Kristina Wong, Food Bank Influencer

Self-proclaimed “Food Bank Influencer” Kristina Wong offers her rendition of the American Musical that nobody asked for by celebrating our emergency food system. Having experienced food distribution (or lack thereof) from New York to the Navajo Nation, Wong shares irreverent commentary while illuminating American food insecurity and the subsequent national pastime that is collecting and giving away free food. But, how will she pull this off with humor? It’s a SNAP! (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that is!)&nbsp; Join us for the sing-a-long show you never knew you needed (you’ll even leave with some food to take home).

Robert J. Orchard

Hang Time

Three brothers shoot the breeze under an old, wide tree. In this exploration of intergenerational bonds, we peek into the interior worlds—the great loves and bitter blues—of Black men in America. Hang Time is a deeply moving and subversive work by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Zora Howard starring Kamal Bolden, Brian D. Coats, and Bryce Foley.

Liebergott Black Box Theatre

The 4th Witch

The 4th Witch is a fantastic new tale, inspired by elements of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in which a girl escapes war and seeks protection from three witches. They agree to take her on as an apprentice with only one condition: she must never use her powers for revenge. Consumed by grief and rage, the girl comes to realize that it was Macbeth who killed her parents. Now she must choose between reconciliation or vengeance.&nbsp; Told through inventive practical effects executed in plain sight, the troupe brilliantly employs shadow puppetry, live music and actors in silhouette, to create an entire new world in The 4th Witch. Manual Cinema has built a devoted fanbase in Boston over the course of their thrilling past productions at ArtsEmerson including Ada/Ava and Frankenstein. Do not miss their triumphant return this fall!

SpaceBridge

SpaceBridge brings together Russian refugee children—who fled to the U.S. due to their families’ anti-war stance and now live in NYC shelters—with American peers to build a more welcoming world where their new friendships can thrive and grow. Created by Irina Kruzhilina, the piece centers children we seldom consider: Russian youth affected by the war in Ukraine. It follows their efforts to integrate into American society, where they often encounter suspicion, bullying, and a lack of empathy. SpaceBridge draws its inspiration from two significant historical events: the 1983 peace mission to the USSR led by 11-year-old American activist Samantha Smith, who bridged the gap between American and Russian children during the Cold War; and the satellite-mediated “citizens’ debates”, known as “spacebridges” between the US and the USSR, which prompted unfiltered and uncensored conversations between ordinary people from both cultures. The performance emerged from a series of storytelling workshops with immigrant and non-immigrant youth which used art and performance to spark dialogue about the realities faced by young refugees in the US. SpaceBridge was originally presented by La MaMa ETC in association with En Garde Arts and Visual Echo, as part of the Under the Radar Festival in NYC.&nbsp;

Noli Timere

Noli Timere is a soaring aerial performance featuring eight extraordinary, multidisciplinary performers moving over and within a custom designed net sculpture, suspended up to 25 feet in the air. Conceived by Guggenheim Award-winning choreographer Rebecca Lazier in partnership with world renowned sculptor Janet Echelman, Noli Timere presents a seamless, symbiotic interaction between movement and sculpture in which both are continually reshaped and transformed by one another. Created with original music by acclaimed Quebecoise composer Jorane, Noli Timere fuses contemporary dance and avant-garde circus with art installation and advanced engineering, to question how one navigates an unstable world. The culmination of a 5-year collaboration, Noli Timere, Latin for ‘be not afraid’, uniquely renders interconnectedness visible and tangible–demonstrating, like the Butterfly Effect, how a change in one element generates cascading reverberations throughout a whole system. Noli Timere offers a mesmerizing kinesthetic metaphor and meditation upon the challenges of global interconnection.

Cutler Majestic Theater

The Things Around Us

Composed, Written, and Performed by Ahamefule J. Oluo The Things Around Us is a dazzling, funny, and introspective new work from acclaimed musician, artist, and storyteller Ahamefule J. Oluo. In this one-person-show, Oluo builds layers of live, looped music and then tells us revealing, personal stories to create an introspective evening about strangers, acquaintances, and friends—and how all three might be more similar to each other than we often think. It is the third in a trilogy of shows from Oluo, following Now I’m Fine and Susan. Using looping technology, trumpet, vocals, cardboard shipping boxes for drums, and other instruments, Oluo creates an expansive symphony that becomes the perfect soundtrack to Oluo’s personal reflections, laugh out loud stories, and universal observations about life. The Things Around Us is an evening that will draw you in and remind you of the beauty that surrounds all of the people and places we hold dear.

Dead as a Dodo

Deep within the underworld, a skeleton Dodo and boy dig daily for fresh bones to replace their deteriorating ones, desperately trying to keep from disappearing. But one day, the Dodo miraculously sprouts feathers–and everything changes. The transformation sends the two friends into a chaotic journey as they flee the wrath of the Skeleton King and fight to stay together as they are drawn into the heart of an epic battle between life and death.&nbsp; From Wakka Wakka, Dead as a Dodo is an inspirational musical odyssey about true friendship and the will to survive against all odds. Together, the impossible can become the possible.

In Old Age

Abasiama Ufot, still living in the house of her deceased husband, forms an unexpected spiritual bond with Azell Abernathy, a soft-spoken, church-going carpenter. As their connection deepens, and Abasiama’s house–and soul–become clearer, she comes to understand the true nature of love, sending her off on one last journey through life.&nbsp; The penultimate piece of Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-part play Ufot Family Cycle, In Old Age comes to ArtsEmerson in partnership with Front Porch Arts Collective as part of a two-year, citywide production of Udofia’s epic in Boston.

The Secret Sharer

DNAWORKS’s bold, world premiere adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s 1909 novella The Secret Sharer transforms the text into a powerful multimedia performance blending dance, music, sound, text, and art installation. Often considered an early Queer text, The Secret Sharer tells the story of two men—a ship’s Captain and a stowaway accused of murder—and the bond the two develop as the stowaway is secretly sheltered in the Captain’s quarters.&nbsp; In keeping with DNAWORKS’s signature storycircle practice, audience members create the ship’s perimeter and are invited to share their own stories throughout the performance, inviting a collaborative space where audiences co-create the environment.&nbsp; In the face of violence and discrimination, the characters at the center of this story reveal the healing which often arises in the presence of vulnerability, intimacy, and resilience.

The Glassworker

Without art and music, what do we have in this world full of conflict and war? OFFICIAL SELECTION: Annecy Festival 2024 From Mano Animation Studios and director Usman Riaz comes ‘The Glassworker,’ an original hand drawn animated feature film. A young Vincent and his father Tomas run the finest glass workshop in the country and find their lives upended by an impending war in which they want no part. The arrival in their town of an army colonel and his young, talented, violinist daughter, Alliz, shakes their reality and tests the relationship between father and son. The love that develops between Vincent and Alliz is challenged constantly by the differing views of their fathers. It is a time when patriotism and social standing are considered more important than free thought and artistic pursuits. It is a time when love is just not relevant. “The Glassworker is the very first hand-drawn movie from Pakistan, where there is no infrastructure for fiilmmaking, let alone animation.” – Usman Riaz, Director

Mugar Omni Theater Museum Of Science

Utopian Hotline

You enter the Planetarium, put on your headphones, and the journey begins. In Utopian Hotline, you’ll hear from everyone from astronauts to your neighbors as they all answer the same question: “How would you envision a more perfect future?” Their responses are sure to surprise and inspire you. Inspired by the NASA Voyager mission—which launched a golden record of the sounds of Earth into space in 1977—this incredible, innovative journey into the cosmos reminds us all of humanity’s capacity for hope and optimism towards the future. Using real voicemails, experimental, original music, and spectacular visuals projected onto the Museum of Science’s Planetarium, Brooklyn’s Theater Mitu creates a one-of-a-kind experience unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. The World Premiere of the Planetarium Version of Utopian Hotline is a new vision for the future—our future. Ready to reach for the stars? Call 646-694-8050 to leave YOUR message for the Utopian Hotline and then secure your spot inside this spring’s most unique theatrical experience in Boston and beyond.

Museum of Science, Planetarium

The Truer History of the Chan Family

Chinese American playwright and wannabe social influencer seeks fame and fortune, American-style – by exploiting her family’s Gold Rush history as sex traffickers and vaudevillians, only to be set straight by family ghosts in a musical odyssey through America’s anti-Asian hate and filial Chinese expectation.

Bright Family Screening Room (BFSR)

Power

A cogent essay film inviting conscious engagement and reflection on a system of control that has gone largely unquestioned, Power is a sweeping chronicle of the history and evolution of policing in the U.S. With assured precision and deep insight, filmmaker Yance Ford, (U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling, 2017 Sundance Film Festival) compellingly argues that the perceived danger of race to the status quo is central to the origins of policing and to its unchecked expansion. Asking pointed, uncomfortable questions about privilege and class; about who belongs to the social order and who is excluded; and about our collective responsibility in actively or tacitly permitting those in power to escape accountability, Power confronts us with the prescient words of Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

Come Home, My Child

For more than two decades, Mama Yang, a Taiwanese immigrant, has dedicated her life to corresponding with inmates in New York’s prison system. Filmed over ten years, the documentary follows Mama Yang’s extraordinary life journey as she tells the stories of a group of people who encounter each other in a world of loneliness.

Igualada

In Colombia, a nation marred by profound racial and socio-economic disparities, a Black woman from a rural background challenges the status quo by launching a presidential campaign. Reappropriating the term “Igualada,” Francia Márquez, catapults a movement to the upper echelons of power, by refusing to “know her place.” Fifteen years in the making, this documentary peels back the curtain on how unprecedented change can happen.

S22: conversations

Wondering what to do in Boston? Places to eat? Free activities? Good for a group? Date night spot? Girls night out? The best things to do? Ask Joyraft!

Best places to go in Boston? Things to do? Places to eat?

Questions & answers about things to do in Boston

Recs 💬

Community recs 💬

S4: top picks

The most fun, cool and unique things to do in Boston. Can’t miss events, shows and experiences. Concerts, restaurants, bars, free things in Boston and beyond.

The most fun and cool events happening around Boston

Hot and new things to do in Boston

Hot & new

Hot & new 🔥

S11: happening this weekend

What to do in Boston this weekend? From festivals, concerts, performances, free events, screenings and more, Joyraft has the best things to do in Boston.

25+ things to do in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville this weekend

Things to do in Boston this weekend

This wknd

This weekend for you

S21: roundups

Our top picks: outdoor dining, free events, spring festivals, best bars, upcoming concerts, museum parties - the latest in and around Boston.  Slug: joyraft-top-picks-best-things-to-do-boston-ma

Top picks of the best things to do in and around Boston

Joyraft picks: Boston’s best things to do

Roundups ⭐️

Curated by Joyraft ⭐️

S28: calendar experiences

This week in Boston

This week in Boston 📆

This week 📆

S20: c+d experiences

Discover new, unique events and experiences happening in and around Boston. Perfect for date night, good for a group or with a friend. Be the first to know.

The newest events happening in and around Boston

The newest events on Joyraft

Just added

Just added to Joyraft

S16: editor picks

The most unique and can’t miss things coming up in Boston / Cambridge / Somerville and beyond. Festivals, food, drinks, fairs, concerts, art and free activities.

Unique and Can’t Miss Things to Do in Boston

Can’t-miss things to do in Boston 🚨

Can't-miss things to do 🚨

S2 (A): top experiences

The most popular things to do on Joyraft. Concerts, restaurants, bars, events, parties, openings, kid friendly, date ideas, free things in Boston and beyond.

Top 20 things to do in Boston

Top 20: Joyraft’s most popular

Top 20

Top 20 on Joyraft

S3 (A): trending experiences

Discover can’t miss events and things to do in Boston. The most fun, unique and cool events coming to the Boston area this spring and summer.

The hottest events happening in Boston

Trending events on Joyraft

Trending 📈

S17: interest based

Your guide to everything free in and around Boston. From events, to fairs, to festivals, to outdoors. Joyraft has all the free events happening near you.

100+ free things to do in Boston and beyond

Free things to do in Boston

Free things to do

S19: interest based

Kid-friendly events in Boston

S18: interest based

Where to eat and drink in Boston? Joyraft has Boston’s newest bars, restaurants and specials. Drinks and pre fixe dinner menus. Cambridge & Somerville too.

Where

joyraft.host1374

Experiences