Five Down, One Across
by Michael Towers
directed by Sidney Friedman
September 30 – October 24
When Betty relocates her 85-year-old mother to her not-so-ordinary Brookline home, she agrees to tell her the truth about everything: her failed marriage, her mysterious pet, her prestigious career and her 16-year relationship with her “roommate” Sharon. Conveniently, the matriarch catches a case of Alzheimer’s and since her arrival, communicates with little more than word clues from crossword puzzles. A traditional ladies-only house party affectionately known as “Taco Night” sets the stage for action, and a surprise visit from Betty’s 17-year-old son raises the stakes for all of the game night contestants. Directed by Sidney J. Friedman, with Alice Duffy and Chloe Leamon. A comedy about the perils of coming out...of the house.
Two Wives in India
by Leslie Harrell Dillen
directed by M. Bevin O’Gara
October 28 – November 21
Becca and Mary Jo arrive in Delhi for the marriage of Emily, their daughter and stepdaughter respectively. Becca and Mary Jo may have had the same husband, but they share little else. One is an interior designer, the other a writer of romance novels. And now Emily’s marriage to expatriate Jaskanvar puts an emotional strain on the two women as they deal with culture shock and the death of Emily’s father Sam. Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara and featuring Karen MacDonald, Two Wives in India leads us to a clash of cultures and a collision of the wives. When should we hold on to what we love, and when we should let go? India knows.
A Child's Christmas in Wales
by Dylan Thomas, adapted by Burgess Clark
December 1 - December 30
“One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the seatown corner…,” and so begins Dylan Thomas’s love letter to his childhood. It is Christmas again in Swansea, Wales. Will the fire in Mrs. Prothero’s kitchen finally burn the house down? Will a hole have to be cut into the roof for the Christmas pine? And who sent young Dylan that mysterious package? Clark’s new adaptation stays true to the best of Thomas’s vision, all the while leading us to new wonderments. It is BPT’s pleasure to collaborate again this year with Boston Children’s Theatre to bring you this classic tale of family and holiday memory, performed at the Boston Center for the Arts’s Plaza Theatre.
“Solid acting, thoughtful directing and an almost indescribable warmth make this the perfect choice for children of all ages this holiday season.”- Boston Metro
“Boston Children’s Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre began this project with the hope of creating a new holiday tradition. That they’ve accomplished... The only catch is, the result is so resplendent, you may not want to wait another whole year to be charmed anew by this beautifully crafted story.” - Boston Globe
Presented in collaboration with Boston Children’s Theatre.
Ti-Jean & His Brothers
by Derek Walcott
directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian
February 10 - March 13
Welcome to our 30th anniversary of producing new works for the stage! Yes, in 1981, soon-to-be Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott founded Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. In the years that followed, he brought his Trinidad Theatre Workshop to Boston with his own award-winning Dream on Monkey Mountain and his Caribbean-limed The Joker of Seville along with his Pantomime and then Walker, his ode to Boston abolitionist David Walker.
Now, in collaboration with the award-winning Underground Railway Theater in Cambridge’s Central Square, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre brings you Derek’s wonderful Ti-Jean & His Brothers. Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, with music and sound from Zili Misik’s Kera Washington, we begin our 30th anniversary year in the Caribbean of Derek Walcott where the Devil walks the sugar cane fields and where voodoo is alive and well. We are in Haiti where Ti-Jean and his brothers enter into a dangerous game of chance with the Devil. Ti-Jean & His Brothers is Walcott’s celebration of life in the Caribbean, and it is at once a funny, dark and moving fable. Please join us in celebrating 30 years of new works in Boston. And here’s to 30 more!
Presented in collaboration with the Underground Railway Theaterat Central Square Theater in Cambridge.
Walking the Volcano
by Jon Lipsky
directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue
April 14 – May 1
We continue our 30th year anniversary celebration by keeping to our Boston University roots. Written by BU Professor Jon Lipsky, the acclaimed author of Dreaming with an AIDS Patient and Living in Exile, these short, satisfying vignettes vary from a meeting in an airplane bathroom over the Pacific to a tryst in a seedy room in Saigon during the Tet Offensive. Lipsky’s characters are complex, compelling, and in a search of the Truth, and there’s no better writer of dramatic confrontation. If you lived through (or read about) the ‘60s, don’t be surprised when you recognize these people or see yourself in them. We’ve all walked the volcano.
Presented in collaboration with the Boston Center for American Performance.
Five Down, One Across
Two Wives in India
A Child's Christmas in Wales
Ti-Jean & His Brothers
Walking the Volcano
