CAMBRIDGE, MASS.: Central Square Theater, home of the Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater, has announced its 2017-18 season, which will feature three regional premieres, a holiday classic, and a world premiere by Joyce Van Dyke about female scientists.
The lineup will open with Nick Payne’s Constellations (Sept. 7-Oct. 8), a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production produced by Underground Railway Theater. The two-hander follows the infinite possibilities that could happen in one romantic relationship. Marianna Bassham and Nael Nacer will star. Scott Edminston will direct. Catalyst Collaborative@MIT is a partnership between the theatre and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they coproduce plays about science.
Next up will be Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists (Oct. 19-Nov. 12), produced by the Nora Theatre Company. Set in 1793 Paris, the play follows four powerful real-life women: playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, Haitian activist Marianne Angelle, and Marie Antoinette. Courtney O’Connor will direct.
For the holidays, the theatre will present A Christmas Carol (Nov. 24-Dec. 31), adapted from Charles Dickens and produced by Underground Railway Theater and the Nora Theatre Company. Debra Wise will direct.
The new year will open with David Auburn’s Proof (Jan. 18-Feb. 18, 2018), a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production produced by Underground Railway Theater. When Catherine discovers a groundbreaking proof, she wonders how much of her mathematician father’s genius she inherited and if that’s the only thing he passed down.
The following show will be Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj (March 1-April 1, 2018), produced by Underground Railway Theater. The dark comedy centers on two imperial guards at the Taj Mahal who are asked to do the unthinkable.
Next up will be the world premiere of Joyce Van Dyke’s The Women Who Mapped the Stars (April 19-May 20, 2018), a Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production produced by the Nora Theatre Company. Set in the late 1800s, the play follows five women who changed the way astronomers at Harvard College Observatory saw the universe. Jessica Ernst will direct.
The final show of the season will be Christopher Hampton’s Dangerous Liaisons (May 31-July 1, 2018), produced by the Nora Theatre Company. Set in France before the revolution, the play follows two conspiring ex-lovers. Lee Mikeska Gardner will direct.
Founded in 2008, Central Square Theater is a theatrical arts facility that houses the Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater, who together collectively produce new plays and classics.
