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“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” is funny, quirky and a bit touching in this enjoyable production presented by Northampton Community College Theatre Department.

On stage through April13 in Lipkin Theater, Northampton Community College, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township, the show is NCC’s final production of the spring semester.

The entertaining ensemble cast are appealing as six nerdy middle school students competing in a regional spelling bee in the gymnasium of Putnam Valley Middle School. 

Pennsylvania Playhouse has staged a powerful and emotionally rich production of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Fences.” 

The haunting and compelling play is being presented through April 13 at Pennsylvania Playhouse,390 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem.

Written in 1985, “Fences”  is the sixth in Wilson's ten-part "Pittsburgh Cycle" dealing with changing issues of race and family dynamics.

Theater artist Susan Chase brings her mother front and center in her joyful, heart-breaking one woman show, which premiered at Bethlehem’s Touchstone Theater March 20.

Chase, a former Bethlehem resident and Touchstone ensemble member, who now lives in Philadlephia, premiered her original solo show in Bethlehem, before she takes it off-Broadway and on tour on the East Coast.

The 90-minute performance uses spoken word, music, dance, and film to celebrate not just Chase’s mother, but all mothers

Written and performed by Chase, “Mother’s Day” is an evocative look into how one woman’s relationship with her mother has shaped her entire life.

Chase opens the show dressed as a witch and recalling the magic of the woods when she was a child.

Describing herself as a tomboy, she conjures up stories of exploring castles, hiding treasure maps, sneaking a smoke and dangerously scaling a fire escape.

Then she pivots and says she has realized that the magic was actually from her mother.
“Mothers are God-like,” she says. “They create us. But they also create a world, and place us in the center of that world.”

Chase is impassioned as she describes the all-consuming love between a young child and their mother.

She tells how her mother was a constant, reassuring presence who was always in “the other room,” and 
how her her mother swooped in just in time when she got her hands on matches and burned herself. Skillfully blending movement with home movies and old kodachrome photos that display on a video screen behind her, Chase weaves the heartfelt story of her life as seen through the filter of her mother.

Many of the stories are humorous, such as her childish horror when her mother changes her hair color  and when she realizes her mother wouldn’t go in the pool because she didn’t want to mess up her hair.

Chase is jubilant as she talks about dressing up in her mother’s 1960s era colorful matching ensembles.

Especially touching is when she dances in coordination with a video of her mother ice skating.

Chase admits she closely resembles her mother, and the old photos prove the point.

She also explores her mother’s sense of loss after Chase and her two sisters left home, and how she attempted to fill the space in her heart with shopping for trinkets.

However, when Chase got pregnant as a single mother, she explains she looked to her mother for approval and acceptance.

The later section of the play takes a darker turn as Chase painfully discusses how her mother spent her final years in a dementia facility, and details her frustrated struggles to see her mother during COVID shutdown.

Chase’ play is ultimately passionate and illuminating, inspiring viewers to revisit their own relationships with their mother.

Sydney Smith is multimedia designer and technical director and Justin Solonynka is accompanist. Gerard Stropnicky has provided directorial assistance.

Chase will perform “Mother’s Day” Off-Broadway 7 p.m. April 16 as part of the annual United Solo Festival in  Theatre Row. 410 W 42nd St., New York City. Tickets are available at unitedsolo.org/the-18th-annual-united-solo-theatre-festival/mothers-day/

Chase also is scheduled to perform the show on May 4 at Theater Exile, 1340-48 S. 13th St., Philadelphia. For tickets, call 215-218-4022 or go to www.theatreexile.org

She will be at StoneRidge Center, Mystic, CT May 11. For tickets and information, call 860-572-5600.

Chase says she will tour the play again in the fall and will be back at the United Solo Festival in September and in Worcester, MA in October.

For information on additional performances of “Mother’s Day,” go to www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570464436240.