Imagining a better world or fearing a markedly worse one is often at the center of sci-fi narratives both onstage and off. As the omicron variant continues to spread in this nearly two-year-long pandemic, many of us might find ourselves imagining what it’s like to be free of it. Recently, the variant’s impact has forced theaters, locally and beyond, to suspend some new productions and hasten the end of the runs of a few existing ones. It’s apropos then that this winter season, many companies — some who still have virtual options in addition to in-person — will continue to host panels centering important conversations and feature stories that contend with the issues that plague us, from climate change to identity, disease, and dystopian futures. Here are 10 productions that aspire to push theatergoers to consider cultivating new ways of thinking and spur them to action. Read more.
WBUR
Artist Nick Cave’s Vibrant 'Augment' Inflatables To Come Down
A year before “Black Joy Day” was declared in Boston, prolific Black artist Nick Cave led a “Joy Parade” from the South End to Upham’s Corner in Dorchester. Aspiring to bridge the two communities, hundreds of local artists, costumed street performers and members of the public flooded the streets with exuberance. The event was part of a larger effort spearheaded by nonprofit Now + There in collaboration with Design Studio for Social Intervention (ds4si) among others to engage the public around Cave’s multipart work “Augment,” anchored in togetherness, assemblage and finding joy in sadness. Full of bright billowing inflatable spiders, birthday cakes, horns and more, the piece — first displayed at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Cyclorama and now at Upham’s Corner — feels both joyful and dark. Soon though, on Oct. 19, Cave’s celebrated larger-than-life inflatables portion of “Augment” will come down.
But what does it mean for a neighborhood when art is removed or uninstalled?
Lori Lobenstine, program lead at ds4si says, “I think there's a sense of loss.” But the process around the removal matters too. That’s why Lobenstine and her team along with Now + There have been trying to get the word out. She was relieved to hear that the second part of “Augment,” the bold building wrap at 555 Columbia Rd. in which Cave incorporated the art of local residents, “is staying up as long as it looks good,” she says. Read more.
