The Nora
The Nora promotes the feminine perspective through mainstage productions, “That’s What She Said” events, providing opportunity, support and mentoring for female artists and the exploration of gender and feminism.
The Nora began in 1987 with a production of Edna O’Brien’s play, Virginia, about the celebrated author, Virginia Woolf, at the former Lyric Stage space on Charles Street. Before moving to Central Square Theater in 2008, The Nora also resided at the Harvard Freshman Union, where we established an internship program with Harvard freshmen, and at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre where audiences were introduced to many of the Greater Boston, New England, and World premieres produced by the company. Throughout the tenure of Founding Artistic Director Mary C. Huntington, The Nora has received many awards and citations for the outstanding quality of its work, including Elliot Norton Awards, IRNE Awards, and mentions in “Best of” lists from, among others, The Boston Globe, EDGE Boston, and Boston Phoenix. The Nora also is a recipient of the inaugural 50/50 Applause Award from the International Centre for Women Playwrights. In 2014 Ms. Huntington handed the reins to Lee Mikeska Gardner after a national search for the next generation of leadership. Since then, The Nora has continues the legacy of critical acclaim and awards and nominations including Her Aching Heart, Arcadia, The Women Who Mapped the Stars, Saving Kitty (with Jennifer Coolidge,) Precious Little, Emilie, and Grounded, of which the latter two received a “Best Of” nod in The Boston Globe. The Nora scooped the Best Actress Elliot Norton award two years in a row with Lee Mikeska Gardner (Emilie) and Jennifer Coolidge (Saving Kitty) receiving the award in 2015 and 2016 along with Nancy Carroll winning an IRNE for Precious Little in 2018.
Produced Shows
Queens Girl In the World
A funny, heartfelt tour de force solo show with one actor portraying over a dozen characters!
The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Lee Mikeska Gardner & Debra Wise light up the stage like radioactive isotopes in this two-hander.
Cloud 9
A provocative, exuberant, time-shifting comedy that is both a parody and spoof of the ever-changing world of sexual politics.
A Christmas Carol (2019)
All the trappings – sights, sounds, and scents – of a Victorian Christmas fill the theater with magic.
Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze
Truth Values speaks to the challenges women face in math and science at a time when, finally, people are listening.
Frankenstein
Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s classic gothic tale that created the science fiction genre, Frankenstein brings urgent concerns about scientific responsibility and the nature of good and evil.
A Christmas Carol (2018)
All the trappings – sights, sounds, and scents – of a Victorian Christmas fill the theater with magic.
Photograph 51
London, 1952.British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin’s discovery leads to the Nobel Prize – not for her, but for three men: Francis Crick, James Dewey Watson, and Maurice Wilkins.
The Revolutionists
Lauren Gunderson examines feminism, extremism, art, and how we actually go about changing the world.
A Christmas Carol (2017)
All the trappings – sights, sounds, and scents – of a Victorian Christmas fill the theater with magic.
Proof
A moving exploration of the nature of genius, women in mathematics, and father-daughter relationships.
The Women Who Mapped the Stars
The untold story of brave women in science who paved the way for previously impossible advances in astronomy.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Money, mayhem and men – see why Lee Mikeska Gardner’s production was hailed as “Gutsy… groundbreaking theater” by DCist.
The Midvale High School Fiftieth Reunion
Emmy winning actor Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) stars in Alan Brody’s (Operation Epsilon) romantic comedy about how we remember, how we choose and how we never stop looking for love.
Intimate Exchanges
Two actors. Six characters. Four different courses of action. What will happen next?
Precious Little
A research linguist, Brodie, receives genetic testing results: her unborn child may never be able to learn a language. Her girlfriend’s unsympathetic; her genetic counselor’s a rookie; her own uncompromising intellect betrays her. Her search for guidance takes her to unexpected places. Three actresses play multiple roles – including a gorilla – in Madeleine George’s […]
Journey to the West
Journey to the West promises to be a comic adventure for all ages celebrating the vitality of human perseverance.
Garden Party Gala Celebration
CST’s Annual Gala is April 12th! Join us for a seated dinner and more on the set of Arcadia!
Bedlam’s Twelfth Night
One play, two completely different ways, with the same five actors. Bedlam returns to Central Square Theater after last season’s Saint Joan, specializing in classical revivals that are both radically innovative and winningly playful. This year they bring their successful Twelfth Night playing in rep with… itself. Two different versions of the same play, both […]
Bedlam’s What You Will
One play, two completely different ways, with the same five actors. Bedlam returns to Central Square Theater after last season’s Saint Joan, specializing in classical revivals that are both radically innovative and winningly playful. This year they bring their successful Twelfth Night playing in rep with… itself. Two different versions of the same play, both […]
Saving Kitty Benefit Performance
Join us for a very special, one night only benefit performance of Saving Kitty!
Decade of Discovery Gala
This event is sold out. If you would like to contribute anyway, please see below for donation options!
Arabian Nights (2014)
Join us and be transformed by the power of storytelling – again! The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater revive their award-winning production (2012 Independent Reviewers of New England Awards for Best Ensemble, Best Puppetry, Best Costumes, and Best Director) of Dominic Cooke’s Arabian Nights.
Her Aching Heart
Two actresses portraying every character – including the men who long for them! Bryony Lavery has crafted a satirical romantic potboiler, complete with songs and miracles.
Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight
Tonight, Emilie du Châtelet, leading physicist (before there was such a word), card shark and all-around bad ass during the Age of Enlightenment returns searching for answers: Love or Philosophy? Head or Heart?
Grounded
Grounded was named a Top 10 Play of 2013 by The Guardian and the London Evening Standard, Grounded was nominated for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.
Cassandra Speaks
Acclaimed Shakespeare & Company actress Tod Randolph portrays Dorothy Thompson in this passionate, funny, tell-all about one of the most charismatic women of the 20th century.
Insignificance
It’s 1953. An actress who might be Marilyn Monroe knocks on the door of a dingy hotel room where a Professor – Albert Einstein? – is calculating the shape of the universe. Her husband, a baseball player, is jealous. And a zealous, sweaty Senator is looking for “Reds.” Terry Johnson (of The Nora’s Hysteria) conjures […]
The Other Place
Renowned neurologist Juliana Smithton’s life is unraveling: her husband is leaving her and a betrayal has led to an estrangement from her daughter – all while Juliana is in the midst of a medical crisis.
Operation Epsilon
It’s the close of World War II – the dawn of the atomic age. The Allies have captured Germany’s top ten nuclear scientists and sequestered them at Farm Hall– a lavish estate in England – keeping them under surveillance to learn what they know about the American nuclear program and to gauge how close the […]
The How and The Why
On the eve of a national conference Zelda (Underground Railway Theater Artistic Director, Debra Wise), an acclaimed evolutionary biologist, is visited by Rachel, an ambitious graduate student. The two women share a zeal for science, a bold and contrarian approach to the male-dominated field, and much more. During the course of the visit, the young […]
We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!
The Nora speaks to the times with Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo’s work of politics and hilarity, We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!. The housewives have had enough! Prices are high and getting higher. It’s time to take things into their own hands since no one else will! But how to keep their husbands from finding […]
Silver Spoon
Set in the late 1960s, Silver Spoon, the new romantic musical comedy by Cambridge’s Amy Merrill (book) and Si Kahn (music and lyrics), is a love story about the dividing lines of personal convictions and class. Polly Bullock is leading a double life, working by day in her family’s Wall Street brokerage firm while editing […]
A Moon for the Misbegotten
The Nora Theatre Company revives Eugene O’Neill’s enduring masterpiece, bringing together two of his most memorable characters: Josie Hogan, the tough-talking daughter of an Irish immigrant, and Jim Tyrone, first introduced in the autobiographical Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Uniquely funny and poignant, A Moon for the Misbegotten illuminates a search for redemption through an […]
Photograph 51 (2012)
In 1951, British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin became a research associate at King’s College in London, where her X-ray imaging revealed DNA’s double helix structure, leading to the Nobel Prize for Francis Crick, James Dewey Watson, and Maurice Wilkins. As told with wit and urgency by a chorus of scientists who relive the competitive chase to […]
Arabian Nights (2011)
Enter ancient Persia, and be transformed by the power of storytelling. King Shahrayar, after being driven mad by his first wife’s infidelity, brands all women unfaithful. He takes a new bride every night, until he meets Shahrazad, who enchants him with magical tales spanning the globe, winning his love and respect in the process. Based […]
Women of Will
Women of Will, the masterwork of Shakespeare & Company’s Founding Artistic Director, Tina Packer, is the culmination of her decades-long fascination with Shakespeare’s heroines. Through a combination of scenes, monologues, and sparkling commentary, Ms. Packer takes us on a journey, illuminating the evolution of the feminine in Shakespeare’s plays, and in so doing, showing us […]
Hysteria
Salvador Dali arrives at Sigmund Freud’s house for tea, but what he really wants is to paint the patron saint of Surrealism. But if Freud is convinced that all Surrealists are fools, why would he agree to meet with a lunatic? Meanwhile, a young, attractive student has also arrived, seeking the doctor’s professional opinion, and […]
The Lady With All The Answers
The Nora Theatre Company stages the Boston-Area Premiere of David Rambo’s riotous and touching play about everyone’s favorite advice columnist: Ann Landers. Over the course of a long night in 1975 Chicago, “the lady with all the answers” for others grapples with a dilemma of her own. While revisiting favorite columns on such topics as […]
Not Enough Air
Local playwright Masha Obolensky electrifies with this “vivid” and “riveting” script, in its East Coast Premiere by The Nora Theatre Company. Drawn into the sensational 1920’s murder trial of Ruth Snyder, famed journalist-turned-playwright Sophie Treadwell finds herself compelled to give voice to Ruth’s story through her landmark play, Machinal.
The Caretaker
In celebration of Harold Pinter (1930-2008), described as “the most original, disturbing, and arresting talent,” The Nora Theatre Company brings to life one of his greatest psychological dramas, helmed by Associate Director Daniel Gidron. When an elderly tramp is given lodging in the derelict home of two brothers, the ensuing relationships and shifting alliances intensify […]