March Staff Picks
In honor of Women’s History Month, my picks for March focus on women as creators, as scholars, and as performers.
The Future of the Past: Voices of Partition and Lessons Learned: Lesley University
Now – April 2 | Free
How can personal narratives help most accurately contextualize the complex cultural histories, identity, and collective memory of the brutality of the British India Partition? It has been 70 years since the British India Partition, an event where it is estimated that over 12 million people were displaced and over 1 million people lost their lives during a 3-month period. Annu Palakunnathu Matthew’s photo-animation exhibit, “Open Wound: Stories of Partition,” and the work of The 1947 Partition Archive seek to address that gap by giving voice to the turmoil experienced by those who were displaced by the Partition. An important part of history which deserves our attention.
Stage Kiss: Lyric Stage Company
Now – March 26| BosTix Deal Available
In Stage Kiss, two squabbling long-lost loves are cast as long-lost lovers, and quickly lose touch with reality in this romantic and revealing play-within-a-play. As the show goes on, you’ll be on-stage, back-stage, and right out the stage door in this charming tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kiss and when actors share a real one. Ruhl’s gift for language and fine eye for building chemistry is apparent in every scene.
Film Screening, Daughters of the Dust: MIT List Center
March 17 | Free
An innovative and evocative exploration of culture in the midst of change, Daughters of the Dust follows a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – and their struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland at the turn of the 20th century. One of the most influential films of the last 25 years, and not to be missed in this 25th anniversary screening.
Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower: ArtsEmerson, Paramount Center
March 23 – 26| BosTix Deal Available
Combining science fiction and Black music with incredible success, Parable of the Sower tells the story of young Lauren Olamina, who lives in a not-so-distant America, where climate change has driven society to violence and the brink of extinction. When she loses both family and home, Lauren ventures out unprotected. What begins as a desperate flight for survival leads to something much more. Poignant, moving, and a one-of-a-kind performance experience.
An Evening with MacArthur Fellow, Poet and Playwright Claudine Rankine: Northeastern Center for the Arts
March 30 | Free
Claudine Rankine, one of the most socially-engaged and prominent poets and playwrights of the time, will speak at Northeastern. She creates an audience for poetry far beyond its conventional readership (her book Citizen holds the distinction of being the only poetry book to be a New York Times bestseller in the nonfiction category). As a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, she will develop the Racial Imaginary Institute, a hybrid presenting space and think tank that will provide space for artists, writers, scholars and performers to research and explore how the structure of white supremacy influences American culture. Any conversation with Rankine promises to be illuminating, sharply-witted, and lyrical in its beauty and truth.
