Looking for details of past projects produced by the School of Theatre? Look no further! Find titles, show details, and programs from previous years.
2023 – 2024
The School of Theatre New Play Initiative presents a series of Next Stage workshops, scenes, and plays. These Next Stage pieces will be directed by our Undergraduate Directors and will flower as the next step in the fruition of these new plays by BU students. The nature of the presentation and the work is determined by the needs of the play. Curated by Kirsten Greenidge, this “on-its-feet” workshop or play experience focuses on different areas of the writing or specific parts of a project in the process of development.Fringe Festival: Next Stage Workshops
Marcus is sixteen and “sweet.” Days before Hurricane Katrina strikes the projects of Louisiana, Marcus keeps having dreams about a mysterious man and a ton of rain. The currents of his life converge, overflowing into his close-knit community and launching the search for his sexual and personal identity on a cultural landscape infused with mysterious family creeds. The poignant and fiercely humorous coming-of-age story of a young gay man in the South, Marcus is the stirring conclusion of The Brother/Sister Plays. Joan & Edgar Booth TheatreFringe Festival: Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet
October 20-22, 2023
By Tarell Alvin McCraney
Directed by Rosalind Bevan
Studio ONE Music by Melissa Dunphy Alice Tierney explores the mythic stories surrounding the death of the real-life 19th-Century “dissipated woman” Alice Tierney. Tierney was found hanging by her own petticoats on a fence in a seedy Philadelphia neighborhood early one morning in 1880. Despite suspicious circumstances, the death was ruled accidental and never investigated by police. But who was Alice? Can four grad students investigating the site discover the truth? -melissadunphy.com The Boston University Fringe Festival, is a collaboration between the College of Fine Arts School of Music: Opera Institute and School of Theatre. The festival’s mission is to produce new or rarely performed significant works in the opera and theatre repertoire, bringing performances and audiences together in unique theatrical settings. For over two decades, Fringe Festival at Boston University has celebrated and amplified new work, shown in spare and minimal productions.Fringe Festival: Alice Tierney
Co-produced with BU Opera Institute
October 13-15, 2023
Libretto by Jacqueline Goldfinger
Music Director • Allison Voth
Stage Director • Claire Choquette
Fringe Festival: Hydrogen Jukebox
Co-produced with BU Opera Institute
October 27 – 29, 2023
Studio ONE
Music by Philip Glass
Libretto by Allen Ginsburg
Music Director • Matthew Larson
Stage Director • Sarah Dahnke
Created as a portrait of America from the 1950s through the 1980s, Hydrogen Jukebox was composed after a chance meeting between composer, Philip Glass, and Beat poet, Allen Ginsberg. Through Glass’ minimalist style, and Ginsberg’s poetry on topics ranging from the anti-war movement to the environment, the opera touches on many of America’s enduring social issues.
The Boston University Fringe Festival, is a collaboration between the College of Fine Arts School of Music: Opera Institute and School of Theatre. The festival’s mission is to produce new or rarely performed significant works in the opera and theatre repertoire, bringing performances and audiences together in unique theatrical settings. For over two decades, Fringe Festival at Boston University has celebrated and amplified new work, shown in spare and minimal productions.
By Sarah Ruhl Based on the Virginia Woolf novel, this is the story of a young nobleman who is drawn into a love affair with Queen Elizabeth I. For a time, life at court is interesting enough, but Orlando yearns for something more. As he strives to make his way as a poet and lover, his travels keep him at the heart of a dazzling tale where gender and gender preferences shift regularly, usually with hilarious results. (sarahruhlplaywright.com)Orlando
December 2-9, 2023
Directed by Vanessa Ogbuehi
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
By Suzan Lori-Parks Studio ONE Fucking A is an otherworldly tale involving a noble mother, her wayward son and others. Hester Smith, the revered and reviled local abortionist, hatches a plan to buy her jailed son’s freedom—and nothing will deter Hester from her quest. In this violent and wild-eyed blend of story and song, which harkens to Brechtian and Jacobean structure, Hester’s branded letter A becomes a provocative emblem of vengeance, violence and sacrifice. (concordtheatricals.com)Fucking A
December 7 – 10, 2023
Directed by Patdro Harris
By Henrik Ibsen CFA 356 This Broadway adaptation of Ibsen’s timeless drama presents a sympathetic, yet striking and powerful, Hedda in the classic tale of her struggle to find a means of escape from a loveless, ordinary existence. Beginning with the return from her honeymoon, Hedda finds herself bored of her husband, and longing for the days when she was free to exercise her wild and independent whims. With the return of an old flame and a proposition from an amorous judge, she begins a dangerous game, amusing herself by manipulating and destroying everyone around her in an attempt to regain control of her life. (Playscripts Inc.)Hedda Gabler
December 2-3, 2023
Adapted by Christopher Shinn
Directed by Gregg Wiggans
By Kate Hamill CFA 109 A playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters—sensible Elinor and hypersensitive Marianne—after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable. Set in gossipy late 18th-century England, with a fresh female voice, the play is full of humor, emotional depth, and bold theatricality. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY examines our reactions, both reasonable and ridiculous, to societal pressures. When reputation is everything, how do you follow your heart? (Dramatists Play Services)Sense and Sensibility
December 8-9, 2023
Directed by Christine Hamel
By David Ives Adapted from Le Misanthrope by Molière. It’s 1666 and the brightest, wittiest salon in Paris is that of Celimene, a beautiful young widow so known for her satiric tongue she’s being sued for it. Surrounded by shallow suitors, whom she lives off of without surrendering to, Celimene has managed to evade love since her beloved husband died—until today, when Frank appears. A traveler from England known for his own coruscating wit and acidic misanthropy, Frank turns Celimene’s world upside-down, taking on her suitors, matching her barb for barb, and teaching her how to live again. (Never mind that their love affair has been engineered by a couple of well-placed lies.) This wild farce of furious tempo and stunning verbal display, all in very contemporary couplets, runs variations on Molière’s The Misanthrope, which inspired it. Another incomparable romp from the brilliant author of All in the Timing. (Dramatists.com)School for Lies
December 9-10, 2023
Director TBD
CFA 356
Directed by Clay Hopper and Undergraduates The School of Theatre presents The Directors’ Project, a compilation of studio sharing of coursework and classroom excellence. These sharings will inhabit the end of the semester and will give a public face to some of our best classroom work.Directors' Project
December 2-6, 2023
CFA 352
The School of Theatre New Play Initiative presents public readings of new offerings to the world of theatre. Directed music stand/table readings of the play with a short rehearsal period. Each reading will include a short talk-back at the end with the playwright and the cast. By Abacus Dean-Polichek By Dante Gonzalez By Lana Sage By Alexa Connors By Steve YockeyFall Semester Springboard Projects
Art is Selfish
December 9, 2023
Director: Emma Weller
CFA 106Orpheus in the Overworld
December 9, 2023
Director: Madeline Riddick-Seals
CFA 106The Mountains are Calling…
December 10, 2023
Director: Reanna Valencia
CFA 106Pyrrhic Victory. Sometimes Called: Myth and Punishment
December 12, 2023
Director: TBD
CFA 106TBD
December 14, 2022
Director: Gregg Wiggans
CFA 106
CFA 354 Come celebrate the studio work of our second-year students in this cumulative end-of-semester experience featuring scenes expertly led by Patrese D. McClain in collaboration with MFA Directing candidates!Sophomore Acting Project
December 2 – 3, 2023
BU Dance Theatre The Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre, in collaboration with the Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, presents the 21st annual Aurora Borealis: A Festival of Light and Dance. Aurora Borealis is a vibrant exploration of the relationship between light and form with a focus on collaboration and experimentation, featuring dance and movement pieces by faculty and students with lighting designed by Slick Jorgensen, a graduate student in the School of Theatre Lighting Design Program. The one-hour performances are Monday, December 4, 7pm and 9pm; free and open to the public. No ticketing required. Yo-EL Cassell and Micki Taylor-Pinney are the artistic co-directors. Mark Stanley is the Lighting Design Faculty Advisor and Lynda Rieman is the BU Dance Theater Production Manager.Aurora Borealis: A Festival of Light and Dance
Monday, December 4 • 7pm & 9pm
Co-produced with BU CFA Opera Institute Composed by Jules Massenet A co-production between the School of Music’s Opera Institute and the School of Theatre, each spring the BU Community and beyond is invited to the Booth Theatre to experience the exceptional talent of the students in the College of Fine Arts in this unique collaboration.Cendrillon
February 29 – March 3, 2024
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
Libretto by Henri Caïn
Conductor: William Lumpkin
Stage Director: Brenna Corner
Written by: Kirsten Greenidge Directed by: Gregg Wiggans When Summer is gifted a copy of Anna Karenina for her first Mother’s Day, the little details of her own life begin to add up in ways she hadn’t quite thought of before. Summer is particularly captivated by her husband’s mother, Edith. When the family makes a seemingly ordinary trip to their mall’s old-school department store, Summer’s world is changed forever. Rendered as an immersive experience, this is not your high school English’s version of Tolstoy’s classic novel. One Penny Down is presented in a theatrical promenade style; leading the audience from room-to-room where they can ob- serve or participate in the theatrical performance. Audience members will be guided and instructed when to move to a new space by live actors, sound recordings, or lighting effects. This production aims to be inclusive of individual needs and acces- sibility. Front of house staff will be on hand to assist patrons as needed.One Penny Down
February 29 – March 3, 2024
3rd Floor Studios
By Laura Schellhardt On an isolated island deep in the heart of the Everglades, five teenagers struggle to survive in a land where the adults are as dangerous as the gators. When one of the kids returns from juvenile detention to help the rest escape to the mainland, it seems their prayers have been answered. There’s only one problem: they need a boat, and they need it before the adults catch wind of their plan and end it—or end them. Ever in the Glades begs the question: what is the current generation’s responsibility to the next, and what happens if we fail them? (dramaticpublishing.com) All tickets for this production are free, general admission at the door.Ever in the Glades
March 1-3, 2024
Directed by Nick Vargas
CFA 109
The Hot L Baltimore By Lanford Wilson Directed by Grant Sorenson CFA 105 The scene is the lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it has lost the “e” from its marquee. As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during the course of one day. The drama is of passing events in their lives, of everyday encounters and of the human comedy, with conversations often overlapping into a contrapuntal musical flow. In the resulting mosaic each character emerges clearly and perceptively defined, and the sum total of what they are—or wish they were—becomes a poignant, powerful call to America to recover lost values and to restore itself in its own and the world’s eyes. (Dramatists’ Play Service.) These projects emerge out of the artistic collaboration of the teams in the SOT Graduate Collaboration course. They are developed in the Fall class and then performed in each quarter of the Spring semester. Titles will be chosen from a curated list of plays created by the students and faculty of the slate committee. All tickets free general admission at the door.The Hot L Baltimore (Grad Collab Project)
February 23-25, 2024
Studio ONE. All performances at 7:30pm. January 27 – 28, 2024 February 3 – 4, 2024 February 10 – 11, 2024 February 17 -18, 2024 February 24 – 25, 2024 March 2-3, 2024 All tickets free general admission at the door.Senior Acting Thesis Pods
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 1
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 2
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 3
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 4
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 5
Senior Acting Thesis Pods 6
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Inspired by the painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat, Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s stunning masterpiece, merges past and present into beautiful, poignant truths about life, love and the creation of art. One of the most acclaimed musicals of our time, this moving study of the enigmatic painter, Georges Seurat, won a Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for an astounding ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. (MTIShows.com)Sunday in the Park with George
April 25-28, 2024
Book by James Lapine
Directed by Clay Hopper
Music director: Katya Stanislavskaya
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
Written by Fredrico Garcia Lorca Studio ONE A woman full of passion and life in rural Spain remains childless. Yerma’s desperate desire for motherhood becomes an obsession. Clashing with the strict moral codes of those around her, she is driven to the limits of her sanity, willing to anything to have a child. (concordtheatricals.co.uk)Yerma
April 25-28, 2024
Translated by Richard O’Connell & James Graham-Lujan
Directed by Yo-EL Cassell
La clemenza di Tito
Co-produced with BU CFA Opera Institute
April 18 – April 21, 2024
Boston University Tsai Performance Center
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Caterino Mazzolà
Conductor: William Lumpkin
Stage Director: Eve Summer
A coproduction between the School of Music’s Opera Institute and the School of Theatre, each spring the BU Community and beyond is invited to the Tsai Center to experience the exceptional talent of the students in the College of Fine Arts in this unique collaboration.
Museum CFA 352 These projects emerge out of the artistic collaboration of the teams in the Master Class course. They are developed in the Fall class and then performed in each quarter of the Spring semester. They will be chosen from a curated list of plays created by the students and faculty of the Slate Committee. All tickets for this production are free, general admission at the door.Grad Collab Project: Museum
April 27-28, 2024
By Tina Howe
Directed by Taylor Stark
The School of Theatre presents the Senior Theatre Arts Majors’ Projects (STAMP). These capstone events will be sprinkled throughout this semester and will bloom in many different guises. By Senior Theatre Arts Majors. All tickets for these productions will be free, general admission at the door.STAMP Projects
The School of Theatre New Play Initiative presents public readings of new offerings to the world of theatre. Directed music stand/table readings of the play with a short rehearsal period. Each reading will include a short talk-back at the end with the playwright and the cast. All tickets for these productions will be free, general admission at the door. By Rachel Harris CFA 106 By Lana Sage CFA 106 By Ava LaRoche CFA 106Spring Semester Springboard Projects
Trophically Cascaded
April 27, 2024
My Dear Friend Wagner
April 28, 2024
ManSpread
May 1, 2024
2021 – 2022
The Legend of Georgia McBride
Written by Matthew Lopez • Directed by Kolton Bradley
March 25 – 27, 2022
A big-hearted, music-filled comedy. Casey is an Elvis impersonator with everything going for him. But just like that he loses his gig, rent is overdue and his wife announces a baby on the way. So when Elvis leaves the building and a drag show moves in, “The King” transforms into an all-out queen with the help of some new friends who become the second family Casey never saw coming. With snappy zingers and dance-worthy numbers, this wildly entertaining story will challenge your assumptions with extraordinary humor and depth.
Senior Acting Thesis: Pod 4
April 2 – 3, 2022
As a culmination of their time at Boston University School of Theatre, Senior Acting Majors present their Final Theses for an audience. Pod 4: Isabel Van Natta, Abigayle Scobee, Raymond Vasco, and Emma Laird.
Senior Acting Thesis: Pod 5
April 9 – 10, 2022
As a culmination of their time at Boston University School of Theatre, Senior Acting Majors present their Final Theses for an audience. Pod 5: Brittani McBride, Arianne Banda, Ivan Walks, and Victoria Omoregie.
MANEATER
Written by Madison Kartoz
Directed by Trevor Turnbow
April 22 – 24, 2022
MANEATER is a Senior Theatre Arts Major Project (STAMP) Production.
Choice /CHois/
Directed by Malika Oyetimein
April 27 – 30, 2022
Springboard Series
May 2 – 8, 2022
Want to experience something new? A part of New Works, the Springboard Series provides opportunities for School of Theatre students to present public readings of their new plays and works in progress.
May 2 • Freakshow
May 6 • Meeting
May 8 • In the Wake of it All
roots
Conceived by Will Choy Edelson and Ken Yotsukura
April 29 – May 1, 2022
This devised work is a Senior Theatre Arts Major Project (STAMP) Production
Shakespeare in Love
Written by Lee Hall, Marc Norman, and Tom Stoppard
Directed by Judy Braha
April 30 – May 8, 2022
“Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block. The deadline for his new play is fast approaching, but he’s in desperate need of inspiration. That is, until he finds his muse… the feisty, brilliant and beautiful Viola. This crafty young woman is Will’s greatest admirer and will stop at nothing (including breaking the law) to appear in his next play. Against a bustling background of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola quickly blossoms, inspiring him to write his greatest romantic masterpiece” (Concord Theatricals, Shakespeare In Love).
Exit the King
Written by Eugène Ionesco
Directed by Clay Hopper
Interactive Projection Design by Paolo Scoppola
May 4 – 7, 2022
This absurdist exploration of ego and mortality is set in the crumbling throne-room of the palace in an unnamed country where King Berenger the First has only the duration of the play to live. Once, it seemed he ruled over an immense empire and commanded great armies, now his kingdom has shrunk to the confines of his garden wall. Refusing to accept his end, he is attended by his present and former Queens who must help him face the final inevitable truth of life: death.
Murder Ballad
Conceived by and with book and lyrics by Julia Jordan
Music and Lyrics by Juliana Nash
Directed by Shamus
May 5 – 7, 2022
“Murder Ballad is the dramatic story of a love triangle gone wrong, centering on Sara, an uptown girl who seems to have it all, but whose downtown past lingers enticingly and dangerously in front of her” (Music Theatre International, Murder Ballad). Free admission; seating is limited.
Murder Ballad is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
First-year graduate students of Boston University School of Theatre come together for Masterclass, four collaborative spring semester projects. Written by Madeline Sayet May 6 – 7, 2022 The Greek city of Thebes is crumbling under plague and oppression, and her newly enthroned ruler Creon tries to quell an uprising against the patriarchal status quo. Madeline Sayet’s Antigone breathes new life into Sophocles’ timeless tale of the defiance of an exiled king’s orphaned daughter and the city she inspires to action. Can the citizens of Thebes overcome their prejudices and find common ground against autocracy? Written by Alice Birch May 6 – 7, 2022 “A wildly experimental and inventive new play that does not behave. Playwright Alice Birch has put together a grouping of vignettes that ask how to revolutionize language, relationships, work, and life in general while bursting at the seams of conformity (Concord Theatricals).” Q4 Masterclass Projects
Antigone or And Still She Must Rise Up
Directed by Enzo GonzalesRevolt. She Said. Revolt Again.
Directed by Ludmila de Brito
Chariot Reversed
Written by Erin David and Julia Hertzberg
Directed by Jennie Gorn
May 6 – 8, 2022
Chariot Reversed is a Senior Theatre Arts Major Project (STAMP) Production.
The Queero's Journey
Written by Abacus Dean-Polacheck
April 28 – 29, 2022
This Next Stage Workshop of The Queero’s Journey is presented as part of New Works, a four-step process dedicated to the development of new plays at Boston University School of Theatre – from cold reads all the way to fully staged productions that are supported by a director and performed for audiences. All projects presented as part of the New Works trajectory are student written, directed, designed, and performed.
Everybody
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Melisa Pereyra and Jeb Burris
March 1 – 3, 2022
This is a play about community, truly, a play about Everybody. Through this ensemble driven work, we get to explore as artists the existential questions that plague our minds from day to day. Together we sift through a metaphorical look at our lives and ask our community, what is the meaning of it all? Because this is a morality play, we lead the audience through a meditation on their value systems, and in turn, perhaps learn something about ourselves as artists by daring to tell this story of Everybody’s journey through life with whatever courage we have left. Intensely driven by the imagination of each ensemble member, we invite you to join Everybody’s world: a place where thoughts become people, and where death, love, beauty, and even our senses, get their time on stage. Literally. Packed with gravitas and humor in equal parts, this play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins draws on the classic morality tale Everyman and reminds us that this story is not about a man at all, but rather about the things that keep ALL of us up at night: our fears of the unknown beyond the grave and who will show up to help us get to the end of our journeys.
Mac Beth
Adapted by Erica Schmidt from the work of William Shakespeare
Directed by Gigi Juras
February 27 – March 3, 2022
Mac Beth is an adaptation using text from the original Shakespeare play, but contextualized and inspired by highly publicized incidents of young girls enacting violence on one another. This production wrestles with the flawed representation of women and witches in Shakespeare, love and violence, adolescent girlhood, and the dynamics of how relationships to each other inform their perceptions of themselves.
LIZZIE: The Musical
Written by Tim Maner & Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer
Music by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer & Alan Stevens Hewitt
Directed by Emma Cavage
February 27 – March 3, 2022
In 1892, Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother. Testimonies were muddled, evidence was incomplete, and Lizzie was acquitted. LIZZIE: The Musical delves into the mysterious mind of Lizzie and speculates on the motivations she may have had. By her side are her older sister Emma, their maid Bridget, and their neighbor Alice. The four women sing a punk rock score to tell the story of why “Lizzie Borden took an axe…”
Q3 Masterclass Projects
Dead Man’s Cellphone
February 26-27, 2022
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Ludmila de Brito
An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man – with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man’s Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative new comedy by MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl. A work about how we memorialize the dead – and how that remembering changes us – it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world.
Mercury
February 26-27, 2022
Written by Steve Yockey
Directed by Enzo Gonzales
A couple moves out to a remote area of Oregon and discover that all is not right with their next door neighbor. A housewife confronts her spurned ex-lover, convinced that she has something to do with her dog Mr. Bundles’ disappearance. These stories collide in Mercury by Steve Yockey, which explores just how terrible and callous people can be to each other when our favorite planetary body is in retrograde.
The Corruption of Morgana Pendragon
February 24 – 26, 2022
Written by McKayla Witt
Directed by Noah Putterman
Boston University School of Theatre presents a new play by McKayla Witt (CFA’22), directed by Noah Putterman. Here is a girl transforming into a woman. Here is a girl transforming into a goddess. Here is a girl transforming into a beast. Here is Arthurian legend as it stands and as it crumples to the tide of history. Here is what it means to make and remake a legend on the backs of broken women and forgotten traditions.
If I Were You
February 24 – 27, 2022
Music by Jake Heggie • Libretto by Gene Scheer
Jim Petosa, director • William Lumpkin, conductor
If I Were You (2019) is an opera loosely based on the 1947 novel Si j’étais vous… by Julien Green (courtesy of the Estate of Julien Green and Editions Fayard). In this modern telling of the Faust story, the devil (Brittomara) makes a bargain with a dispirited young writer named Fabian Hart. He is given the supernatural power to move his soul and identity from person to person for as long as he likes; but, if he ever returns to his original body, he will die, and the devil will collect his soul. On his precarious journey to win the heart of his beloved, he leaves a trail of human wreckage and hollow shells. In the end, will he choose to live forever as someone else, or die for love as himself?
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
Senior Acting Thesis: Pod 3
February 19 – 20, 2022
Shakespeare's R&J
February 19 – 20, 2022
Written by Joe Colarco
Directed by Shamus
Four young prep school students, tired of going through the usual drill of conjugating Latin and other tedious school routines, decide to vary their very governed lives. After school, one breaks out a copy of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Perceptions and understanding are turned upside-down as the fun of play-acting turns serious, and the words and meanings begin to hit home and universal truths emerge.
Things That Are Round
February 16 – 17, 2022
Written by Callie Kimball
Directed by Clay Hopper
Senior Acting Thesis: Pod 2
February 12 – 13, 2022
Senior Acting Thesis: Pod 1
February 5 – 6, 2022
The Ain Gordon Project
February 5, 2022
Written and Directed by Ain Gordon
Lighting and Production Design by Kelly Martin
3-time Obie winning writer/director Ain Gordon workshops a new play inspired by overlooked memories from the first five years of the AIDS crisis during the 80’s in Philadelphia. Capping an eighteen month research process, the play imagines three figures: a nurse, a single man, and a chorister. This workshop will be double-cast with two BU students sharing each of the three roles.
Springboard Series
December 10 – 13, 2021
Want to experience something new? The Springboard Series is your opportunity to hear public readings of new plays written and presented by School of Theatre students.
December 10 • The Body Electric
December 11 • Rockets Red Glare
December 13 • The Corruption of Morgana Pendragon
December 13 • Against A Village
Music by Andrew Lippa, Lyrics by Tom Greenwald John and Jen is a chamber musical about Jen and her relationships with the two Johns of her life: her younger brother, who was killed in Vietnam, and his namesake — her son, who is trying to find his way in a confusing world.John and Jen
November 11 – 14, 2021
Directed by Kolton Bradley (CFA’22)
Written by Mya Ison (CFA’22) Laure is a play in response to the painting Olympia by Manet (1865), imagining that the Black model, Laure, was not erased from the archive. By adapting themes from the The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890), this play creates a three-dimensional world through its four characters, and engages with agency, gaze, and the power of the erotic.Laure
November 19 – 21, 2021
Directed by Gigi Juras (CFA’22)
Written by Sophie Treadwell A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder. Sophie Treadwell was a campaigning journalist in America between the wars. Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Snyder who, with her lover Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair.Machinal
December 3 – 5, 2021
Directed by Shamus McCarty (CFA’23)
Written by William Shakespeare The four-hundred-twenty-year-old cult classic Hamlet is back and ready to take on the institution with daggers and toy trumpets. This ensemble-centric production of Hamlet takes us on a rollercoaster ride to the heights of laughter and depths of grief while tackling traditional gender ideology.Hamlet
December 10 – 12, 2021
Adapted & Directed by Rani O’Brien (CFA’23)
Written by Charlotte Weinman (CFA’22) This New Works: Next Stage Workshop is a staged reading of a new play by Charlotte Weinman. The Salamander and the Impediment is a stark look at the notorious Zelda and F Scott Fitzgerald marriage and their liaisons with Tallulah Bankhead and Ernest Hemingway. These tortured centenarian souls tackle what it means to have friends you are in love with, and lovers whose friends you want to kill. New Works is a four-step process dedicated to the development of new plays at Boston University School of Theatre – from cold reads all the way to fully staged productions that are supported by a director and performed for audiences. All projects presented as part of the New Works trajectory are student written, directed, designed, and performed.The Salamander and the Impediment (New Works)
October 24, 2021
Directed by Enzo Gonzales (CFA’24)New Works: Next-Stage Workshop
Written by Becca Carter Freeman (CFA’22) A New Work: Next Stage Workshop, Boston University School of Theatre presents a reading of a new play by Becca Carter Freeman (CFA’22), directed by Ludmila Cardoso De Brito (CFA’24). Where Do Peaches Grow? is about where we call home. Where do we find comfort in the ones we love, our bodies, and in our physical surroundings? The play follows Vega, a 16-year-old girl who returns to her “hometown” for her sixteenth summer in a row after living in Seoul, South Korea for the majority of her life. Throughout the piece, we follow her as she navigates identifying with the people, places, and daily life she’s supposed to know so well. New Works is a four-step process dedicated to the development of new plays at Boston University School of Theatre – from cold reads all the way to fully staged productions that are supported by a director and performed for audiences. All projects presented as part of the New Works trajectory are student written, directed, designed, and performed.Where Do Peaches Grow? (New Works)
November 20, 2021
Directed by Ludmila De Brito (CFA’24)New Works: Next-Stage Workshop
October 14 – 24, 2021 Boston Playwrights’ Theatre LORENA: A Tabloid Epic spins out of the media hailstorm surrounding Lorena Bobbitt, who became a sensation after she used a kitchen knife against her abusive husband in 1993. The tacky dystopia of American pop culture tumbles onto the stage in a series of funhouse vignettes that know no bounds, while The Playwright desperately tries to protect Lorena from the play, which has clearly gotten out of her control.LORENA: A Tabloid Epic (BPT)
Written by Eliana Pipes
Directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo (CFA’21)
November 4 – 14, 2021 Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the School of Theatre present this new play written by Daniel Blanda. At an old cabin in rural Minnesota, something is lurking in the corn. In the wake of his father’s death, straitlaced Riley has left his fiancée and the big city in order to find peace by visiting his old friend Hunter…and it turns out that Hunter knows the cure for grief—old stories, the great outdoors, and plenty of beers. But both men are running from their own demons, and something between them can’t be outrun.Gone Nowhere (BPT)
Written by Daniel Blanda
Directed by Noah Putterman (CFA’22)
December 2 – 12 Boston Playwrights’ Theatre Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the School of Theatre present this new play written by Ally Sass. Incels and Other Myths follows a mother and son’s epic journey into the online realms of gender, power, and mythology. Elaine, a professor of Women in Mythology, grows concerned when Avery spends much of his time playing the online adventure game Oracle. Hoping to save him from spiraling deep into the notorious, misogynistic community of the “incels,” Elaine discovers an addiction of her own. But now, can Avery save her?Incels and Other Myths (BPT)
Written by Ally Sass
Directed by Erica Terpening-Romeo (CFA’21)
December 2 – 5, 2021 The School of Theatre as a part of the Indigenous Voices in the Americas series, funded in part by the BU Arts Initiative, presents a Booth production of this world-premiere convergence stories of lineage, legacy, and land developed and facilitated by SOT resident guest artist Ty Defoe in collaboration with guest designer Katherine Freer. Interweaving Indigenous oral storytelling traditions and contemporary multimedia performance, Patterns of Wind is a process of creation and exploration. Students will deepen their own understanding of their relationship to lineage and migration through embodied techniques and Decolonial practice. Drawing from personal narrative and blood memory, the ensemble will devise an experience that uplifts the interconnectedness of all living things. Created by: Arianne Banda, Caila Katz, Claire Gardner, Jayna Shoda Meyer, Julia Hertzberg, Katie McRae, Nderitu Gatere, Raymond Vasco, Ty Defoe, Siobhan Growing Elm Brown, Katherine Freer, Dayna Cousins, Sierra Hoss, Sienna Siciliano Conceived by: Ty Defoe and Katherine Freer Directed by: Ty Defoe, Siobhan Growing Elm Brown, Dayna Cousins, Katherine FreerPatterns of Wind
A new devised work conceived by guest artist Ty Defoe and Katherine Freer
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre
December 6, 2021 Yo-EL Cassell and Micki Taylor-Pinney, Artistic Co-DirectorsAurora Borealis 20: A Festival Of Light And Dance
Lighting Design by Qian Chengyuan
The Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre, in collaboration with the Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, presents the 20th annual Aurora Borealis: A Festival of Light and Dance. Aurora Borealis is a vibrant exploration of the relationship between light and form with a focus on collaboration and experimentation, featuring dance and movement pieces by faculty and students.
December 9 – 12, 2021 A fantasia inspired by E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, Passage is set in the fictional Country X, which is a neocolonial client of Country Y. B, a local doctor, and F, an expat teacher, begin to forge a friendship that is challenged after a fateful trip to a local attraction; is a meditation on how power imbalances affect personal and interpersonal dynamics across a spectrum of situations.Passage (Fringe Festival)
Written by Christopher Chen
Directed by Malika Oyetimein
Ada, Countess of Lovelace and Lord Byron’s daughter, has been asked to help Charles Babbage with his work on the Difference Engine. Can she pursue her love of mathematics while upholding her reputation? Duration: 40 minutes.The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace (Fringe Festival)
October 15 – 17, 2021
A co-production of CFA School of Music Opera Institute and School of Theatre
Music by Kamala Sankaram
Libretto by Rob Handel
Allison Voth, music director
Emily Ranii (CFA’13), stage director
Based on a short story by Karen Russell, Proving Up is a surreal and haunting commentary on the American dream as experienced by the Zegners, a fictional family of 1860s homesteaders. The Zegners are a family that does everything “right” and are still undermined by forces beyond their control. Duration: 75 minutes.Proving Up (Fringe Festival)
October 22 – 24, 2021
A co-production of CFA School of Music Opera Institute and School of Theatre
Music by by Missy Mazzoli (CFA’02, BUTI’98)
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
William Lumpkin, conductor
Nathan Troup (CFA’04), stage director
A star football player – a pro prospect, one of the most graceful runners in the world, and a man in love with a teammate – struggles to move forward in the wake of a catastrophic spinal cord injury. With full-contact choreography, this play about love, ability, and extraordinary feats of strength tackles definitions of masculinity and the male body as vehicles for language, violence, and silent expression through dance, football, and disability.Colossal (Fringe Festival)
November 4 – 6, 2021
Play written by Andrew Hinderaker
Yo-EL Cassell, director
2020 – 2021
2020 - 2021 Productions
Due to pandemic-related restrictions and hybrid learning, in-person performances were limited in the 2020 – 2021 academic year.
2019 – 2020
October 4 – 6, 2019 A chamber opera based on 5 paintings by Edward Hopper. Music by John Musto • Libretto by Mark Campbell October 23 – 27, 2019 October 18 – 27, 2019 September 22 – October 20, 2019 October 9 – 13, 2019 October 16 – 20, 2019 October 25 – 27, 2019 October 22 – 27, 2019 November 20-23, 2019 December 11-15, 2019 December 6-8, 2019 December 7-10, 2019 December 8-9, 2019 December 12-15, 2019 December 12-15, 2019 December 14-18, 2019 February 27 – March 1, 2020 February 27 – March 1, 2020 February 20-23, 2020 February 29-March 4, 2020 February 17-23, 2020 February 21 – 26, 2020 March 1 – 4, 2020 April 23-28, 2020 April 24-29, 2020 May 2-6, 20202019 - 2020 Productions
AS ONE (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2019)
A chamber opera for two voices and String Quartet. Music and Concept by Laura Kaminsky • Libretto by Mark Campbell & Kimberly Reed • Film by Kimberly Reed
Music Direction by William Lumpkin • Stage Direction by Jim PetosaLATER THE SAME EVENING (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2019)
Allison Voth & Matthew Larson, Co-Music Directors • Stage Direction by Eve SummerNew Play Initiative: AMPUTEES (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2019)
By Quentin Nguyen-Duy • Directed by Sarah Shin (CFA’19)THE EXONERATED
By Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen • Directed by Judy Braha
Joan & Edgar Booth TheatreTHE PLAYWRIGHTS’ PROJECT
By Ireon Roach, Michael Rosegrant, & Jo Mercado
The School of Theatre is excited to launch The Playwrights’ Project, which offers participating BFA playwrights a chance to realize their new plays at various stages of development. This fall three plays will receive workshop-style processes that encourage rigorous examination and generation of new text; one play will be performed in the SOT’s season, and yet another will be presented in the CFA’s Fall Fringe Festival. In collaboration with BFA dramaturgs, The Playwrights’ Project develops the storytellers of the future.
OCTOBER
By Tyler McMahon • Directed by Mallika ChandariaPETER AND THE STARCATCHER
A Play by Rick Elice • Based on the Novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson • Music by Wayne Barker • Directed by Blair CaddenFEMINA SHAKES: Measure for Measure
By William Shakespeare • Directed by Erica Terpening RomeoTHE EUROPEANS
By Howard Barker • Directed by Adam Kassim (CFA’05)Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Musical: STRING
Book by Sarah Hammond • Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon • Orchestrations by Frank Galgano and Matt Castle
Directed by McCaela Donovan • Matthew Stern, Music Director…and Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi
By Marcus Gardley • Directed by Sara Katzoff
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre The Shakespeare Project
Written by William Shakespeare • Directed by Mark Cohen
The School of Theatre’s annual exploration of the Bard’s work, featuring performances from the School’s junior class of Acting majors.The Director’s Project
Directed by Clay Hopper
The School of Theatre’s annual festival of 10-minute plays, produced by the School of Theatre’s junior Theatre Arts majors and focused on the art of the director.Aurora Borealis 18: A Festival of Light and Dance
Co-Artistic Directed by Yo-EL Cassell and Micki Taylor-Pinney
Co-presented by Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre and the Department of Physical Education, Recreation & DanceTime Stands Still
By Donald Margulies • Directed by Blair CaddenKamioroshi, the Descent of the Gods
By Ronald Richardson • Directed by Sonoko Kawahara • Produced by BU Arts InitiativeClearing
Written by Beth Hyland • Directed by Leila GhaemiThe Rake’s Progress: An Opera in Three Acts
Composed by Igor Stravinsky with Libretto by W. H. Auden & Chester Kallman • Conducted by William Lumpkin • Stage Direction by Jim Petosa
Presented by BU College of Fine Arts School of Music: Opera Institute and School of Theatre
Joan & Edgar Booth TheatrePhotograph 51
By Anna Ziegler • Directed by Avital ShiraThe Wolves
By Sarah DeLappe • Directed by Erica Terpening-RomeoOthello
By William Shakespeare • Directed by Noah PuttermanThe Pride
By Alexi Kaye Campbell • Directed by Kevin Kolton BradleyMarisol
By Jose Rivera • Directed by Leila GhaemiA Seagull – A Workshop Presentation
By Anton Chekhov • Adapted by Blair CaddenBurn This
By Lanford Wilson • Directed by Blair Cadden
performances canceled due to pandemic closuresThe Little Dog Laughed
By Douglas Carter Beane • Directed by Kevin Kolton Bradley
performances canceled due to pandemic closuresThe Penelopiad
By Margaret Atwood • Directed by Noah Putterman
performances canceled due to pandemic closures
2018 – 2019
Composed by Tom Cipullo with Libretto by David Mason • Directed by Emily Ranii By Molly Greville (CFA’18) • Directed by Michael Hammond Composed by Giuseppe Verdi with Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave • Conducted by William Lumpkin • Stage Directed by Nathan Troup By Tony Kushner • Directed by Jillian Robertson October 26-28, 2018 October 11-14, 2018 October 17-21, 2018 December 7-16, 2018 December 12-16, 2018 Sunday, December 2 – 3, 2018 December 1-5, 2018 November 30-December 4, 2018 December 8-12, 2018 February 28–March 3, 2019 February 22 – 24, 2019 February 24 – March 1, 2019 March 5-8, 2019 February 20-23, 20192018 - 2019 Productions
AFTER LIFE (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2018)
BU NEW PLAY INITIATIVE: UNMENTIONABLES (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2018)
LA TRAVIATA (FRINGE FESTIVAL 2018)
ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES
Joan & Edgar Booth TheatreANGELS IN AMERICA, PART TWO: PERESTROIKA
By Tony Kushner • Directed by Jeremy Ohringer
Joan & Edgar Booth TheatreJANE EYRE
Adapted by Polly Teale from the novel by Charlotte Bronte • Directed by McCaela DonovanBEOWULF: A Thousand Years of Baggage
Book and Lyrics by Jason Craig • Music by Dave Malloy • Directed by Sara KatzoffRUNAWAYS (STEWART F. LANE AND BONNIE COMLEY MUSICAL)
Sponsored in part by the Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Musical Theatre Fund
Book, Lyrics, and Music by Elizabeth Swados • Directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue • Music Direction by Matthew Stern
Joan & Edgar Booth TheatreWHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING
By Andrew Bovell • Directed by Jillian RobertsonAURORA BOREALIS 17: A FESTIVAL OF LIGHT AND DANCE
Co-artistic directed by Yo-EL Cassell and Micki Taylor-PinneyTHE SHAKESPEARE PROJECT
Written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Cohen.
The School of Theatre’s annual exploration of the Bard’s work, featuring performances from the School’s junior class of Acting majors.THE DIRECTORS’ PROJECT
Directed by Clay Hopper
The School of Theatre’s annual festival of 10-minute plays, produced by the School of Theatre’s junior Theatre Arts majors and focused on the art of the director.FEMINA SHAKESPEARE: AS YOU LIKE IT
Directed by Leila Ghaemi1984
Adapted by Robert Owens, Wilton E. Hall Jr., and William A. Miles Jr. from the novel by George Orwell • Directed by Clay HopperEDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM
By A. Rey Pamatmat • Directed by Blair CaddenMr. Burns, a post-electric play
By Anne Washburn • Score by Michael Friedman • Lyrics by Anne Washburn • Directed by Erica Terpening-RomeoMY FAIR LADY
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner • Music by Frederick Loewe • Directed by Avital Shira • Music Direction by Mindy CiminiOUR COUNTRY’S GOOD
By Timberlake Wertenbaker • Directed by Judy Braha