From stage to social-distanced screening — Boston theaters take their productions online

Celina Colby

Celina Colby is an arts and travel reporter with a fondness for Russian novels.... VIEW BIO

Boston’s theaters may be dark, but the talent that usually fills them is alive and available to stream online. In collaboration with ArtsEmerson and Huntington Theatre Company, WGBH will air a broadcast of the one-woman play “Mala” by Melinda Lopez on April 9 at 10 p.m. The performance can be seen on WGBH 2 and YouTube TV. Viewers may be less formally dressed than during a typical night at the theater, but organizers hope the emotional impact of the show will be just as strong.

“Mala,” written and performed by former Huntington Theatre playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez is an award-winning play about a woman struggling to live her own life while caring for her ailing and increasingly ornery mother. It explores the role death plays in our contemporary lives and the lengths we can, or can’t, go to for our loved ones. The performance was taped in 2018, but this is the first time it will be broadcast.

PHOTO: PAUL MAROTTA

“At the time this was filmed, we were so grateful to the Huntington and to WGBH for their interest in capturing this show during its return to Boston,” said ArtsEmerson’s artistic director David Dower. “But we had no idea how urgent and moving it would become to have it available to air in the middle of this moment. It seems now like a bit of a miracle that it exists to be shown in this way.”

The broadcast will also kick off the start of a new online series produced by ArtsEmerson called “Together Apart: Explore New Worlds from Your Home.” The series will feature past ArtsEmerson shows as well as live and pre-taped conversations with artists who participated in them on the ArtsEmerson blog. Viewers will have the opportunity to interact and ask questions in an attempt to bring the arts community together despite being physically separated. The series kicks off on April 9 with a discussion between Melinda Lopez and David Dower about “Mala.”

The broadcast of “Mala” is part of a slow but steady movement in local theaters to bring previous productions into the homes of social distancers. After having to cut their run of “Pipeline” short, Cambridge’s Central Square Theater is streaming a multi-camera video version online. In lieu of purchasing a ticket, theater lovers pay on a sliding scale starting at $10 for the link to the stream. Payments over $20 are tax-deductible donations as well. 

Nothing quite compares to live theater, but the commitment of local theater companies to making their work accessible to viewers at home is admirable, especially during a time that’s economically devastating for many small arts organizations.

“Theater is a powerful medium to process challenging times,” says Jon Abbott, president and CEO of WGBH. “So with our Boston theaters dark, we are thrilled to be able to bring this important work to local audiences.”