theatre

The classic haunted house trope gets a fresh twist in “Haunted,” a humorous and chilling tale about two Indigenous siblings haunting a house where they died 20 years ago, written and directed by multi-hyphenate Seminole/Mvskoke playwright Tara Moses.

Speakeasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective are kicking off the January theater season with a laugh. Or rather, with a whole one hour and 40 minutes of laughs.

Lyric Stage launches into 2025 with “Crumbs From the Table of Joy,” a play by Lynn Nottage that centers the experience of a young woman and her sister navigating the loss of their mother and the remarriage of their father in racially charged 1950s Brooklyn.

It’s been a banner year (pun intended) in the Boston arts scene. Heading into 2025, we’re looking back at some of our most notable arts stories from 2024. In both local and national categories, diverse stories shone.

The infamous Tudor monarch King Henry VIII doesn’t have a great reputation. He’s remembered for having six wives, beheading two of them and for splitting up the country’s religion just to chase a mistress.

Anthony Williams’s “Urban Nutcracker” opens on the rowhouse streets of Boston with the iconic Citgo sign in the background and a cast of more than 150 mostly local performers. The reimagining of a classic tale on the streets of our city has been warming hearts in Boston for nearly 25 years. 

“Holiday Feast” is a live performance of holiday episodes from classic Black TV sitcoms of the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, serving up seasonal joy with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

Playwright Mfoniso Udofia has been telling the stories of her characters in the Ufot family since 2009. Now, for the first time, her Ufot Family Cycle of nine plays will be performed consecutively at The Huntington over the course of two years.

"Romeo and Juliet” has been shorthand for epic, tragic love for centuries. Whether it’s Shakespearean storytellers or Leonardo DiCaprio starring in the story, we’re all bracing ourselves for that familiar ending. The musical “& Juliet,” a Broadway tour production landing in Boston next month, flips this classic ending on its head. What if instead of ending it all over a boy, Juliet just moved on?

Prepare to giggle in whatever language suits you best during “Laughs in Spanish,” a telenovela-style comedy opening at Speakeasy Stage this month.

In celebration of its grand opening, new nonprofit arts space Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge will host ArrowFest, an 11-day festival featuring more than 40 performances and events by local artists.

This month, Plays in Place and The National Parks of Boston launch “Suffrage in Black and White,” a series of three site-specific plays addressing the intersection of race and citizenship through the lens of both the abolitionist and suffrage movements in Boston. Highlighting diverse local talent, one play will debut each year through 2026.