In the Spotlight

Take a peek behind the curtain of seven can’t-miss productions

Between Riverside and Crazy. Photo: Nile Scott Studios

Join ex-cop Walter “Pops” Washington as he clashes with a host of wild characters to hang onto one of Manhattan’s last rent-stabilized apartments in SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of Between Riverside and Crazy. Running at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA through Oct. 13, the urban comedy might make renting in Boston seem bearable by comparison.

Hamnet. Photo: Gianmarco Bresadola

Have a complicated relationship with your parents? Tell that to Shakespeare’s only son and the titular character of Hamnet, who died at age 11 without knowing his father. ArtsEmerson presents this multimedia production by Irish theater troupe Dead Centre on Sept. 20-Oct. 7, featuring a young actor as Hamnet, who is grappling with fame’s long shadow. 

> Continuing its theme of “awakening,” New Repertory Theatre transports audiences to Hitler’s Germany for its production of We Will Not Be Silent, running Oct. 13-Nov. 4. Based on the true story of college student Sophie Scholl, who spearheaded a nonviolent anti-Nazi group, the drama explores the impact of people who sacrifice their own safety for a righteous cause.

The Van Helsing Chronicles. Photo: Jay Sekora

Break out the wooden stakes for The Van Helsing Chronicles, presented by the Post-Meridian Radio Players at the Boston Brunch Church on Oct. 19-27. This live radio play—with actors at microphones and live sound effects—features world premiere takes on Richard Marsh’s The Beetle and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

As part of Boston Lyric Opera’s New Works Initiative, the world premiere of Boston-based composer Tod Machover’s opera Schoenberg in Hollywood lights up the Emerson Paramount Center on Nov. 14-18. A portrait of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg—who fled Europe during the rise of the Nazis for the golden shores of California—the opera chronicles his search for beauty among the discord of tragedy.

Man in the Ring. Photo: Nile Hawver / Nile Scott Studios

Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Man in the Ring, running Nov. 16-Dec. 22 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, is a one-two punch of redemption and tragedy. Based on a true story, the drama follows world-champion boxer Emile Griffith on his meteoric rise from the Virgin Islands to a fatal match at Madison Square Garden, where his life changed forever.

Roland Hayes. Photo: The Bancroft Library / University of California, Berkeley

After an inaugural year of readings, the Front Porch Arts Collective’s first season of fully staged shows opens at Emerson Paramount Center with Breath and Imagination. Co-produced with Lyric Stage Company from Nov. 30 to Dec. 23, the musical follows Roland Hayes, whose soaring tenor lifted him from a plantation in Georgia to the courts of Europe as one of the first famous black classical singers.


Frankenstein. Photo: Bird Graphics

200 years since English writer Mary Shelley published Frankenstein, the gothic meditation on monsters and men that’s credited as sparking the science fiction genre. In celebration of the bicentennial and in collaboration with MIT, the Nora Theatre Company mounts a play based on the novel at Central Square Theater on Oct. 4-Nov. 4.

 

2018 FALL ARTS PREVIEW: DANCE | BOOKS | COMEDY | MUSIC | PERFORMING ARTS | PODCASTS | VISUAL ART

 


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