Huntington Theatre Company

Announces Their 

2023-2024 SEASON!

More information available online at huntingtontheatre.org, by phone at 617-266-0800 or in person at The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston.

PURCHASE OR RENEW A 2023-2024 SEASON TICKET PACKAGE

ABOUT THE SHOWS

"PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC"

by Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Significant Other)

Directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco

The Huntington Theatre

Performances:

September 7, 2023 through October 8, 2023 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

Winner! Three 2022 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding PlayWinner! 2022 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off Broadway Play!

It’s 2016 Paris and the Salomon family has made a warm and wonderful home there since the 1940s. But when their son comes home beaten up because he was wearing a yarmulke, they are forced to question their safety and sense of belonging in the city they love. Both wickedly funny and deeply profound, this powerful new play spans five generations of a French Jewish family to explore history, what makes a home, and the effects of an ancient hatred and an enduring hope. Artistic Director Loretta Greco directs Joshua Harmon’s major new American play, having originally produced a workshop of it at the Magic Theatre prior to its New York debut in 2022. 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “Joshua Harmon gives me hope for the future of the American theatre. He has an incredible gift for shedding light on the ways in which family, culture, and faith collide and evolve, and I’m thrilled to be introducing him to you this season. His extraordinary new play asks profound questions about what it takes to feel safe when hate persists across borders and generations, and in true Joshua Harmon fashion, manages to find the rich humor and pathos of being human in an imperfect world.” 

From playwright Joshua Harmon: “I met Loretta Greco almost ten years ago, when she produced Bad Jews at The Magic. I fell under her spell immediately and have stayed there ever since, so it thrills me to no end that she has chosen my play as the first she'll direct at The Huntington in the 23/24 season. I hope this play speaks to audiences from all backgrounds who have felt frightened these last few years about the future, the state of the world, and the state of our country, and yet who remain hopeful that we can all live in peace in the place we call home.”  

Critical acclaim: “Thought-provoking, heart-wrenching, and wickedly funny.” – The New York Times 

“A brave, articulate, moving, and necessary new play. Wrenching, brilliant, and shattering. This fearless play tackles conundrums with a combination of intelligence, balance, and accessibility that few writers of Harmon’s generation could pull off.” – New York Stage Review  

"FAT HAM"

by James Ijames

Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb

Calderwood Pavilion / Wimberly Theatre

In association with Front Porch Arts Collective

Performances: 

September 22, 2023 through October 22, 2023 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

Winner! 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama 

In this deliciously funny, Pulitzer Prize-winning new play, sweet and sensitive Juicy wants to make his own way as a queer Black man growing up in a Southern family, until his father’s ghost turns up at a backyard barbecue and insists that Juicy avenge his murder. Ay, there’s the rub! This smart and sharp reinvention of Shakespeare’s masterpiece takes Broadway by storm this spring before coming to The Huntington this fall! 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “James Ijames’ brilliant, hilarious play is Hamlet and is not Hamlet. This is the beginning of our rigorous exploration of the classics – powerful stories that continue to speak to us – as re-dreamt for our time. In Ijames’ deft hands this exploration of masculinity, queerness, and familial acceptance boasts of muscular language, emotional truth, and the wildly entertaining foibles of family.” 

From playwright James Ijames: “I am very excited for 'FAT HAM' to meet the audiences in Boston. The play has a powerful message of transformation, radical acceptance, and joy! This show is for anyone looking for a space of liberation and beauty.”  

Critical acclaim: “A hilarious yet profound tragedy smothered in comedy. For all that Ijames dismantles in Shakespeare’s original text, he builds it back up into something that’s more — more tragic but also more joyous, more comedic, more political, more contemporary.” – The New York Times 

“To revive us, we need plays like the Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham. Unabashedly entertaining! Turns Hamlet giddily upside down!” – The Washington Post  

"THE BAND'S VISIT"

Music & lyrics by David Yazbek

Book by Itamar Moses

Based on the screenplay by Eran Kolirin

Directed by SpeakEasy Stage Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault

Choreography by Daniel Pelzig

Music Direction by José Delgado

The Huntington Theatre

A co-production with SpeakEasy Stage 

Performances: 

November 10, 2023 through December 10, 2023 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

Winner! 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical! 

In this Tony Award-winning, feel-good musical, an Egyptian band of musicians is stranded in a small Israeli town after a transportation mix up, and with no lodgings available, the locals take them in for the night. By morning, surprising connections have been made and friendships forged over moments of shared humanity and love of music. A brief visit can have a lasting impact in this stunning musical adaptation of the acclaimed 2007 film that cast a spell over Broadway.  

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “I adore 'THE BAND'S VISIT.' It is my favorite kind of musical. An intimate play with stunning music where human connection and song feel utterly and sweetly organic. We are thrilled to whole-heartedly collaborate with our partners at SpeakEasy Stage, and to welcome their founder, our friend and colleague Paul Daigneault, in his Huntington debut.” 

From playwright and book writer Itamar Moses: "I'm thrilled that 'THE BAND'S VISIT' is going to play Boston in this new production. First of all because – though I'm extremely proud of the original production that played New York and then toured – one of the great joys of theatre is getting to see new artists reinterpret the work in new ways. And secondly, the Boston engagement of the tour was one of the stops affected by the pandemic shutdown, and so it's great that local audiences are going to have a chance to see the show in this new way.” 

Critical acclaim: “Transcendent and poignant! An honest-to-God musical for grown-ups. A miraculous show!” – The New York Times 

“Beautiful! The Band’s Visit is a sweet, haunting stopover in the desert.” – Entertainment Weekly 

“Gorgeous, intoxicating, and soulful!” – The Hollywood Reporter  

"THE HEART SELLERS"

by Lloyd Suh (The Chinese Lady)

Directed by May Adrales

Calderwood Pavilion / Wimberly Theatre

Performances: 

November 21, 2023 through December 23, 2023 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

Jane and Luna run into each other in the grocery store on Thanksgiving in 1973 and find they have much in common: each are recent Asian immigrants, a bit homesick and lonely with hardworking absentee husbands, and adjusting to a new country filled with new opportunities. Over sips of wine and a questionable frozen turkey, they dream of disco dancing, learning to drive, and even a visit to Disneyland, and share their hopes and challenges for making a new home in a new land with grace and dignity. A funny, moving, and big-hearted new play. 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “Lloyd Suh is one of my favorite humans! His intentionality around unpacking complicated slices of untold history in beautiful theatrical ways for the benefit of our children and future generations is wildly inspirational. His plays are honest, heartbreaking, full of curiosity and resilience: a theatrical constellation asking us to look at our past in new ways with an eye towards a brighter future.” 

From playwright Lloyd Suh: “'THE HEART SELLERS' looks at a pivotal moment in time, when the conditions were created for much of what we’re currently grappling with as a nation around our collective history. It’s a play of giving thanks, making new friends, and finding home in a new place, so it brings me a special joy to share this with The Huntington community as part of Loretta Greco’s first season, as she’s been an important part of my artistic life for well over a decade.” 

Critical acclaim: “Hilarious and heartwarming! A laugh-aloud love letter to friendship. 'THE HEART SELLERS' is something to treasure!” – Broadway World 

“A stunning comedy! Breathtaking.” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  

"STAND UP IF YOU'RE HERE TONIGHT"

Written and directed by John Kolvenbach

Featuring Jim Ortlieb

The Huntington Theatre / Maso Studio

Performances: 

January 20, 2024 through March 3, 2024 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

Winner! LA Drama Critics Circle Award, Best Actor! 

“You’ve tried everything. Yoga. Acupuncture. Therapy. You floated in salt water in the pitch black dark. You juiced, you cleansed, you journaled, you cut, you volunteered. You ate only RINDS for three days and nights. You reached out, you looked within. You have tried. And yet here you are.” So begins a new play by Olivier Award-nominated playwright John Kolvenbach. Jim Ortlieb delivers a tour-de-force performance as a man desperate for connection, bent by isolation, and deeply in love with the audience itself. After sold out runs in LA, Chicago, and Paris, this thoroughly unique, interactive theatrical experience comes to the intimate 150-seat, and gorgeously renovated Maso Studio! 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “You are in for a treat! This incisive, vulnerable, funny, new play by my dear friend John Kolvenbach is the first half of this special intimate evening, and the second opens up to drinks and freeform conversation with the artists and your fellow audience members. This is unlike any experience you’ve had at The Huntington! In Paris and LA, people stayed for hours, and we hope you’ll want to stay and connect as well.” 

From playwright and director John Kolvenback: "The show is about a guy trying to do the impossible, or the nearly impossible: he wants to achieve a kind of union with the audience, a oneness, to blur the line between the play and the people who are there that night. That's the ambition of the man in the play, but it's also the ambition (harebrained, maybe) of the play itself. We hope for communion." 

Critical acclaim: “A stunningly original existential exercise receives a brilliant production. See this fascinating production and stand up to applaud all those involved in it!” – WTTW, Chicago’s PBS 

“Uproarious, downright brilliant, and full of joyful surprises!” – Provincetown Independent  

"JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN"

by Kimberly Belflower

Directed by Margot Bordelon

Calderwood Pavilion / Wimberly Theatre

Performances: 

February 8, 2024 through March 10, 2024 

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times) 

At a rural high school in Georgia, a group of lively teens explore The Crucible while navigating young love, sex ed, and a few school scandals. With a contemporary lens on the American classic, the young women begin to discover their power and agency, finding a way to hold both the classic text and their community to account – with a profound sense of rage, authenticity, and hope. Alternately touching and bitingly funny, this new comedy captures a generation in mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism, and fury, writing their own coming of age story. 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco: “I read Kimberly Bellflower’s stunning new play and was obsessed! With Gen Z at the center, this reinvestigation of the canonical Crucible is a reckoning of our power structure and the stories we tell that reinforce that imbalance. This brilliant play has sparked a movement! It’s brimming with the buoyant honesty of youth, the pain and JOY of growing up, the potential for this generation who are as fluent in Lorde as Joan Didion – and ultimately the thrill of hard-won agency and transcendence. Nothing about this play is business as usual!” 

From playwright Kimberly Belflower: “'JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN' is my heart and guts in a single play, and I am overjoyed for it to find new life at The Huntington with such tremendous collaborators in Margot Bordelon and Loretta Greco.” 

Critical acclaim: “A knockout! JOHN PROCTOR is pushing for a 4.0 GPA.” – The Washington Post 

“Cracking good theatre! Add it to your ‘must see’ list.” – DC Metro Theater Arts 

“Biting and exquisite!” – MD Theatre Guide  

"TONI STONE"

Written and directed by Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly, Smart People, The Bluest Eye at The Huntington)

Inspired by Curveball: The Remarkable True Story of Toni Stone by Martha Ackmann

The Huntington Theatre

Performances: 

May 17, 2024 through June 16, 2024

(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)  

"TONI STONE" is an ace ballplayer who knows her stats, plus she’s got a great arm. Rejected by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her race, she becomes the first woman to play professional baseball on a man’s team in the Negro Leagues, shattering expectations and creating her own set of rules. Filled with humor and the love of the game, Huntington favorite Lydia R. Diamond knocks it out of the park with this beautiful, rich portrait of a trailblazing woman. Play ball! 

From Artistic Director Loretta Greco:  “I love this play almost as much as I love baseball. The return of beloved playwright Lydia R. Diamond to The Huntington is cause alone for celebration – but combine it with her latest based on the real life story of the indomitable TONI STONE, the first woman to play professional baseball in the male baseball league – during actual baseball season, and in America’s most baseball-loving city – and the result is pure joy!” 

From playwright and director Lydia R. Diamond: “I am so pleased to be back at The Huntington! "TONI STONE" is a play that is especially close to my heart. A woman with a singular focus who, through hard work and tenacity, realized her dreams. This fabulous theatre has once again helped me realize mine… To direct a play that I am so proud of, in the warm embrace of a theatre that feels like home, and in a town that loves baseball as much as our fearless Toni did!” 

Critical acclaim: “Entertaining! 'TONI STONE' bursts with the joys of life.” – Chicago Tribune 

“A grand slam! Inspiring and powerful!” – Broadway World

“The whole play is remarkable. The sheer joy that comes with breaking the status quo, of loving yourself, your life and what you bring to the table. Toni Stone captured all that.” – Forbes

Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)

@MetrmagReviews 

@Theatre_Critics 

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ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY:

The Huntington Theatre Company is Boston’s leading professional theatre and one of the region’s premier cultural assets since its founding in 1982. Recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award, The Huntington brings together superb local and national talent and produces a mix of groundbreaking new works and classics made current to create award-winning productions. The Huntington runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA. The Huntington has long been an anchor cultural institution of Huntington Avenue, the Avenue of the Arts, and will remain so on a permanent basis with plans to convert the Huntington Avenue Theatre into a first-rate, modern venue with expanded services to audiences, artists, and the community. The Huntington cultivates, celebrates, and champions theatre as an art form. 

For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.