Announcing Central Square Theater's 2018-19 Season

Central Square Theater, the home of The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater, celebrates its 10tt anniversary season of producing award-winning theater in Central Square, Cambridge.

However, it is not just a singular anniversary year, but one in triplicate. The 2018-19 Season marks the 10th anniversary of Central Square Theater, the 30th anniversary of The Nora Theatre Company, and the 40th anniversary of Underground Railway Theater.

The 2018-19 Season includes seven productions:

Truth Values: One Girl's Romp through M.I.T.'s Male Math Maze
Written & Performed by Gioia De Cari | September 12 - 23, 2018

Frankenstein
adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley by Nick Dear | October 4 - November 4, 2018

A Christmas Carol
from the novel by Charles Dickens. adapted by Debra Wise | November 23 - December 30, 2018

Bedlam's Pygmalion
by George Bernard Shaw | January 31 - March 3, 2019

Photograph 51
by Anna Ziegler | March 14 - April 14, 2019

black odyssey
by Marcus Gardley | April 24 - May 19, 2019

Cloud 9
by Caryl Churchill | June 6 - 30, 2019

For more information on Central Square Theater's 2018-19 Season or to subscribe, the public can call the Box Office at 617576.9278 x1 or go online to CentralSquareTheater.org

"It's hard to believe it has been ten years since we opened Central Square Theater," said Executive Director Catherine Carr Kelly. "Since then, we have become an anchor of the Central Square Cultural District, welcoming 30,000 patrons through our doors annually. We look forward to honoring our past with old friends like Gioia De Cari and Bedlam, reviving timely stories like Photograph 51, and celebrating the future with a production from The Front Porch Arts Collective, a bold new brown and black theater company in residence with us."

Details follow on each production of Central Square Theater's 2018-19 Season. Please note that all show dates, artists, and repertoire are subject to change.

Old friends, Iconic stories, and New Collaborators. Visionary stories by some of the most trailblazing voices of the past two hundred years. We look at these stories in the here and now - through fresh, new eyes as we take a leap into the future.

A leap of faith. A leap of possibility. One towards compassion, inclusion, and community--shining a bright light on the future.

Take the leap with us!

Truth Values: One Girl's Romp through M.I.T.'s Male Math Maze

Written & Performed by Gioia De Cari

September 12 - 23, 2018

TWO WEEKS ONLY!

Presentced by The Nora Theatre Company

A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production

After charming audiences nearly seven years ago and taking her story on the road, Gioia De Cari, returns to CST! The self-proclaimed "Recovering Mathematician" recounts her adventures as the first female Ph.D math student at MIT. Bewitched by the formal mathematical notion of Truth, she struggles with the clash of her personal reality in a world that is not binary. A humorous exploration of the world of elite mathematics, Truth Values speaks to the challenges women face in math and science at a time when, finally, people are listening.

Truth Values is not part of any subscription package. However, subscribers may purchase no-fee add-on tickets at a special discounted rate.

Frankenstein

Adapted by Nick Dear

Directed by David R. Gammons

October 4 - November 4, 2018

Press Performance: Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 7:30pm

A co-production by The Nora Theatre Company & Underground Railway Theater

A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production

18th century, Europe. Doctor Victor Frankenstein's creation - the Creature - childlike in his innocence, is cast out into society by his horror-struck creator. As he learns to survive and master the highest of human skills, he searches for his creator to make a deal. Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's classic gothic tale that created the science fiction genre, Frankenstein brings urgent concerns about scientific responsibility and the nature of good and evil.

A Christmas Carol

From the novel by Charles Dickens

Adapted & directed by Debra Wise

November 23 - December 30, 2018

Press Performance: Monday, December 3, 2018 at 7pm

A co-production by The Nora Theatre Company & Underground Railway Theater

Our own version of Charles Dickens' tale of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge returns! Join us as we venture into Victorian London - and the London of today - as we delight in puppetry, live music, rousing dancing, and intimate storytelling. Become engulfed in the sights, sounds, and scents of the holiday. A celebration of generosity, compassion, and personal transformation that you'll find only at Central Square. You'll leave the theater with your heart overflowing with good cheer.

A Christmas Carol is not part of any subscription package. However subscribers may purchase no-fee add-on tickets at a special discounted rate.

Bedlam's Pygmalion

By George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Eric Tucker

January 31 - March 3, 2019

Press Performance: Monday, February 4, 2019 at 7:30pm

Produced by Underground Railway Theater

Bedlam returns! Fresh off a critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway run, the original cast of Bedlam's Pygmalion comes to Central Square Theater. Eric Tucker's "revelatory" (Village Voice) and "playful" (New York Times) production brings Eliza Doolittle, Professor Higgins (performed by Tucker), and a cast of characters to life with just six actors. Immerse yourself in this gritty, fresh interpretation of George Bernard Shaw's classic, exploring the negotiation of power through sexual politics.

Photograph 51

By Anna Ziegler

Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw

March 14 - April 14, 2019

Press Performance: Monday, March 18, 2019 at 7:30pm

Produced by The Nora Theatre Company

A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production

London, 1952. British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin is a research associate at King's College, where her X-ray imaging has revealed DNA's double helix structure. This discovery leads to the Nobel Prize - not for her, but for three men: Francis Crick, James Dewey Watson, and Maurice Wilkins. Recounting the competitive chase to map the DNA molecule, Photograph 51, examines science's historic #metoo bias. This production celebrates the anniversaries of The Nora, URT, and CST!

black odyssey

By Marcus Gardley

Directed by Benny Sato Ambush

April 24 - May 19, 2019

Press Performance: Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 7:30pm

A co-production by The Front Porch Arts Collective & Underground Railway Theater

Ulysses Lincoln, a Gulf War veteran lost at sea and presumed dead, fights to find his way back home to his wife and son. The meddlesome Gods, Great Grand Daddy Deus and Great Grand Paw Sidin have other plans in mind as they battle for control of Ulysses' fate. Presented in October 2017 in the God's Closet Reading Series by The Front Porch Arts Collective, black odyssey melds together Greek mythology, African-American oral history and music in this visionary new take on Homer's classic tale.

Cloud 9

By Caryl Churchill

June 6 - 30, 2019

Press Performance: Monday, June 10 at 7:30pm

Produced by The Nora Theatre Company

Victorian repression clashes with liberal expression. Cloud 9 follows a British family from colonial Africa to contemporary London. Unexpected trysts. Gender swaps. Role reversals. Power plays. A provocative, exuberant, time-shifting comedy that is both a parody and spoof of the ever-changing world of sexual politics. Caryl Churchill, lauded with "creating a new theatrical language," was recently recognized by The Guardian as "now sharing with Tom Stoppard the title of Britain's most significant living dramatist."

Central Square Theater (CST) opened almost ten years ago, in 2008, through a groundbreaking partnership between The Nora Theatre Company (The Nora) and Underground Railway Theater (URT). This collaboration has been called a model for the arts community (The Boston Foundation, Culture is our Commonwealth, and The National Collaboration Prize), as it has paired two like-minded performing arts organizations in a strategic alliance with the City of Cambridge and MIT, resulting in the development of a state-of-the-art performing arts center in the heart of Central Square. URT and The Nora developed a shared vision for a community-centered professional theater that was inclusive, engaging and responsive to the evolving social, political and cultural conversations taking place locally and nationally. While pursuing their vision with unique and discrete aesthetics, The Nora and URT are in a marriage that is wedded to the shared ideals of inclusion and catalyzing provocative conversations while creating the most vibrant theatrical experience possible. The Nora and URT have a combined track record of over 70 years producing award-winning theater. Located in Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and steeped in its multiracial, intergenerational, ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods, the CST theater experience exudes a democratic energy where classes, races and age groups come together to be inspired, entertained and energized.

Central Square Theater is accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating. For further information please call 617.576.9278 or visit CentralSquareTheater.org

Subscription Information
Subscriptions for Central Square Theater's 2018-2019 Season are now on sale by calling 617-933-8600 or online at CentralSquareTheater.org.

Information on all of Central Square Theater's 2018-2019 shows and subscription options can be found by visiting. Patrons with subscription questions may also call the Box Office at 617.576.9278 x1. Tickets to individual shows in Central Square Theater's 2018-2019 Season go on sale in July.

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