Bob Goepfert

If durability defines the worth of a play, “The Elephant Man” by Bernard Pomerance is, at the very least, a good play, and possibly a great one.

For me, today is the start of summer. Forget the calendar. Last weekend we celebrated Memorial Day, usually considered the opening day of summer. But for those of us of a certain age, Memorial Day is still May 30.

Some plays are like novels. They are complex, wide in scope and epic in nature. Others, like “Mary Jane,” playing through Sunday at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, are more like poems. They are gentle, mood evoking and intensely personal.

“Things I Know to Be True,” playing at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham, which closes Sunday, is one of those plays that has you leaving the theater wanting to contact people you think should see the play.

Capital Region - In email and text conversations with local arts leaders there is confusion and anger about the proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts from the 2026 budget.

In the world of theater those May flowers brought on by April showers are starting to bloom. Locally this month there is available a bouquet made up of comedies, musicals and dramas.

It can be very misleading to describe any play as “a comedy about unhappy people.” No one likes to laugh at other people’s troubles.

It sounds simplistic, even obvious, but theater availability and general entertainment choices are usually limited during a holiday week. Today is Easter Sunday and this week celebrated Passover. The lack of theater, be it touring shows or locally produced work, indicates what happens when audiences are preoccupied by such important events.

There are times when a life-lesson is made abundantly clear. This week I had interaction with a contemporary musical artist and a rock group from the 1980s.

Artists everywhere are contemplating what type of art they should create in changing, uncertain times. The question becomes “Do you offer political drama or escapism entertainment?”