Each September I like to share the upcoming crop of live theater performances by Boston Theater comanies. The past 18-mos has been especially hard on Boston’s theater companies and I would really like to encourage everyone to show their support for these local companies who don’t enjoy the same level of financial support as the national touring shows that come to our Theater District.
While this list is not exhaustive, it does share in-person shows this fall from some of my favorite local theater companies. Attending these local shows is far more affordable than the national tours and they can make for an excellent date night or evening out with friends.
SpeakEasy Stage || The Sound Inside (Sept 24 – Oct 16)
In the seventeen years since she was last published, novelist Bella Baird has almost completely isolated herself from the world. But things change when she meets Christopher – a brilliant but enigmatic student in her creative writing class at Yale. As their friendship deepens, their lives and the stories they tell about themselves become intertwined in unpredictable ways, leading to a shocking request. Intensely intimate and deeply moving.
Lyric Stage Co. || Be Hear Now (Sept 24 – Oct 17)
Bari, a misanthrope who has returned to her hometown of East Cooperville, NY as she struggles to finish her thesis on nihilism. Working at a local fulfillment center, her despair has reached new heights When Bari begins experiencing emotions she never has felt before, she begins to have a different outlook on life. And when she discovers that the cause of these feelings may be killing her, Bari is forced to ask if she wants to go back to a life of nothing.
Central Square Theater || Queens Girl in the World (Sept 30 – Oct 31)
This Motown-infused story of Jacqueline Marie Butler, a Black teenager coming of age in the 1960s. Her joys, challenges, and heartbreak play out against the backdrop of the civil rights movement as she journeys from her familiar Queens neighborhood to a progressive, predominantly Jewish private school in Greenwich Village. Queens Girl in the World is a funny, heartfelt tour de force solo show with one actor portraying over a dozen characters.
Huntington Theater || Witch (Oct 15 – Nov 14)
This fiendishly funny new play follows an alluring devil named Scratch as he arrives in the country village of Edmonton, and he promises to make the darkest dreams of its locals come true in exchange for their souls. When he meets Elizabeth Sawyer, she should be the easiest to convince — she’s an outcast, branded as a witch for years. So why does she resist Scratch’s deal? This subversive, inventive work is a free adaptation of a 1621 Jacobean comedy recreated with a modern sensibility, and is “devilishly clever and deliciously laugh-packed”.
American Repertory Theater || MacBeth in Stride (Oct 23 – Nov 14)
WORLD PREMIERE – A dazzling theatrical event created and performed by Obie Award-winning artist Whitney White with a live band, Macbeth In Stride examines what it means to be an ambitious Black woman through the lens of one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters. The first of White’s five-part series commissioned by A.R.T. excavating the women from Shakespeare’s canon, the production uses pop, rock, gospel, and R&B to trace the fatalistic arc of Lady Macbeth while lifting up contemporary Black female power, femininity, and desire.
NOTE: Proof of vaccination is required to attend many of these perrformances!
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