Boston Globe feature: Kirsten Greenidge will have two dramas staged by the Huntington
This article was originally published in The Boston Globe on April 15, 2021. By
Huntington Theatre announces a full 2021-22 season of indoor productions
CFA Assistant Professor of Playwriting and Theatre Arts Kirsten Greenidge will have two dramas staged by the Huntington, including her adaptation of J. Anthony Lukas’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about Boston’s busing crisis.
In a high-profile expression of confidence that the Boston theater industry can spring back to life this fall after more than a year of darkened playhouses, the Huntington Theatre Company will announce Thursday a slate of seven indoor productions for a 2021/2022 season that will begin in late August.
Among them is the much-anticipated world premiere of “Common Ground Revisited,” Kirsten Greenidge’s adaptation of J. Anthony Lukas’s Pulitzer-winning book about the 1970s Boston busing crisis.
Greenidge will have two dramas staged by the Huntington— a rarity for a playwright in a single season at a major theater—the other being the world premiere of her “Our Daughters, Like Pillars.” Just a week from opening in March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic forced theaters to close, it’s now scheduled for April 2022, followed by “Common Ground Revisited” in May 2022.
Because the ongoing pandemic is likely to mean a level of unpredictability will surround every theater company’s schedule, it’s notable that the Huntington is planning to start in-person performances as early as August.
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All but one of the seven plays in the upcoming Huntington season are written by women, and five of those seven will be directed by women. The announced schedule is as follows:
“Hurricane Diane,’’ by Madeleine George, directed by Jenny Koons, Aug. 27-Sept. 26, 2021, at the Calderwood Pavilion. “Witch,’’ by Jen Silverman, directed by Rebecca Bradshaw, Oct. 15-Nov. 14 at the Calderwood Pavilion. “Teenage Dick,’’ by Mike Lew, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Dec. 3, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022, at the Calderwood Pavilion.
“The Bluest Eye,’’ by Lydia R. Diamond, from the novel by Toni Morrison, directed by Awoye Timpo, Jan. 28-Feb. 27, 2022, at the Calderwood Pavilion. “What the Constitution Means to Me,’’ by Heidi Schreck, directed by Oliver Butler, Feb. 22-March 20, 2022, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. “Our Daughters, Like Pillars,’’ by Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Kimberly Senior, April 8-May 8, 2022, at the Calderwood Pavilion. “Common Ground Revisited,’’ adapted by Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Melia Bensussen, May 27-June 26, 2022, at the Calderwood Pavilion.
All of the scheduled productions were originally supposed to be part of the 2019-2020 season (shortened by the pandemic) or the canceled 2020-2021 season. “It’s harder to put the pieces back together than it is to build a season from scratch,’’ said Maso. “It became an enormously complicated jigsaw puzzle to find the calendar space where artists were available, so we could honor our commitments.”
Read the original article in The Boston Globe