SING STREET, BHANGIN' IT & More Announced for The Huntington's 2022-2023 Season

The Huntington has announced its 2022-2023 season, featuring 8 shows including 2 jubilant new musicals, 3 world premiere plays, one recent Broadway hit, and an outstanding revival of an August Wilson classic.

Also as part of its 41st season, The Huntington will celebrate major milestones in its history: the arrival of new Artistic Director Loretta Greco, the first woman in Huntington history to hold the position, in July 2022; and the September 2022 reopening of The Huntington Theatre, the company's beloved historic venue and longtime home, after being closed during the pandemic and an extensive, transformational renovation.

Performances will begin in late August, with shows scheduled to take place at both The Huntington Theatre and Calderwood Pavilion/BCA in the South End. (See below for a list of titles and details.)

"There is so much to look forward to in The Huntington's 22/23 season!" says Managing Director Michael Maso. "We have a wide range of shows to offer, featuring diverse artists, disciplines, and perspectives, and theatre experiences that promise to be joyous and entertaining, thought-provoking and powerful. Plus, we have the arrival of a visionary new artistic leader and the highly anticipated reopening of our beautifully renovated Huntington Theatre this fall. I am so excited about this cornucopia of delights!"

The first production in the renovated Huntington Theatre will be a revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, the very first Wilson play that The Huntington produced back in 1986 and a fitting way to commemorate the reopening of a transformed Huntington Theatre after more than two and a half years.

Other season highlights include new plays by Huntington Playwriting Fellows Lenelle Moïse and Kate Snodgrass, a recent Broadway comedy from Lynn Nottage, the exuberant original musicals Sing Street and Bhangin' It: A Bhangin' New Musical, the first co-production between The Front Porch Arts Collective and The Huntington, and a new play by performance artist and MacArthur "Genius" Taylor Mac, directed by new Artistic Director Loretta Greco.

"I am thrilled to be joining The Huntington this summer and usher in this wonderfully exciting season," says Greco. "I'm eager to immerse myself in the Boston community, and share theatre's power to unite and heal us and to spark both joy and deep reflection. And I can't wait to reunite with my dear friend and collaborator Taylor Mac on a gorgeous new play."

A champion of new plays and a passionate advocate for diverse artists, as well as an artistic director, producer, and director with over two decades of artistic leadership experience, Greco comes to The Huntington after 12 years as the artistic director of San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

The artists and creative teams behind next season's productions are eager to bring their work to Boston and share them with The Huntington's audiences.

"I am immensely excited to return to Boston and the Huntington stage with Clyde's, a dramedy about creativity, resilience, mindfulness, community, and the healing power of delicious food," says playwright Lynn Nottage.

"In many ways, K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a love letter to my arts teachers at Cambridge Public Schools. They nurtured my creative fire," says playwright Lenelle Moïse. "I came of age in the multicultural nineties. My theatre friends "rolled deep" in a wide range of ethnicities, class backgrounds and gender expressions. This play reflects that energy."

"Boston is home to a fierce intercollegiate Bhangra scene," says the team behind Bhangin' It, Mike Lew, Rehana Lew Mirza, and Sam Willmott. "We can't wait to share with audiences our vision of a world where Bhangra and musical theatre collide."

"I have been called a Huntington Theatre Company groupie. I've been a guest at The Huntington for two decades as an audience member, a Playwriting Fellow, a workshop leader, and staunch 'hanger-on,'" says playwright Kate Snodgrass. "But now with The Art of Burning I feel like I've been let into the dining room, so to speak. The chance to work with the brilliant Melia Bensussen and all the while supported by the gifted artists on staff? Excuse the metaphor, but I plan on eating everything in sight! What a meal! So yes, I think you can say I'm thrilled."

Season ticket packages are currently available for purchase at huntingtontheatre.org or by calling 617-266-0800, and single tickets to individual shows will go on sale later this spring and summer.

THE HUNTINGTON'S 22/23 SEASON:

Sing Street

Book by Enda Walsh

Music and lyrics by Gary Clark and John Carney

Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney

Directed by Rebecca Taichman

Choreography by Sonya Tayeh

August 26 - October 2, 2022

The Huntington Calderwood/BCA

It's Dublin, 1982. Sixteen-year-old Conor tries to impress a mysterious girl, Raphina, by asking her to star in a music video for his band. If only he had a band. Teaming up with a group of schoolmates, Conor and Raphina use music to bring them together, escape their troubles at home, and carve out a place in their struggling community. With a score that embraces the new wave sounds of the 80s, Sing Street is an ode to the thrill of young love and a celebration of the power of music to lift us up.

August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

October 14 - November 13, 2022

The Huntington Theatre

Legendary playwright August Wilson's work returns to The Huntington with his masterpiece Joe Turner's Come and Gone. At a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911, Herald Loomis arrives in search of his lost wife - but first he must regain a sense of his own heritage and identity. A stunning story of spiritual and emotional resurrection, Joe Turner's Come and Gone pays tribute to a makeshift community that springs up in the Great Migration in this new production helmed by Lili-Anne Brown.

Bhangin' It: A Bhangin' New Musical

Book by Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza

Music & Lyrics by Sam Willmott

Additional Music by Deep Singh

Directed by Stafford Arima

December 2, 2022 - January 8, 2023

The Huntington Theatre

A co-production with La Jolla Playhouse

Find your beat. Find your team. Find yourself. While East Lansing University senior Mary Darshini Clarke has spent her entire life trying to figure out where she fits in, she has always found community through dancing on the school's prestigious bhangra team. But when she becomes the self-appointed captain of a new team of enthusiastic novices, she discovers they are more interested in making friends than the right moves. As the pressure of the big national competition approaches, can both teams learn to embrace what makes them unique? Bursting with vibrant dance and electrifying music, Bhangin' It: A Bangin' New Musical is an exhilarating and joyous new musical comedy for America today.

The Art of Burning

by Kate Snodgrass

Directed by Melia Bensussen

January 13 - February 12, 2023

The Huntington Calderwood/BCA

Mid-negotiation, modernist painter Patricia changes the terms of her 'conscious uncoupling' with Jason. She wants full custody of their 15-year-old daughter Beth. Jason demands that their daughter decide, but mysteriously Beth didn't show up for school. Has Patricia hidden her away to protect her, or is there something more sinister afoot? Crafted with humor and insight by acclaimed Boston playwright Kate Snodgrass and director Melia Bensussen, The Art of Burning explores the love, rage, and responsibility that come with marriage and parenting in America.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

by Lenelle Moïse

Directed by Dawn M. Simmons

March 3 - April 2, 2023

The Huntington Calderwood/BCA

A co-production with The Front Porch Arts Collective

Lala makes fine art on the back of pizza boxes. A sweet and sticky summer inspires her to romance Dani, a budding feminist - and Albert, his smooth-talking twin. What's good? Love or lust? Either way, she'll find her muse. Playwright and poet Lenelle Moïse returns to her hometown with a heart-opening story for fans of David Bowie, bell hooks, and fireworks by the Charles. The Front Porch Arts Collective hooks up with The Huntington for this highly anticipated co-production, directed by Dawn M. Simmons.

Clyde's

by Lynn Nottage

March 31 - April 30, 2023

The Huntington Theatre

Playwright Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined) returns to Boston with her most recent Broadway hit. A truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at reclaiming their lives. Even as the shop's callous owner tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream by the enigmatic, zen-like chef and his belief in the possibility of the perfect sandwich. Funny, moving, and urgent, Clyde's shows playwright Lynn Nottage's "genius for bringing politically charged themes to life by embodying them in ordinary characters living ordinary lives." (The Wall Street Journal).

Joy and Pandemic

by Taylor Mac

Directed by Loretta Greco

April 21, 2023 - May 21, 2023

The Huntington Calderwood/BCA

In association with Magic Theatre

Joy and Pandemic questions how our passions regarding family, art, and war impact the very meaning of our lives. As Joy finds her Philadelphia children's art school at risk in a burgeoning public health crisis, she hopes to keep her dream of the school alive. When her unyielding faith runs up against another mother's beliefs, an afternoon in the early 20th century transforms the world for both of their daughters for decades to come.

With infinite humor and insight, MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac and The Huntington's new Artistic Director Loretta Greco explore the complex and ever-evolving relationships between science and faith, art and tradition, and parents and children. Originally commissioned by San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

PLUS, one more show at The Huntington Theatre in summer 2023 to be announced.

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON

Celebrating its 40th season, The Huntington is Boston's theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community. Committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, The Huntington provides life-changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, acts as the host organization for a multi-year residency of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company based in Boston, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA. Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Managing Director Michael Maso, The Huntington is currently conducting a transformational renovation of the historic Huntington Theatre, a storied venue with a bold vision for the future. The project will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.