Our 2025-26 Season

Jack Welch fund readings

December 7 & 8, 2025 on the Snodgrass Stage (949 Comm Ave.)

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Thanks to the support of tireless Boston theater champion Jack Welch, this program gives Boston University Playwriting Program alumni time and space to explore, evolve and experiment with collaborators on plays-in-progress.
Jack Welch Developmental Fellowship recipient:
Crime Fiction by Deirdre Girard (MFA 2010)
Directed by Scott Edmiston
December 7, 2025, 4 p.m. Reception to follow.
Maddie’s pretty sure she knows who’s stalking her writing mentor, best-selling mystery novelist Heather Bowman—but it’s also entirely possible she’s got it wrong. Again. As Maddie scrambles to untangle lies from truths from sort-of-truths, time is ticking down, and the deadly conclusion to Heather’s story may arrive sooner than anyone bargained for.

Jack Welch Developmental Residency recipient:
Clockwork by Walt McGough (MFA 2010)
Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara
December 8, 2025, 7 p.m. Reception to follow

Clark’s old friend Elliot hired him to work at a start-up. Which is cool, because Clark needed a job, and he’s psyched to hang out with Elliot again. The only thing is – training an AI chatbot to be a luxury assistant to rich people is a really weird job. Though not nearly as weird as Clark's roommate: 18th century clock maker John Harrison, who's busy trying to solve the problem of longitude. The three men struggle to connect to their jobs and to each other in this time-bending comedy about the value of work, and what it means to make something other than money.
Coming soon
Coming soon
Coming soon

ZABEL IN EXILE

BY R.N. Sandberg

Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian
Production sponsors: Judith Saryan and Victor Zarougian

February 19 – March 8, 2026 on the Snodgrass Stage (949 Comm Ave.)

Purchase Tickets

Important Ticketing Information

 Please be advised that Boston Playwrights’ Theatre is the only authorized seller of tickets for Zabel in Exile. To ensure fair pricing and guaranteed entry, we strongly recommend purchasing tickets exclusively through our official website or box office.

Tickets purchased through third-party sellers or unauthorized websites may be invalid, overpriced, or fraudulent. We are not able to assist with tickets bought outside of our official channels.

Yerevan, 1937. Armenian writer and activist Zabel Yessayan sits in a Soviet prison cell, awaiting execution. But what exactly is her crime? Writing novels? Knowing how to speak French? Being a woman? As Zabel confronts her captors, past and present blur, and she reckons with the injustices she has witnessed and confronted—from schoolyard bullying to the horrors of genocide. Zabel in Exile is a searing memory play that honors the strength of a woman unafraid to stand up to tyranny and wrestles with whether it is possible to continue to believe in light during times of endless darkness.
Zabel: Sarah Corey*
Guard/Ensemble 1: Anelga Hajjar
Father/Ensemble 2: Robert Najarian*
Ensemble 3: June Baboian*
Ensemble 4: Grace Experience*
Ensemble 5: 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.
Playwright: R.N. Sandberg
Director: Megan Sandberg-Zakian
Stage Manager: Jenna Worden*
Assistant Director: Nikta Sabouri
Scenic Deisgn:
Lighting Design:
Assistant Lighting Design:
Costume Design: Miranda Guirleo
Sound Design and Composer: Arshan Gailus
Voice and Speech Coach: Christine Hamel
Assistant Voice and Speech Coach:
Movement and Choreography:
Properties Design:
Production Assistant:
Wardrobe Assistant:

*Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Single tickets: Adults—$40
BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25
Students with valid ID—$15
Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only; this applies to all students with a valid ID).
Pay-What-You-Want Previews: Thursday, February 19 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 20 (8 p.m.)
For information about group rates, contact K. Alexa Mavromatis (kamavrom@bu.edu)
Pay-What-You-Want Previews—Thursday, February 19 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 20 (8 p.m.)
Opening Reception after the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, February 21
Post-show Conversation: Meet the Artists after the 7 p.m. performance on Thursday, February 26
Post-show Conversation after the 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, March 7
The play includes descriptions of violence, including the atrocities of genocide. It does not include any such violence depicted onstage. (An expanded, more detailed version of this statement is coming soon.)
Coming soon

The Ceremony

A world premiere by Mfoniso Udofia

Directed by Kevin R. Free

September 11 – October 5, 2025 at the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre

Produced by CHUANG Stage in partnership with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

When Abasiama and Disciple’s only son, Ekong asks Lumanthi Rathi to be his wife, they accept that their dream wedding might have to go on without either of their fathers present. But when Lumanti’s dad has a sudden change of heart, Ekong dares to attempt a reconciliation with his long-estranged father in order to make the ritual of their wedding ceremony truly whole.

A moving, multigenerational story that intertwines Nigerian and Nepali cultural traditions, The Ceremony is a joyous, tender reckoning of love and the rituals that bind us, brought to life by CHUANG Stage, in partnership with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Boston University School of Theatre, catalyzed by The Huntington.

mother mary

by kj moran velz

Directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue

October 9 – 26, 2025 on the Snodgrass Stage (949 Comm Ave.)

Important Ticketing Information

 Please be advised that Boston Playwrights’ Theatre is the only authorized seller of tickets for Mother Mary. To ensure fair pricing and guaranteed entry, we strongly recommend purchasing tickets exclusively through our official website or box office.

Tickets purchased through third-party sellers or unauthorized websites may be invalid, overpriced, or fraudulent. We are not able to assist with tickets bought outside of our official channels.

Boston, 1968. Taxi driver Jo Cruz knows the streets of Southie like the back of her hand, but no road map can prepare her for meeting Mary O’Sullivan, an Irish American Catholic school teacher with a boyfriend and a very strict mother. Despite rising tensions between their communities, Jo and Mary find themselves in an unexpectedly close friendship…or is it something more? But their growing connection takes a turn when Mary asks Jo to take her on a risky road trip from which there’s no going back. A new romcom about choice, faith, and how to find your way home.
Jo: Adriana Alvarez*
Mary: Tara Forseth*
*Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Playwright: KJ Moran Velz
Director: Elaine Vaan Hogue
Stage Manager: Jess Brennan*
Costume Designer: Nora Kempner
Sound Designer: Mackenzie Adamic
Properties Designer: Courtney Licata
Production Assistant: Ria Slater
*Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Single tickets: Adults—$40
BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25
Students with valid ID—$15
Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only; this applies to all students with valid ID)
Pay-What-You-Want Previews: Thursday, October 9 (7 p.m.); Friday, October 10 (8 p.m.)
For information about group rates, contact K. Alexa Mavromatis (kamavrom@bu.edu)
Pay-What-You-Want Previews—Thursday, October 9 (7 p.m.) and Friday, October 10 (8 p.m.) See the play for the amount you select (including $0)!
Opening Reception after the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, October 11—We'll celebrate with treats...including freshly baked alfajores, which are both a plot point in Mother Mary and an extremely delicious cookie!
Post-show Conversation: Meet the Artists after the 7 p.m. performance on Thursday, October 16—Join us after the performance for a conversation with actors Adriana Alvarez and Tara Forseth, and Dramaturg/Cultural Consultant Carla Mirabal Rodriguez, moderated by Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian.
Post-show Conversation: Writing the (queer) Romcom after the 2 p.m. performance on Sunday, October 19—Join us after the performance for a conversation about everyone’s favorite genre: the queer romcom! With author and playwright David Valdes (he/him), publishing worker and writer Aline Dolinh (she/her), fiction writer Morrigan Byalin (she/her) and writer Cassidy Nicholle. Moderated by writer (and Administrator of BU’s Creative Writing Program) Annaka Saari.
Content transparency: Mother Mary includes depictions of self-harm, sexual activity, and seeking an illegal abortion. For further details, including plot information and spoilers, please click here.
Read the full version of the Mother Mary program.