Aloha, Say The Pretty Girls

If you’re in Boston, Providence, or the general neighborhood, you might enjoy the current production of Naomi Iizuka’s Aloha, Say The Pretty Girls at the ART/MXAT Institute, the teaching wing of Harvard’s American Repertory Theater. At this level, you’re looking at professionals; this is what they do, it’s not an extra-curricular diversion. (Harvard’s undergraduate extracurriculars are often absurdly good, too, because Harvard encourages talented students to pursue their extra-curriculars with great intensity. This is both Harvard College’s strength and its failing.) And while mainstage ART productions cost a bundle, the more intimate Institute events are just $10 a ticket, general admission.

Linsday Allbaugh does a great job directing this challenging script, and I particularly liked Skye Noël as Wendy, who starts as a stock character from a sitcom and builds surprisingly. (Skye Noël is the owner of what might just might be the worst Web site in the world; surely we could find this actress an afternoon’s work from a designer and a copywriter?)