ArtsEmerson Reveals 2025/26 Season Lineup

ArtsEmerson has announced its 2025/26 Season, featuring nine live stage events in its 15th anniversary year. As Boston’s leading presenter of contemporary world theater, ArtsEmerson circles the globe to select creative works that challenge and inspire, dazzle, and provoke. The organization’s 15th anniversary season offerings continue to celebrate differences, reflecting the vital diversity of our city, and deepening our connection to each other.

“For the past fifteen years, ArtsEmerson has been privileged to uplift artists and works from all over the globe that prompt key civic conversations and connect us across difference--and this year is no different,” said Interim Executive Director of the Office of the Arts & ArtsEmerson Director of Artistic Programming Ronee Penoi. “Boston is an arts city, hungry for diverse work and narratives, and we are committed to delivering on our promise through works that explore and celebrate our collective humanity and resilience.”

The 25/26 season consists of nine theatrical events: Food Bank Influencer (Kristina Wong, USA), Hang Time (The Flea, USA), The 4th Witch (Manual Cinema/Elise Management, USA), SpaceBridge (Irina Kruzhilina, Russia/USA), Noli Timere (McCarter, Canada/USA), The Things Around Us (Ahamefule J. Oluo, USA), Dead as a Dodo (Wakka Wakka, Norway/USA), a co-presentation with Front Porch Arts Collective of In Old Age (Mfoniso Udofia, USA), and The Secret Sharer (DNAWORKS, USA).

ArtsEmerson Season Packages will be available later in the summer. To purchase, visit ArtsEmerson.org or call the ArtsEmerson Box Office at 617-824-8400 (open Tue-Sat from 12:00PM ET - 6:00PM ET). Those desiring walk-up service may visit the Paramount Center Box Office (559 Washington Street, Boston) Thu-Sat from 12:00PM ET - 6:00PM ET.

ArtsEmerson’s 25/26 Season will premiere with self-proclaimed “Food Bank Influencer” Kristina Wong’s rendition of the American Musical that nobody asked for by celebrating our emergency food system in Food Bank Influencer from September 19 – 21, 2025 at the Emerson Paramount Center. Fall offerings continue with Pulitzer-Prize-finalist Zora Howard’s stunning, subversive new piece for three performers, Hang Time, from October 9 – 12, 2025 also at the Emerson Paramount Center.

Manual Cinema will return to Boston with their signature stage-magic to conjure Macbeth from a brand-new perspective. The 4th Witch will come to the ArtsEmerson stage from October 30 – November 9, 2025. Following Manual Cinema and closing out 2025 at the Paramount will be Irina Kruzhilina’s SpaceBridge from November 21 – 23, 2025. Conceived and directed by Kruzhilina, eleven Russian refugee children and their American-born friends unite in joyful resistance—offering unignorable anti-war messages and reimagining what it means to belong.

2026 will kick off with a visually stunning modern circus show where brilliantly colored net-sculptures illuminate how human beings connect and catch each other when we fall. With performers suspended as high as 25 feet, Noli Timere offers a mesmerizing kinesthetic metaphor and meditation upon the challenges of global interconnection and will be at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre from January 29 – February 1, 2026.

The Things Around Us is a dazzling new work from acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist, Ahamefule J. Oluo, that layers live music and narrative exploration to create an introspective evening about the things that connect us all. It is the third in a trilogy of shows from Oluo, following NOW I’M FINE and SUSAN. Oluo’s piece will be in Boston at ArtsEmerson from February 20 – 22, 2026 at the Emerson Paramount Center.

From Norway comes Wakka Wakka’s Dead as a Dodo, an uplifting musical odyssey into the heart of friendship (and the underworld). Dead as a Dodo will be at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre from March 2 – 8, 2026. Next arrives the penultimate piece of Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-part play Ufot Family Cycle, In Old Age comes to ArtsEmerson from March 21 – April 4, 2026 in partnership with Front Porch Arts Collective as part of a two-year, citywide production of Udofia’s epic in Boston. Abasiama Ufot, still living in the house of her deceased husband, forms an unexpected spiritual bond with Azell Abernathy, a soft-spoken, church-going carpenter. As their connection deepens, and Abasiama’s house–and soul–become clearer, she comes to understand the true nature of love, sending her off on one last journey through life.

The 25/26 season closes out April 24 – May 3, 2026 at the Emerson Paramount Center with the World Premiere of The Secret Sharer. DNAWORKS’s bold adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s 1909 novella The Secret Sharer transforms the text into a powerful multimedia performance blending dance, music, sound, text, and video projection. Often considered an early queer text, The Secret Sharer tells a powerful tale of two men, outsiders in their societies, who forge a shared, intimate, and ultimately healing connection.

In keeping with DNAWORKS’s signature story circle practice, audience members are invited to share their own stories throughout the performance, establishing an open-concept collaborative space where audiences truly co-create the environment.

Commitment to Film and Engagement Programming

The 25/26 Season will continue ArtsEmerson’s mission of using the expanded programming of film offerings and screening events at the Emerson Paramount Center’s state-of-the-art Bright Family Screening Room. Film programming will include narrative and documentary work screened as part of Shared Stories (in partnership with Boston Asian American Film Festival, CineFest Latino Boston, and Roxbury International Film Festival) and Projecting Connections: Chinese American Experiences (in partnership with Boston Asian American Film Festival).

ArtsEmerson will also continue its longstanding partnerships with many of New England’s premiere film festivals, hosting screenings of Boston Asian American Film Festival, CineFest Latino Boston, Roxbury International Film Festival, and Wicked Queer: the Boston LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

The Play Reading Book Club, a dynamic theatre literacy and community education program that provides unique and radical access to scripts, artists, and conversations, will also be returning, marking its 10th Anniversary.