Online Theater Offerings - May
Categories of Events
Please click on a category below to be taken directly to that section:
Local
A.R.T.
Through May 6
Company Ones' Hype Man, filmed up close and personal, asks us who has the responsibility to speak up in the face of social injustice? “Sharply directed, incredibly well-acted, and absolutely
of-the-moment” said WGBH's Jared Bowen. This newly re-imagined version of the Elliot Norton award-winning play by poet and playwright Idris Goodwin (How We Got On) follows a rapper, a beat-maker, and a hype man on the verge of making it big when the police shooting of an
unarmed black teenager shakes the interracial hip-hop trio to the core and forces them
to navigate issues of friendship, race, and protest.
Extended through May 16
Due to popular demand,
the intimate and interactive multi-magician experience returns for a limited engagement.
Book early to ensure your secret packages arrives in time - and before these tickets disappear!
For the first time in 100 years, the secretive magic society The Conjurors’ Club pulls back the curtain for an interactive experience that redefines the face of modern magic! Take a front-row seat and immerse yourself in the arcane and mysterious with three different magicians.
Remember to book early to ensure your secret package arrives for your performance!
The Lunch Room: Tuesdays, 12-1 PM
A virtual Talk Show with the artists, activists, and civic leaders who are shaping our culture and communities. Join members of the A.R.T. staff for curated conversations and interactive Q&A's.
Click here for schedule & registration; FREE.
Arts Emerson
Films streaming continually throughout May
From Boston's LGTBQ community to Boston's Asian experience to the
40-year Vietnamese nail salon industry, ArtsEmerson is offering documentaries, filmed performances and more this month.
More info, trailers and Tickets from $5 by clicking on each title.
Boston Pops
The Boston Pops Celebrates Mother’s Day: Honoring Women, May 6-June 5
Join the Pops beginning on Mother’s Day weekend to celebrate music by and about women, and beloved by all! The orchestra will perform music by Maurice Ravel, Rachel Bruerville, and William Grant Still that depicts the love and care mothers give, and it will also feature music by composers Clara Schumann and Joan Tower. Plus, sing along to music by Carole King and Abba!
Boston Theater Works
Daily through May 28, at 12 Noon
Boston Theater Marathon XXIII: Readings of a 10-minute play, each day at noon Mon-Sat,
by New England Playwrights, via zoom. Each play will be followed by a question and answer
session with the audience. Complete May Schedule here.
Link to Join here (click red "Purchase Tickets" button on right); FREE
Greater Boston Stage
(formerly Stoneham Theater)
May 1-16
Like The Moth? Fish Tales continues, growing from a cozy storytelling evening at the Gloucester Writers Center (GWC) to a Happening event every other month, showcasing real people, telling true stories from the heart. Our storytellers are vulnerable, ready to share funny and honest tales (tails?), all with color and flare, seriousness and humor, love and affection.
(Also check out GBS's recent renovation here.)
The Young Company's Summer Festival 2021: Theater Programs for Kids
The Young Company at Greater Boston Stage company offers Summer programs for students entering grades 1-12 and high school graduates from the Class of 2021.
Huntington Theater
May 11- 30
Mariana and Henry meet virtually in the Black Beans Project to share a secret family recipe that forces them to reveal secrets of their own. The siblings transform pandemic panic to renewal in this tender comedy about family, food and finding the strength to move on.
Ongoing
Through short audio plays, Dream Boston asks local playwrights to imagine favorite locations, landmarks, and their friends in a future Boston, when we can once again meet and connect.
These 11 micro-plays take place at the MIT Great Dome, the Boston Public Library,
and the edge of the Boston Common. The plays, approximately 10 minutes each,
portray a future vision of our city that is somewhere between dream and reality.
All 11 audio plays here; FREE, donations accepted.
Irish Repertory Theater
Through May 6
Go behind the scenes with Broadway icon John Cullum in his personal recollection
John Cullum - An Accidental Star. From his 1960 debut in Camelot and Tony Award-winning performances in Shenandoah and On the Twentieth Century, to starring roles in
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Urinetown, and The Scottsboro Boys, John captivates with songs from classic American Musicals and never-before-heard stories of working with friends Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Goulet, Julie Andrews, and more. Revisit the making of some of Broadway’s greatest shows, and the funny, moving, and fascinating encounters
John had along the way.
Lyric Stage
Streaming Now: New Walking Plays
Short (<15 minutes) audio explorations of the private moments we experience in public.
Kill the Dogs, Knock Them Over! and In Any Face join formerly released
On Paying Attention and Monster in the Sky. Lyric Stage’s artistic director Courtney O’Connor says this new audio series was created as a way to bring “a form of live theater” to a public that hasn’t been able to experience it since theaters closed because of the Covid pandemic.
More info here; FREE.
Merrimack Rep
Through May 5
Ferguson, Missouri, 2014. The shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer sparked weeks of protests and riots. Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith interviewed a wide cross section of residents to create eight composite characters for her play Until The Flood.
Riveting and blunt, yet compassionate, the play eschews politics and the specifics of the shooting
to explore the hopes, dreams, and struggles of these regular folks as they deal with fear and trauma,
and grapple with the possibility of some kind of hope. Recommended for ages 16+.
"Achieves a great beauty by bringing us together, rather than driving us apart.” – Chicago Tribune
May 15 - 30
Author Julie Dobrow Live Zoom Thursday, May 27, at 7:00 PM
A naturalist, modern love ideologist, and vivacious conversationalist, New Englander
Mabel Loomis Todd - best known for introducing poet Emily Dickinson to America in 1890 - regales us with tales of her sensational life, especially her 13 years with the Dickinson family.
A Woman of the World speaks the whole, unadulterated truth about the desires, dreams, and sometimes heartbreaking disappointments of a free spirit, who was way, way ahead of her time.
More Info here; Tickets by calling the box Office: 978-654-4678, from $19.
New Rep
Through June 15
Educators! Stream #RomeoJuliet for your school group!
New Rep Education and Queen Mab Productions present a raw and relevant 2-person interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Considering our shared experiences of 2020,
this production examines the play’s themes of isolation, separation, and what sacrifices we make
as we attempt to cross boundaries. Recommended for grades 5 and up.
A purchase of #RomeoJuliet includes:
- A private link to the recording of our new production, to be accessed at anytime between March 15 – June 15, 2021
- A complete study guide to use with your class or group
- A live, virtual discussion with theater professionals and your class or group
More Info here.
SpeakEasy Stage
Through May 13
When Sally, a young Black college student, is faced with unwanted advances from TJ, her college’s white Dean of Students, she sets out, amidst a swirl of marching bands, beauty pageants, and bubbly tour guides, to dismantle the legacies that bind us. In TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever, this wildly irreverent and whip-smart satire, award-winning playwright James Ijames dissects a sordid slice of American history with the goal of reimagining the future.
Trinity Rep
Through May 31
Virologist Nathan Wolfe (a TIME 100 Most Influential People for his work tracking viral pandemics) has hunted viruses from the jungles of Cameroon to the basement of the CDC. Hear his story as
The Catastrophist - presented as cinematic digital theatre - as he tracks the threats that come from without and within. A blazingly intelligent, wryly witty, and warm look at the thrill of discovery, whether it’s a new virus or the treasures of your own family.
May 11
Write Here! Write Now! high school student playwrighting contest festival.
See staged readings of the four winning short plays and watch a discussion with the student playwrights: Ramona Boyd, Tosin George, Charlie Boucher, and Philip Byrnes.
May 12 at 6:00 PM
Behind Closed Doors, a special online reading of the riveting original play written by 15 survivors of domestic violence and members of SOAR. This play, which premiered in 2012 and has been performed to sold-out audiences, is a true account of domestic violence, hope and survival. Intended for mature audiences only: explicit content, strong language.
Broadway
Broadway.com
A Different Event Every Day!
Click here to access "What To Do Without Broadway".
May includes Breathe: A New Musical; Empress Mei Li Lotus Blossom; Girls5Eva;
The 35th Annual MAC Awards; Our Town; Uncle Vanya; Waiting for Godot;
The Door You Never Saw Before: A Choosical Musical just for kids;
the "clear the shelters" live event Broadway Barks Across America; and more!
Click on each event for Tickets, from FREE to $85.
Playbill's Streaming Guides
So Many Choices of Daily Goings-On!
Click here for May shows, on a variety of platforms (Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Facebook Live, HBO Max, Hulu, Instagram, Netflix, TV, YouTube, Zoom and more), including:
Back to the Future, Girls5Eva, Oslo, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and more!
Click here for the daily list of Live Streams, with times of events, including:
Twelfth Night, Uncle Vanya, Romeo and Juliet and more.
TheaterMania
Scroll through a long list of shows which are and will be available for streaming. including
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; The Importance of Being Ernest;
Macbeth; Our Town; This American Wife;
Sleep Squad for children; Hamilton and more continue to stream.
Click here for complete listings and more info.
Ongoing
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Daily Varied Offerings
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts now offers Programs, Series, On Demand
and a daily schedule of several Events per day on its outstanding website.
Available on: Lincoln Center At Home website
The Shows Must Go On!
Fridays at 2:00 PM for 48 hours
Each weekend stream a FULL SHOW for free. Thereafter, scenes can be viewed for free.
Options for viewers to donate to organizations that support theater workers during the pandemic, such as Acting For Others, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the
Actors Benevolent Fund, and others. After The Interval premiers April 30. Each stream remains available for 48 hours. Streaming On: YouTube
Metropolitan Opera Nightly Opera Streams
Daily - 7:30 PM
Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for 23 hours,
from 7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions,
starring all of opera’s greatest singers.
For example: May 8, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; May 15, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
A different free opera streams every night. See the complete schedule here.
On May 14, The Audition. This feature-length documentary takes you behind the scenes of the Met’s National Council Auditions, in which, each year, thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the Met stage - and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career.
The streams are also available through the Met Opera On Demand apps for Apple,
Amazon, and Roku devices, and Samsung Smart TV.
All Streaming is FREE.
International
Globe Theater, London
Kabuki Theater, Tokyo
Stratford Shakespeare Festival,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Sydney Opera House
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
