The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University has announced the programming lineup for its Winter/Spring season, featuring inventive performances by professional local companies, critically acclaimed films and filmmakers, and stimulating conversation with celebrated artists.
Performance, Conversation, and Cinema
SHERMAN’S MARCH BY ROSS MCELWEE
6 p.m. Wednesday, February 8
Filmmaker Ross McElwee is joined by Harvard University colleague Robb Moss and long-time Boston film critic and Suffolk University professor Gerald Peary for a 25th anniversary celebration and viewing of the hilarious and critically acclaimed documentary. In the film, McElwee’s attempt to explore the effects of Union soldiers’ brutal campaign through the secessionist South is continuously thwarted by his yearning for true love. Sherman’s March won the Sundance Film Festival Best Feature Documentary Prize in 1987 and was selected as one of the top 20 documentaries of all time by the International Documentary Association.
AMERICAN REQUIEM
A staged reading co-produced with Actors’ Shakespeare Project
7 p.m. Wednesday, February 15
by James Carroll
directed by Steven Bogart
with Allyn Burrows*, Patrick Carroll*, Paula Langton*, and Robert Walsh*.
This is the first public reading of James Carroll’s play based on his National Book Award-winning memoir. American Requiem tells the story of a son and a father, a priest and his God, the gulf that opened between them during the Vietnam War era, and the love that was a bridge too late. Carroll is a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University.
AN EVENING WITH BOB RAFELSON
7 p.m. Tuesday, February 21
Bob Rafelson – director, producer, and writer of such celebrated films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Black Widow, and the popular television series The Monkees – will screen and discuss selections of his work. This Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated visionary filmmaker will be joined onstage by Robert Brustein, a Suffolk University Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence and National Medal of Arts Recipient. This event is presented as part of the Department of Communication and Journalism’s Suffolk Cinema Series.
DEPORTED / a dream play
World Premiere Production
Produced by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in association with Suffolk University
March 8 – April 1
by Joyce Van Dyke
directed by Judy Braha
with Ken Baltin*, Mark Cohen*, Liz Hayes*, Jeanine Kane*, Marya Lowry*, Robert Najarian*, and Bobbie Steinbach*.
Memories and dreams, music and dance interweave in this tale of enduring friendship. A riveting story of the Armenian genocide, Deported celebrates the playwright’s own family history and that of the many Armenian families forever changed. Van Dyke’s previous play The Oil Thief won the 2009 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script. Set design is by Jon Savage, lighting design by John Malinowski, sound design by David Wilson, and costume design by Molly Trainer.
Additional Events Associated with Deported:
7 p.m. Friday, March 16
Armenian dance demonstration with choreographer Apo Ashjian and dancers from the Sayat Nova Dance Company.
7 p.m. Saturday, March 17
“Educating Upstanders: What Can We Learn from the Past about Creating a More Positive Future?” with Adam Strom, Director of Content, Innovation and Research at Facing History and author of Facing History’s Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians.
7 p.m. Friday, March 23
“Coming to Terms with Your Past: How Do Countries and Individuals Respond to Genocide?” with Professor Nir Eisikovits, Director of the Graduate Program in Ethics and Public Policy at Suffolk University; and the Rev. Pamela L. Werntz, Rector of Emmanuel Church, Boston.
TROILUS & CRESSIDA
Produced by Actors’ Shakespeare Project
April 25 – May 20
by William Shakespeare
directed by Tina Packer
with Daniel Berger-Jones*, Danny Bryck, Paige Clark, De’Lon Grant*, Brooke Hardman*, Ross MacDonald*, Johnnie McQuarley, Maurice Emmanuel Parent*, Bobbie Steinbach*, Michael Forden Walker*, and Robert Walsh*.
Renowned director Tina Packer tackles Shakespeare’s reimagining of the Trojan War – with its passionate love stories, fierce battles, ravaged warriors, and archetypal characters Achilles, Hector, Helen, and Agamemnon – in a contemporary perspective.
