15 theater productions to see in Greater Boston this winter

Theater has the capacity to inform, inspire, educate and change lives for the better. There’s great power in storytelling, and this winter season, theater houses are staging potentially potent productions — rolling world premieres, adaptations and classic tales. Many deal with pertinent issues: depression, racism, identity and healing. Here are 15 productions to consider, from SpeakEasy Stage Company and Front Porch Arts Collective’s “Ain’t No Mo'” to the second installment in Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle, “The Grove,” at The Huntington.

An estimated 5% of people worldwide experience depression, a common mental health disorder where people lose interest in pleasurable activities and experience mood changes, according to the World Health Organization. Duncan Macmillan’s “Every Brilliant Thing” centers on a family affected by depression and a 7-year-old who makes a list of things in life that are worth celebrating. Apollinaire’s production of the play, which has reportedly been staged in over 60 countries, is directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. The show is performed by two different actors on alternating nights and will also offer performances in Spanish, with the last one on Jan. 17.

In Jordan E. Cooper’s satirical play, the U.S. government offers Black Americans a free, one-way ticket to Africa to curb racism. The show, which enjoyed a stint at the Belasco Theatre in 2022 (making Cooper the youngest Black American playwright on Broadway), features a drag queen flight attendant, Miss Peaches, who is in charge of greeting and ushering journeying Black folks to Gate 1619. Acted out in a series of comedic vignettes, the narrative explores Black American life and identity. Front Porch Arts Collective’s Dawn M. Simmons directs.

A father is left to raise his two daughters alone after losing his wife in Lynn Nottage’s “Crumbs from the Table of Joy.” Godfrey copes by digging deeper into the religious teachings of a spiritual teacher, Father Divine, who demands a strict existence. Under their father’s thumb, the two teenagers, Ernestine and Ermina, distract themselves with daydreaming, movies and sweet snacks. But soon, the arrival of their rule-bending, rebellious Aunt Lily and the appearance of a German woman named Gerte change their lives completely. Nottage’s memory play will be directed by Tasia A. Jones, who will also helm Mfoniso Udofia’s “Her Portmanteau” play in the UFOT family cycle this spring.

It’s a battle of wills in August Wilson’s play “The Piano Lesson.” Two siblings, Berniece and her brother Boy Willie, are at odds over what to do with the family piano that was carved by an enslaved ancestor. Should it be kept in the clan to honor their past as Berniece wants, or should it be sold for cold hard cash to help secure their future, as Boy Willie desires? As the two squabble over what should happen, they dig into their past and discover some shocking details. Wilson’s 1987 play — adapted into a 2024 film directed by Denzel Washington and available to stream on Netflix — explores history, inheritance and identity. The play was awarded the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for Best Play at the 1990 Tony Awards. The show, presented in partnership with Hibernian Hall, will be directed by Christopher V. Edwards, ASP’s artistic director.

Amid a fictional war in Cape Town, South Africa, Michael K and his mom make a perilous journey to the home of her youth, Prince Albert. The play, written and directed by Lara Foot, is an adaption of J.M. Coetzee’s 1983 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. In the show, marionettes — courtesy of the Handspring Puppet Company — are used to depict Michael K and his mom as they seek to avoid the war’s turmoil. In this Baxter Theatre Centre and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus production, Michael K discovers his purpose on this voyage to his mother’s homeland.

A pair of Indigenous ghost siblings, Ash and Aaron, have been biding their time by haunting people who try to move into their house, dancing to the music of the past, and wondering when, if and how they will make it to the spirit world in Tara Moses’ horror comedy “Haunted.” Promising to play the coolest Y2K hits, the play aims to push people to consider the land and the relationships we have or don’t have with Native communities. “Haunted” will be produced in partnership with the Boston Public Library and will be directed by Moses, a Seminole/Mvskoke playwright. “Haunted” is the first-ever produced Indigenous play supported by the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere program.

L M Feldman’s “S P A C E” examines the story of the Mercury 13 female pilots and their ancestors (Bessie Coleman and Hazel Ying Lee) and descendants (Mae Jemison and Sally Ride)  during a national Civil Rights Space Race. Feldman aspires to develop plays about women and queer people she finds in the margins of history, according to a bio on NewPlayExchange.org. But often, if not always, what Feldman uncovers spurs more questions. In “S P A C E,” the play considers how marginalized women, people of color, immigrants and other groups navigate systems to succeed and what lessons can be learned from failures. Larissa Lury will direct the Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science and Catalyst Collaborative@MIT production.

Fanny Brice, a New Yorker from the Lower East Side, always wanted to make it big onstage. Despite naysayers, she made her dreams come true and ended up a celebrated Broadway performer. Brice’s journey comes to life in Harvey Fierstein’s revival of the comedy “Funny Girl,” based on the original musical penned by Isobel Lennart, featuring a score by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill. Cast members will dance and sing songs like “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “People” and “I’m the Greatest Star.” The show features tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, who recently wrote and starred in her moving theatrical memoir “Diary of A Tap Dancer,” with additional choreography provided by Ellenore Scott and direction from Michael Mayer.

In “The Grove,” the second installment of playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle, matriarch Abasiama’s daughter, Adiaha, has to make an important choice. The family has come together to celebrate her graduation, and the air is filled with expectation. Her parents want her to settle down with a traditional Nigerian man and have a family. But Adiaha has her own plans to become a writer and be with the person she chooses to love. Doing so, however, could make things difficult. The play is set against the backdrop of a Greek chorus of ancestors. “The Grove” will be directed by Udofia’s longtime collaborator Awoye Timpo, who helmed The Huntington’s 2022 production of “The Bluest Eye.”

Lauded writer Kate Hamill (“Sense & Sensibility,” “Dracula”) has reimagined Homer’s epic “Odyssey” using a contemporary lens in the American Repertory Theater’s production, directed by Shana Cooper. In the original tale, Odysseus returns home to his wife Penelope after the Trojan War and struggles to reestablish himself as king. Hamill’s version “asks how we can learn to embrace healing and forgiveness to end cycles of violence and revenge,” according to the show’s description. Development workshops and a reading were held in the fall of 2023.

In 1960s Dublin, bus conductor Alfie Byrne leans on the poetry of Oscar Wilde and staging productions with his local theater group, the St. Imelda Players, for fun and inspiration in Terrence McNally’s “A Man of No Importance.” However, when one of his shows, a production of Oscar Wilde’s “Salome,” a tale about temptation featuring biblical characters, is shut down by church leaders, Alfie must confront the forces of bigotry. This musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime”), with themes centering on the power of theater and friendship, is the last directorial effort of Paul Daigneault, SpeakEasy’s artistic director, before his departure. This is the New England Premiere of this recently reimagined version featuring onstage musicians.

A longtime friendship between Serge, Marc and Yvan gets rocky when Serge buys a painting for an astronomical fee in French playwright Yasmina Reza’s “ART.” Soon, they find themselves debating over long-held ideals and what feels like betrayal. Through dialogue and monologues, the friends examine what they really know (or don’t) about each other. Audiences will learn if the friction between them will force them to cut ties permanently or if this misunderstanding can help them grow together and accept one another. Courtney O’Connor will direct.

Frank McCourt explores Irish history  through storytelling and music in the musical comedy “The Irish and How They Got That Way.” Heavily researched by the late McCourt, the play has four actors and accompanists who move audiences through time and shed light on how the Irish were regarded, the tragic potato famine in Ireland and their immigration to America. The show features original music arrangements by Rusty Magee and is directed by A. Nora Long.

About a decade ago, performer, writer and director Madeline Sayet, a member of the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut, traveled overseas to get a Ph.D. in Shakespeare and ended up on a “journey of self-discovery.” As a result, Sayet wrote a one-woman show, “Where We Belong,” that harnesses the power of storytelling to delve into personal and cultural history as she searched for belonging. The theater-maker's work, which has been staged by The Public Theater, Seattle Repertory and Woolly Mammoth Theatres, is shaped by the idea of story medicine, which is the belief that every story we put into the world can harm or heal, she wrote on her website. This staging is the New England Premiere of “Where We Belong.”

Load YouTube video

A princess finds love at first sight in this French comedy, “A Triumph of Love,” by 18th-century playwright Pierre de Marivaux. To win the heart of her intended, the princess must disguise herself. Love and seduction collide with politics, a plot for a coup and other complications in this production, translated by Stephen Wadsworth. Loretta Greco, the Huntington’s artistic director, will direct.