It can be difficult to buy a Christmas gift for someone who you feel already has everything they need or can buy whatever they may want or need. That is why Sergio and I more often than not, give the gift of a shared experience. A fun suggestion for that hard-to-buy friend or special someone would be to purchase tickets to a local show from one of Boston’s area production companies.
Below I’ve shared links to several (not all) Boston theater companies’ productions for early next year. Catching a show can make for a fun night out and give you something to look forward to in January after the holiday season has passed.
BONUS: When you purchase tickets to a show you don’t have to worry about any shipping delays from places like Amazon which have lately been missing their delivery windows.
American Repertory Theater (ART) || Real Women Have Curves runs through January 21, 2024
Summer 1987, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. After eighteen years under the roof of her immigrant parents, Ana is ready to spread her wings. Is it worth sacrificing the dreams of her family, who have sacrificed everything for her? See this empowering new musical that explores life’s unexpected curves.
Central Square Theater || Machine Learning runs January 25 – February 25, 2024
Artificial Intelligence is here. There’s no turning back. “Arnold” (named after the Terminator) is a nursing application created by wunderkind computer scientist Jorge to provide personalized treatment to Gabriel, his estranged and ailing father. As Arnold’s learning increases and Gabriel’s health deteriorates, Jorge must confront his responsibility as a son and accountability as a creator.
The Huntington || Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight runs January 20 – March 3, 2024
“You’ve tried everything. Yoga. Acupuncture. Therapy. You floated in salt water in the pitch black dark. You juiced, you cleansed, you journaled, you cut, you volunteered. You ate only RINDS for three days and nights. You reached out, you looked within. You have tried. And yet here you are.” So begins a new play by Olivier Award-nominated playwright John Kolvenbach. Jim Ortlieb delivers a tour-de-force performance as a man desperate for connection, bent by isolation, and deeply in love with the audience itself.
Lyric Stage Company || Trouble in Mind runs January 12 – February 4, 2024
It’s 1955, and after enduring indignities and lost opportunities, Wiletta Mayer, a seasoned Black actress, is finally making her Broadway debut. Written by a white playwright, her star vehicle is the allegedly progressive “Chaos in Belleville,” which turns out to be anything but. Leading a cast of both younger and experienced actors, Wiletta challenges not only the soft racism of her white director but also the veiled prejudice that limits her aspirations and success. With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, this moving backstage look at identity and stereotypes cracks open searing truths about the American theater that remain heartbreakingly contemporary.
SpeakEasy Stage || A Case For The Existence of God runs January 26 – February 17, 2024
Inside an Idaho office cubicle, a mortgage broker (Keith) and a yogurt plant worker (Ryan) unexpectedly bring each other into their fragile worlds that revolve around their infant daughters. Ryan, white and divorced, wants to buy a plot of land that his family once owned in the hopes of making a stable life for his daughter. Keith, a Black, gay mortgage broker, wants to help Ryan, but is also dealing with challenges to his plans to adopt his foster child. With humor, empathy, and deep compassion, playwright Samuel D. Hunter commingles these two lives in a beautiful story that is both intimate and epic at the same time.
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