September Staff Picks
Even as September begins and the leaves turn, the Boston area comes alive with new exhibits, shows, and arts events. To welcome fall and the start of a new arts season in the city on a hill, here are five picks for things to do, see, and immerse yourself in for September (and into the fall!).
45 Plays for 45 Presidents: Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lowell, MA
September 7 – October 2 | BosTix Deal Available
In the spirit of election fever, and to familiarize yourself with the presidents you may not even remember from history class (Tippecanoe and Tyler Who?), check out a “joyous American civics lesson in just two hours.” Directed by Sean Daniels and written by Andy Bayiates, Sean Benjamin, Genevra Gallo-Bayiates, Chloe Johnston, and Karen Weinberg, 45 Plays for 45 Presidents gives each president two minutes in the spotlight, all the way up to the 44th – and the audience gets a say in the 45th play!
Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College
September 12 – December 11
A joint exhibition run with Harvard’s Houghton Library and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Beyond Words provides an overview of the history of the book during the Middle Ages. The collection at the McMullen Museum emphasizes the place of readership and of books in medieval society, with over 150 manuscripts on display. The illustrations and illuminations of these manuscripts impresses the skill and production which went into the construction of each book, and is fascinating for scholar and amateur enthusiasts alike.
Sunday in the Park with George: Huntington Theatre Company
September 9 – October 16 | BosTix Deal Available
My absolute favorite musical by Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George is a lyrical and sometimes uncomfortable exploration of the tension between art and artist, subject and object, and color and light. Featuring Adam Chanler-Berat (Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher and Next to Normal) and Jenni Barber (Wicked), Sunday follows divisive painter Georges Seurat and his descendants as they search for inspiration in the world around them, almost not realizing how close it truly is.
Uh-Oh: Frances Stark 1991-2015: Museum of Fine Arts
September 17 – January 19
The most comprehensive survey to date of Los Angeles-based artist and writer Frances Stark (born 1967), “UH-OH” tracks her 25-year career from early carbon copy drawings and text-based works to more recent video installations, digital slide shows, and projects that shape fleeting engagements with social media into art. Featuring more than 100 works, “UH-OH” provides an in-depth exploration of Stark’s singular artistic practice and voice, as she shares her knowledge of cultural topics high and low, including dissections of art history, the Internet, and her creative contemporaries.
The Poetry Brothel: OBERON, Cambridge MA
September 9 | BosTix Deal Available
For those interested in an immersive multi-spectral theatrical experience, check out The Poetry Brothel. Here for one night only, The Poetry Brothel is an interactive poetry experience set up as a decadent fin de siècle brothel. Poets performing under pseudonyms offer private, one-on-one poetry readings of their original work in candlelit back rooms. The main room presents an immersive cabaret consisting of live music, aerialists, burlesque, and other performers.
Emma Futhey, BosTix Manager
