, suburbs, exurbs, and townships across all 50 states, using more than 200,000 unique data points to find the best place in every state.
The best places to Live scored high in the areas of health care, education, and resources for seniors, which the publication said all help fight isolation and build social ties.
Another New England city made the top 10: Portsmouth, N.H., ranked 2 on the list. After that, New England entries were placed in the following order: Portland, Maine, ranked 15, South Burlington, Vermont, ranked 21, Norwalk, Conn., ranked 29, and Cranston, R.I., ranked 38.
Saturday, June 17, 2023
Shereen Pimentel in “Evita” at the American Repertory Theater. (Photo: Emilio Madrid)
A cross between an iron maiden and a fairy princess gown, the replica of Eva Peron’s famous Dior strapless gown hangs suspended over a neon-framed stage. Like a mummified three-dimensional diorama, the white bejeweled dress takes on a life of its own, its bodice both unsettling and beckoning, warning the audience: Look but do not touch.
This riveting image, with its promise of an evening of highly stylized art and mixed messages, is the perfect introduction to the spectacularly staged “Evita” now at the A.R.T.’s Loeb theater. Its production values – from exquisite costumes, choreography, scenic design and lighting to orchestration and cast talent – can’t be overpraised. The most striking evening of theater to hit Boston stages in a while is, luckily and uncharacteristically, in town for a good, long run (through July 30), so there is plenty of time to snag a ticket and enjoy.
When the scrim lifts and the real show begins, the visuals only get better. A backdrop of silhouetted men and women in gorgeous haute couture hats and heels suddenly breaks…
Blankets are available if you get chilly. The performance of “The Gaaga,” after all, takes place in the basement of a makeshift bomb shelter — the now-closed Beat Brew Hall restaurant in Harvard Square — and the lobby has some curtained-off spaces with blankets and pillows, offering a little bit of privacy and a place for refugees to rest. Once inside the theater, the setting shifts to the dreamlike world of a young woman’s fantasy about an imprisoned Vladimir Putin and his associates awaiting trial in the Gaaga (the Hague).
Welcome to the always imaginative, viscerally engaging world of Arlekin Players Theatre and the US premiere of “The Gaaga (The Hague): A Fantastical Trial of Putin from a Bomb Shelter in Mariupol.” Our guide and sometime narrator is The Girl (17-year-old Taisiia Fedorenko, who fled Kyiv in 2022 when the Russians launched the war against her country). Her playful innocence in the face of the senseless murders of innocent people — portrayed with devastating grace — only amplifies the horrors of the invasion.
The mix of fact and fiction is handled simply. Each prisoner is introduced by The Girl with basic facts about his or her role in Putin’s orbit while a photo of the real person they portray is projected on screens behind them. And then each character does something ridiculous: The conspiracist pulls out a goose; the propagandist swings a watch on a chain like a hypnotist; a political leader knits for Putin. These caricatures exaggerate the absurdity of Putin’s enablers while exposing how destructive and dangerous they are. Their clever twists of truth during the trial are determined declarations of innocence, spoken even as the impact of their horrific deeds can be seen just beyond the courtroom.
Playwright and co-director Sasha Denisova asks the audience to lean into a world that can feel far removed from us, which is why the immersive nature of the production becomes so powerful. The stage includes a claw-footed tub and several rocking horses — which become places to lounge, seduce, or simply sit. In addition to an array of projections, there’s a jukebox that comes to life to start the play, a pool table, a forbidding mask, and other props that come into focus as needed. There are moments in “The Gaaga,” which is also offered as a virtual production, when some projections clearly reflect choices made for the virtual audience. Characters pick up cameras and point them at each other unobtrusively, while at other times actors …
Have a problem? Just want to talk? Look for the man in the lawn chair with the propeller cap.
HARVARD SQUARE — If you’re passing through this bustling neighborhood once known for its quirky and off-beat outdoor entertainment, there’s simply no avoiding George Vaill.
With his bushy grey mustache, technicolor propeller hat, and cartoonish black spectacles and bright-yellow sneakers, he lounges in a camping chair beneath a large sign that says, “FREE ADVICE, OFFERED OR ACCEPTED.”
Try to avoid eye contact as you stroll by and he’ll wave and say hello anyway, and then offer you a sticker with a link to his website.
But those lured in by the charismatic 76-year-old, who’s become a fixture of the square since he started doling out free advice three summers ago, will walk away with much more than that: They’ll be regaled with pearls of wisdom, free of charge. For a few minutes, he’ll listen intently to your quandaries, offer you help, and expect nothing in return.
“A lot of times people lack self-confidence in their ability to make good choices for themselves,” Vaill said, in between consultations with strangers one recent Thursday afternoon. “Whatever it is, they don’t believe in themselves enough. They don’t love themselves enough. They don’t respect themselves enough. So they’re hesitant about a lot of the things they’re doing in life.”
Club Passim announced their Summer Concert Series, located in Cambridge the annual free, outdoor concerts will take place at Kendall Square, Danehy Park, Harvard Square, and the plaza at the Harvard Science Center. Open to everyone, Club Passim curated more than a dozen performances, featuring acts from Gabriella Simpkins, Kim Moberg, Naomi Westwater, and Jessye DeSilva with concerts running from June 7 until August 31. No tickets are required. You can find the complete lineups at passim.org.
It’s been well over a year since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. Though news of the war may now feel distant for those outside of Ukraine and Russia, it remains close and personal for many refugees.
One Ukrainian refugee, Sasha Denisova, is a celebrated playwright and director who has continued to make art since fleeing to Poland at the onset of the war. Denisova’s most recent theatrical work is “The Gaaga,” a “site specific phantasmagoria” that premieres in the U.S. in June, incorporating humor, tragedy, and political commentary to express the toll of war.
“The Gaaga” centers on the hopeful imagination of a young Ukrainian girl who dreams of Vladimir Putin and his allies facing a trial for war crimes. The play takes place in the bomb shelter where this 17-year-old has found refuge, though the scenes that play out depict her unlimited imagination.
“I’m really into merging the documented reality — the real facts, something that already exists — with fiction and science fiction,” Denisova said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson, translated by actress and colleague Darya Denisova.
To perfect this merging, Denisova spent long periods of time researching the speeches of Putin and other government officials to make their dialogue as realistic as possible. Additionally, Denisova incorporates facts into political fiction when she writes that Putin and others are placed in The Hague Penitentiary Institution, a real prison operated by the International Criminal Court. Hague is pronounced “gaaga” in Russian, thus serving as the play’s namesake. Denisova added that this purposefully corresponds with most babies’ first verbal sound.
“It gives us a picture of today’s Putin, who’s killing innocent people, children, civilians in general on a daily basis,” Denisova said, discussing the production’s greater purpose. “Now, there’s this image in front of us of Putin in misery being in prison already, and this closing of this entire horror is relatively close.”
Through this creative combination of reality and imagination, the crimes and horrors of those responsible for the war in Ukraine are laid out in a digestible manner. In fact, Denisova deliberately gave “The Gaaga” a comedic edge as a way to ease tension and prepare the audience to take in gruesome details.
“As a Ukrainian, I find it very important to keep talking about the genocide that is happening in Ukraine right now. But also for many of the people, it’s difficult to take more and more tragic information on a daily basis, so by making it a comedy, we find somewhat of a relief,” Denisova said.
Denisova does not only incorporate satirical humor through the story’s premise, but also in its details. For example, she includes dialogue surrounding a former KGB officer’s strong belief that Canadian geese have been…
By Bill Marx
The Gaaga’s humor is driven by rage, anger, and disgust, emotions that are not often found in our domesticated (for easy consumption) theater scene.
The Gaaga (The Hague), a site-specific phantasmagoria written and directed by Sasha Denisova. Co-directed by Igor Golyak. Environmental and projection design by Irina Kruzhilina. Staged by Arlekin Players Theatre & (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab at the Beat Brew Hall, 13 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Live, in-person through June 18. STREAMING WORLDWIDE: Live online through June 18.
The cast of The Gaaga in the bomb bunker. Photo: Irina Danilova
Why is The Gaaga such a welcome production? There has been virtually nothing about Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on Boston’s stages. Nada. Apparently, our theater artists are indifferent to a horrific conflict that is changing the world. And that apathy about what is going on around us is not a one-off. Nature itself is under dire threat — climate scientists have now concluded that it is too late to save Arctic summer ice. (Of course, these tragedies intersect: the Ukrainian dam the Russians are accused of blowing up is an environmental disaster.) You would think the climate crisis or a major war in Europe would inspire work from serious dramatists and stage companies, shake up staid and established repertories. But, as far as I can see, there are no productions addressing the ongoing climate catastrophe in next year’s season. That might change, if some of the recent wildfire smoke that descended into the Northeast from Canada wafted into the right nostrils at…
Theater ripped from the headlines has a tendency to stumble over its own lack of hindsight. It’s a rare talent that can seamlessly juxtapose laugh-out-loud satire with recent accounts from the victims of horrific war crimes still being committed. Ukrainian playwright and director Sasha Denisova does just that in her latest play, “The Gaaga,” an absurd fever dream that feels devastatingly real.
A Ukrainian girl who’s deported to Russia for adoption after losing her parents in the war imagines a future where Putin and his cronies are put on trial at the Hague. The Girl is played by 17-year-old Taisiia “Taya” Fedorenko, who fled her hometown of Kyiv when the war began. Her performance is confident and heartbreaking, and you wouldn’t be able to take your eyes off her were it not for the 17 other outstanding ensemble members who never miss a beat as they weave through this chaotic nightmare to their bitter ends.
Denisova, a celebrated Ukrainian playwright who had been living in Moscow, fled for Poland in the first days after Russia invaded her home country. “Russia bombed Kyiv and my mother, Olga Denisova, who was born under the bombing of Kyiv on July 7, 1941, refuses to leave and awaits victory in her home,” Denisova said in a press statement. “During these months, I thought about what would give hope to me and those who fled the war. A trial of Putin and his government was the biggest expectation.”
She spent months in a refugee camp interviewing officials and fellow refugees to create “The Gaaga” (or The Hague), which is now playing in Cambridge through June 18 after its world premiere run in February at Theatre Polski. The piece was brought to the U.S. by the innovative Arlekin Players Theatre & (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab helmed by Ukrainian-born artistic director Igor Golyak, who co-directed the show with Denisova and designed the virtual elements which will stream to a global audience.
Polina Dubovikova delivers an uncanny Putin (with help from fantastic costuming and makeup by David R. Gammons and Anna Furman), a brilliant choice to play the Mad Hatter to a tea party of war criminals who appear even more buffoonish when speaking the actual words of their real-life counterparts. Darya Denisova (no relation to the playwright) is hilarious and captivating as RT propagandist-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. Garrett Sands, Irina Bordian and Irina Vilenchik chillingly depict accounts of atrocities that Russian soldiers have committed against Ukrainian civilians.
Those are just a few highlights among a phenomenal group of actors, each one offering such a stellar performance that the two and a half hours flew by despite the rather uncomfortable seating in a cramped house. It’s staged at the pandemic-shuttered former Beat Brew Hall in Harvard Square, transformed into a bomb shelter. Irina Kruzhilina’s environmental design begins the immersive experience from the moment you walk down the stairs and see the windows leading into the basement space covered with cardboard boxes. It’s unsettling how much it feels like walking into a bomb shelter, gawking at someone else’s tragedy while embodying how easily it could be your own.
The show provides just enough hand holding to catch Western audiences up on the key players and the national mindset and propaganda machine that’s enabled Putin. Denisova’s play transcends this one terrible war that has changed the world in ways we can’t yet imagine, and those still living its horrors are grasping to the dream that one day these villains will be held accountable. This production voices those yearnings with humor and urgency.
Tucked in the heart of Harvard Square, a five minute walk from the Harvard MBTA Station, sits Black Sheep Bagel Cafe, which has been there since 2018. They were able to weather and make it out of the worst of the pandemic and are a thriving, cute cafe. After descending a couple stairs, the white brick cafe with benches, green ferns and twinkle lights is a pleasant, calming greeting. The inside of the cafe is decorated in a modern rustic style with hardwood floors, golden oak wood and metal chairs, long community tables and white walls and plants that mirror the outside aesthetic.
While both the indoor and outdoor seating areas are aesthetically pleasing, it’s hard to find a seat, especially during the breakfast and lunch rush. If there is a seat open, it’s a very close eating space and might make those who are cautious about eating in public due to COVID-19 feel uncomfortable. Two blocks away from Black Sheep Bagel Cafe is the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, with field space for a picnic blanket, picnic tables and benches, making it the perfect solution to the small seating space inside the…