RUSH to see TRACES–a vibrant gorgeous troupe of Canadian circus performers known as LES DOIGTS DE LA MAIN– or “Seven fingers of the hand.” It won’t take you long to get a handle on them. Hanging by the slimmest of theatrical threads– they’re supposed to be locked in a shelter during what might be the apocalypse, trying to make the most of their last moments–they launch into an explosion of acrobatics, tumbling, gymnastics, dance, music, and phenomenal feats of physical infeasibilities, hurtling through hoops, flipping off seesaws, twirling upended mid-air, suspended horizontally from poles by their hands (!), moonwalking on skateboards! Occasionally, they stop and tell us a little about themselves. We are in love with them. They are young and alive, leaving traces of their energy all over the place through every cartwheel and sensuous pas de deux. TRACES is onstage at the Emerson Cutler Majestic through October 12!

2014-09-24_RECONSDR_HANNAH_043Then, consider heading over to RECONSIDERING HANNA(H) at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, a company devoted to new work, and as see  a terrific piece by New Rep playwriting fellow Deirdre Girard, based on a real woman–her statue stands in Haverhill! Hanna(h) Duston was a pioneer settler who was abducted by Native Americans in 1697. By the time she escaped, there was blood on everyone’s hands, not the least of whose were those of the ax-wielding Hanna(h). The action of the play leaps forward in time to another Hanna(h)an investigative reporter whose husband has just died a violent death in the line of journalistic duty;  she has just been assigned the task of excavating the historical Hanna(h)’s story.

CELESTE OLIVA as both Hanna(h)s is one of the finest actresses working the Boston stage today. She seamlessly shifts back and forth in time to fully inhabit each Hanna(h) with grit, a wide emotional swath, and an earthy energy appropriate to each woman’s milieu. And it’s clear that the “angry woman with a tomahawk” is getting under the journalist’s skin: new Hanna(h) ends up walking around in old Hannah’s moccasins as their stories become psychologically intertwined.  Occasionally, clunky moments of exposition lurch the action forward, but mostly this is a well-acted (but please “redress” the cruelly-costumed Caroline Lawton), cleanly directed (Bridget Kathleen O’Leary), thoughtful work that has something to say about guilt and innocence, women as collateral damage in war, as well as a means of warfare, and what constitutes history– reality may be lost but authenticity is to be wished for.  RECONSIDERING HANNA(H)  Boston Playwrights’ Theatre through October 19th!