ArtsEmerson announces new season of programming
A presenting and producing organization that operates under the aegis of Emerson College, ArtsEmerson announced Thursday evening that it will showcase nine stage productions in the 2025-26 season.
The first will be the premiere of 'Food Bank Influencer,' slated for Sept. 19-21. Written and performed by Kristina Wong, it's a musical celebration of the nation's emergency food system, based on Wong's experiences from New York to the Navajo Nation.
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Next, from Oct. 9-12, will be 'Hang Time,' by Zora Howard, in which 'the great loves and bitter blues of Black men in America' are illuminated by a conversation among three men beneath an old tree.
Then comes 'The 4th Witch,' from Oct. 30-Nov. 9. A production by Manual Cinema inspired by 'Macbeth,' it uses shadow puppetry, live music, and silhouette actors to tell the story of a young girl — 'consumed by grief and rage' after her father is killed — who comes under the protection of witches after agreeing not to use her powers in a quest for revenge. That proves to be a challenge when she learns the identity of her father's killer.
That will be followed by 'Spacebridge,' from Nov. 21-23. Directed by Irina Kruzhilina, it was inspired by 12-year-old Samantha Smith's peace mission to the Soviet Union in 1983.
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'Spacebridge' chronicles the struggles of Russian children within the New York shelter system and their broader effort to integrate into a new land.
From Jan. 29-Feb. 1 will come 'Noli Timere,' an aerial performance that blends circus arts, contemporary dance, sculpture, and music by Québécois composer Jorane.
Next up, from Feb. 20-22, is 'The Things Around Us,' a solo show written and performed by Ahamefule, who uses looped music, technology, a trumpet, and cardboard shipping boxes as drums to tell stories and offer reflections about 'strangers, acquaintances, and friends — and how all three might be more similar to each other than we often think.'
'Dead as a Dodo,' a production from Norway that will be at the Emerson Cutler Majestic from March 2-8, centers on the friendship between a skeletal dodo and a young boy who have to flee the Skeleton King after the dodo sprouts wings.
From March 21-April 4, working in collaboration with the Front Porch Arts Collective, ArtsEmerson will present Mfoniso Udofia's 'In Old Age.' The penultimate work in Udofia's epic nine-part Ufot Family Circle, 'In Old Age' focuses on Abasiama Ufot. Her husband has died, but she develops a 'spiritual bond' — and a romantic one — with a churchgoing carpenter, Azell Abernathy.
Wrapping up the season will be the premiere of a multimedia adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 'The Secret Sharer,' running April 24 to May 3.
It will feature music, dance, text, sound, and video projection to explore the intimate connection between two men who are both outsiders.
Don Aucoin can be reached at
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