Tony & Pulitzer Prize-Winning Musical 'A Strange Loop' Comes to Boston in April

SpeakEasy Stage Company and Front Porch Arts Collective ("the Porch") present the New England premiere of Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical, "A Strange Loop." The production runs April 26 through May 25, 2024, at the Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Estimated run time is 1 hour, 40 minutes with no intermission.

Michael R. Jackson's blisteringly funny show exposes the heart and soul of Usher, a young artist grappling with desires, identity, and instincts he loves and loathes in equal measure. While tolerating a grinding job guiding families in and out of theater performances, the Black queer writer's inner thoughts turn to an artistic endeavor: writing a musical about a Black, queer writer writing a musical about a Black, queer writer. Hobbled by negative self-talk and hell-bent on breaking
free from it, Usher wrestles with his thoughts (portrayed by a cast of talented actors) in an attempt to move past this "strange loop."

Boston native Kai Clifton plays Usher, alongside cast mates Grant Evan, De'Lon Grant, Jonathan Melo, Zion Middleton, Davron S. Monroe and Aaron Michael Ray. Full bios can be found on SpeakEasy's "A Strange Loop" webpage.

"A Strange Loop" is directed by award-winning actor, director and educator Maurice Emmanuel Parent, co-Producing Artistic Director for the Porch. Parent previously helmed "Choir Boy" at SpeakEasy. His directing credits also include: "Breath and Imagination" (Lyric Stage); 2023 Elliot Norton Award Nominee "Ain't Misbehavin'" (Front Porch Arts Collective, Central Square Theater and Greater Boston Stage); and "Seven Guitars" (Actors' Shakespeare Project -- 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director). Parent is Professor of the Practice at Tufts University's Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Other members of the "A Strange Loop" creative team include music director/conductor David Freeman Coleman, choreographer Taavon Gamble, intimacy director Greg Geffard, and assistant intimacy director Phoebe Gonzalez. The design team is Jon Savage (scenic design), Brian J. Lilienthal (lighting), Becca Jewett (costumes), David Remedios (sound), and Emme Shaw (props). The production stage manager is Elizabeth Ramirez.

Tickets start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, veterans, and people under 35. Tickets and more information are available online at BostonTheatreScene.com, by phone at 617.933.8600, or in person at the Calderwood Pavilion Box Office at 527 Tremont Street in Boston.

Estimated run time is 1 hour, 40 minutes with no intermission.

"A Strange Loop" opened Off-Broadway in June 2019. Stephen Brackett directed original cast members Larry Owens, L Morgan Lee, James Jackson Jr., Elijah Caldwell, John-Andrew Morrison, Jason Veasey, and Jamaal Clark Turpin. The show moved to Washington, D.C. for a production by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where it opened in December 2021, after postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The play made its Broadway debut in April 2022 at the Lyceum Theatre, featuring Jaquel Spivey as Usher. It ran for 314 performances and won two Tony Awards.

Michael R. Jackson (Book, Music & Lyrics) was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2022. For his work on "A Strange Loop," he won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony Award for Best Musical. He also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for "White Girl in Danger "and the book and lyrics for the current Off-Broadway hit "Teeth." Awards and associations include: a New Professional Theatre Festival Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant, a Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, an ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award, a Whiting Award, the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award, an Antonyo Award, a Fred Ebb Award, a Windham-Campbell Prize, a Dramatist Guild Fellowship. He is also an alum of Page 73's Interstate 73 Writers Group. (he/him)