Our 2024-25 Season

Our dynamic season of new plays features four productions presented in two repertory festivals: a Fall Rep and a Spring Rep. Full details are below. To purchase tickets, click here!


THE fig tree, and the phoenix, and the desire to be reborn

by isabelle fereshteh sanatdar stevens

February 20 - March 9 on the Snodgrass Stage

Directed by Nikta Sabouri

“I like being alive with you…”

  • In the Iranian province of Zanjan, in an orchard where all of the trees have gone to sleep, one remains ripe with fruit. Underneath its fig-studded branches, on the chilliest August night of 1988, eight-year-olds Mandana and Javeed meet for the first time—except somehow it doesn’t feel like the first time. A story of what the world has been, what it is now, and what it could be.

  • MANDANA: Minou Pourshariati

    JAVEED: Danny Bryck*

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Director: Nikta Sabouri

    Scenic Designer: Cleo Brooks

    Lighting Designer: Grant Powicki

    Original Music and Sound Designer: Arshan Gailus

    Costume Designer: Jez Insalaco

    Properties Designer: Courtney Licata

    Production Stage Manager: Jenna Worden*

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Tickets for A Fig Tree, and a Phoenix, and a Desire to be Reborn and The Recursion of a Moth:

    Spring Rep Pass (both plays)—$50

    Single tickets: Adults—$40

    BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25

    Students with valid ID—$10

    Boston University Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only).

    Pay-What-You-Want Previews for A Fig Tree, and a Phoenix, and a Desire to be Reborn on Thursday, February 20 (7 pm) and Friday, February 21 (8 pm)

  • Pay-What-You-Want Previews—Thursday, February 20 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 21 (8 p.m.)

    Masks-Required Performance—Saturday, March 1 (2 p.m.)

    MENASA Community Night—Thursday, March 6 (following the 7 p.m. performance of Fig Tree) A celebration of our MENASA (Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian) communities and audience members, with small bites in the lobby pre-show and a chance to go deeper with a fascinating post-show conversation.

    Post-Show Conversation: “Children as Metaphor, Children as Message: The Use of Child Characters in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Art” with Ramyar D. Rossoukh (Associate Director for Research, Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University), Isabelle Fereshteh Sanatdar Stevens (Playwright), and Nikta Sabouri (Director), moderated by BPT Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

    Audience members who identify as members of the MENASA community can use code MENASA (case-sensitive) at checkout for $20 General Admission (no fees).

  • Content transparency: depiction of the effects of war and violence on children. For further details, which will include plot information and spoilers, please click here.

Photos: Benjamin Rose Photography


the recursion of a moth

by brandon zang

February 27 - March 9 on the Snodgrass Stage

Directed by Katie Brook

Time is a rubber band -- you can only stretch it so far before it snaps.

  • Icarus and Mikey time travel. Icarus and Mikey fall out of love. Icarus and Mikey meet each other for the first time at a job interview. Somewhere else, sometime else, Chrys buys a yellow house. The rules are: you can travel to any timeline as long as you don’t change anything. But of course, there’s always someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them.

  • ICARUS: Alexander Holden*

    CHRYS: Jenny S. Lee

    MIKEY: Jaime José Hernández

    **Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Director: Katie Brook

    Scenic Designer: Cleo Brooks

    Lighting Designer: Grant Powicki

    Sound Designer: Aubrey Dube

    Costume Designer: Taylor Needlman

    Properties Designer: Courtney Licata

    Production Stage Manager: Fanni Horvath*

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Tickets for A Fig Tree, and a Phoenix, and a Desire to be Reborn and The Recursion of a Moth:

    Spring Rep Pass (both plays)—$50

    Single tickets: Adults—$40

    BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25

    Students with valid ID—$10

    Boston University Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only).

    Pay-What-You-Want Previews for The Recursion of a Moth on Thursday, February 27 (7 pm) and Friday, February 28 (8 pm)

  • Pay-What-You-Want Previews—Thursday, February 27 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 28 (8 p.m.)

    Asian Joy Night—Sunday, March 2 (1:15 p.m.) Boston Playwrights' Theatre has partnered with CHUANG Stage on a special Asian Joy Night performance to The Recursion of a Moth by Brandon Zang, where all members of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities are encouraged to gather and celebrate Brandon Zang's second production in Boston, following Nüwa in Fairyland! All tickets for Asian Joy Night are Pay-As-You-Are with a minimum of $0.

    On Sunday, March 2 at 1:15 p.m., come for a pre-show mixer to enjoy some egg drop soup provided by local Asian restaurants and to meet other members of the AAPI community before enjoying the performance of The Recursion of a Moth by Brandon Zang in the theater. Following the performance, join us for a post-show conversation, Writing Queer and Asian Futures, with writer Diana Cao (she/they), poet and cultural critic Aline Dolinh (she/her/hers), and poet Dorsey Schutt (he/him/his), moderated by Annaka Saari (she/her) and Alison Yueming Qu (she/they).

    Masks-Required Performance—Saturday, March 8 (2 p.m.)

  • Content transparency: Depictions of violence and parental neglect and abandonment. For further details, which will include plot information and spoilers, please click here.

Photos: Scornavacca Photography


HOW TO NOT SAVE THE WORLD WITH MR. BEZOS

BY MAGGIE KEARNAn

November 7 - 24, 2024 on the Snodgrass Stage

Directed by Taylor Stark

The fall of capitalism is about to get very messy.

  • A throne of red Solo cups, a pile of teeth, the ghost of Pete Seeger, and a little something for dinner. It’s a parallel present, and it’s illegal to be a billionaire. Jeffrey Bezos has agreed to give an interview in exchange for information on the federal case against him. But there’s something off about journalist Cherry Beaumont, a crowd is forming outside, and the onstage Fact Checker has a few important clarifications to make. The fall of capitalism is about to get very messy.

  • Cherry Beaumont: Becca A. Lewis*

    Jeffrey Bezos: Mark W. Soucy*

    Fact Checker: Robbie Rodriguez

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Director: Taylor Stark

    Scenic Designer: Maggie Shivers

    Lighting Designer: Zachary Connell

    Sound Designer: Anna Drummond

    Costume Designer: Chloe Moore

    Production Stage Manager: Jess Brennan*

    Intimacy and Violence Choreographer: Jess Scout Malone

    Special Effects: Lynn Wilcott

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

  • Tickets for How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos and Soft Star:

    Fall Rep Pass (both plays)—$50

    Single tickets: Adults—$40

    BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25

    Students with valid ID—$10

    Boston University Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only).

    Pay-What-You-Want Previews for How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos on Thursday, November 7 (7 pm) and Friday, November 8 (8 pm)

  • Pay-What-You-Want Previews for How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos on Thursday, Nov. 7 (7 p.m.) and Friday, Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)

    Masks-Required Performance—Saturday, Nov. 16 (2 p.m.)

    Fall Rep Festival Opening Reception—Saturday, Nov. 16, following the 8 p.m. performance of Soft Star)

    Post-Show Conversation: “Can Money Save The World?” with Professor David Lagakos, Boston University Professor of Economics—Monday, November 18 at 8:30 p.m. (following the 7 p.m. performance of How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos)

  • Content transparency: graphic violence, vomit and blood effects, as well as disrobement and discussion of drug use. For further details, which will include plot information and spoilers, click here.

Photos: Benjamin Rose Photography


soft star

BY tina esper

November 14 - 24, 2024 on the Snodgrass Stage

Directed by Bridget Kathleen O’Leary

What happens when the only plan you’ve ever made begins to unravel?

  • Jane and Belle are best friends. Their husbands are best friends. Someday, their children will be best friends. And of course, they don’t have any secrets from each other. What could possibly go wrong? A play about what happens when the only plan you’ve ever made starts to unravel.

  • Jane: Annika Bolton

    Belle: Mairéad O'Neill

    Dick: Jesse Kodama

    Mitch: Kamran Bina

  • Director: Bridget Kathleen O'Leary

    Scenic Designer: Maggie Shivers

    Lighting Designer: Zachary Connell

    Sound Designer: Kai Bolman

    Costume Designer: E. Rosser

    Production Stage Manager: Pat-rice Rooney*

    *Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

    Intimacy & Violence Choreographer: Jess Scout Malone

  • Tickets for How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos and Soft Star:

    Fall Rep Pass (both plays)—$50

    Single tickets: Adults—$40

    BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25

    Students with valid ID—$10

    Boston University Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only).

    Pay-What-You-Want Previews for Soft Star on Thursday, November 14 (7 pm) and Friday, November 15 (8 pm)

  • Pay-What-You-Want Previews for Soft Star on Thursday, Nov. 14 (7 p.m.) and Friday, Nov. 15 (8 p.m.)

    Fall Rep Festival Opening Reception—Saturday, Nov. 16, following the 8 p.m. performance of Soft Star)

    Post-Show Conversation: “Fallen Birds, Lost Babies, and the Complexities of Female Friendship” with Carrie J. Preston (Professor of English and Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies;  Associate Director, Center on Forced Displacement),  Jena DiMaggio (PhD student in English), and Kelsey Quinn (PhD student in English)—Sunday, Nov. 17, 3:30 p.m. (following the 2 p.m. performance of Soft Star)

    Masks-Required Performance—Saturday, Nov. 23 (2 p.m.)

  • Content transparency: infertility and difficulty conceiving, miscarriage (discussion of and depiction of). For further details, which will include plot information and spoilers, click here.

Photos: Amelia Cordischi