Here’s PART III of my take on the rush of fall theater season openers in and around Boston, in order of how long they are open to help you plan!

Photo: Ken Yotsukura

If you thought your wedding was hard to plan– this one’s a load. THE CEREMONY is a world premiere and the sixth in the UFOT FAMILY CYCLE of plays by Mfoniso Udofia based on her Nigerian roots. The titular ceremony is a wedding between the eldest Ufot family son Ekong (Kadahj Bennett) and Nepali American Lumanti Rathi (Mahima Saigal). They each arrive at this marital juncture carrying a mountain of family baggage, and must figure out what they will bring into this union, what they will leave behind, what they must repack, and what they must invent– individually and as a couple in order to form a more perfect union.

For a dramatic script, it’s almost too much to cover. Director Kevin R. Free has his hands full orchestrating a sprawling cast of intergenerational characters, three different languages — Ibibio, Nepali, English– and layers of internal and external conflict literally played out on two levels of BU’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre. But this skilled ensemble keeps us focused and puts a vivid stamp on each character, especially Adrian Roberts in a fearsome performance as Ekong’s father Disciple whose abandonment and abuse of his son have come home to roost. Ekong’s fixation on the TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air which supplies what his own father didn’t is continually playing onscreen in the background. While the show grows intrusive and is overused as comic relief, it does underscore the impact of American pop culture on identity.

But the script does a great job of carving out the details of the complex inner lives of these characters in a way that is accessible, universal but also unique. An even-handed dignity applies as this ever growing Ufot family heads toward another fork in the road, that fateful wedding day when a new path and new rituals will be forged. You might even dance at this wedding!

The cooperating entities behind the production evidence the collaborative spirit animating the work itself: presented by the Asian American-run theater company Chuang Stage, in cooperation with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and the BU School of Theatre, propelled by The Huntington. SEE THE CEREMONY THROUGH October 5!

David J. Castillo and Janelle Grace/Benjamin Rose Photography

THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA by Jez Butterworth and directed by Loretta Greco opened the season at THE HUNTINGTON and gave me whiplash. Set in Blackpool England in the 70’s, a mother lies dying upstairs while her daughters gather below. The play flashes back to the family during the 50’s as mom tries to help her daughters break into showbiz with the now dated music of the Andrews Sisters– which foreshadows the way each of these daughters/sisters still trail the past. Two sets of sisters- a cast of teens and a cast of adults, along with two gloriously detailed sets (Andrew Boyce, Se Hyun Oh) toggle with the action, back and forth in time—from the 70’s, to the 50’s, to the hit tunes of the 40’s. Trailer HERE.

The play is slow to take off. ACT I is VERY talky, overloaded with exposition, and hard to understand through thick northern English accents. We also get a pretty good idea of the looming conflict which seems like all too predictable terrain.

Then Act II happens. The earth moves as decades of pent up tension explode in an earthquake of revelation and catharsis. I clutched at the release and redemption. Long lost daughter Joan returns, played by Allison Jean White in a stunning dual role as mother and daughter.  Memories are shared, the whole truth comes out, and all the pieces fall together, leaving each of the daughters a new puzzle: how to reassemble their identities around fresh understanding, how to reconcile their relationships, and how to move on. Butterworth makes a point of illuminating how members of the same family can have radically different but valid experiences, and how these differing perceptions can unravel family ties. SEE THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA through October 12!

A simple play called PRIMARY TRUST opened SPEAKEASY STAGE‘s season and I couldn’t figure out why it won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Written by Eboni Booth and directed by Dawn M. Simmons, Primary Trust is a straightforward tale about compassion centered on a lonely man named Kenneth (David J. Castillo) who loses his day job in a used book store, and drinks Mai Tais by night at his favorite bar with his only friend Bert (Arthur Gomez). Bert is imaginary. We know this because Kenneth breaks the fourth wall, as he does throughout, and tells us so.

Written during COVID when folks felt disconnected and lonely, the play was a cry for connection. Now in the aftermath, the play lands like a faint cry in the desert. Post COVID, our isolation and alienation is the result of perhaps an even more insidious epidemic– of warped truth,  social media trolls, and crucifixion by cancellation and mass shootings. So when Kenneth, who is emotionally/psychologically damaged from childhood trauma, takes a risk on friendship and a new job at the Primary Trust Bank, it’s like he’s landed in Oz.  His new boss (Luis Negrón) and a friendly new waitress (Janelle Grace) appear out of nowhere with understanding to spare. There were sweet moments which made me long for a world where empathy and compassion are a lived experience every day for everyone. These tenderly drawn characters show us the way. I wish the play had made me believe it. At SPEAKEASY STAGE through October 11!