Suffolk Announces Modern Theatre’s Inaugural Season
Featuring Performance, Cinema, and Conversation
By: Mark Favermann - Jan 31, 2011
BOSTON— The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University today announced the programming lineup for its inaugural season, featuring award-winning films, innovative performances and provocative conversations, all of which fulfill the theatre’s mission to engage the community through cultural, social, and civic programming. The following offerings will be part of the Winter-Spring Season of 2011:
Cinema Series
Cinema series during the month of February featuring screenings and conversation with major filmmakers and writers. All events begin at 7pm and are free and open to the public.
February 2-4 — A Michael Cimino Retrospective
The Modern will welcome Academy Award winner Michael Cimino and screen the following films:
- February 2 – Heaven’s Gate
- February 3 – The Deer Hunter
- February 4 – Year of the Dragon, followed by an audience discussion with Michael Cimino moderated by James Carroll.
February 8 — Russian Shorts
The Modern will screen four award-winning films that were recently shown at special events in New York and Washington. Following the screenings, the audience will have the opportunity to talk, via Skype, with the filmmakers in Russia. The films include:
- The Last Day of Bulkin, directed by Aleksey Andrianov (Open World, 2009)
- Phantom of Europe, directed by Igor Morozov (Open World, 2008)
- Tag, directed by Natalia Uglitskikh (Best Short Film – 2009 Boulder International Film Festival)
- Kolyan, directed by Konstantin Smirnov (2010 Kinotavr Festival, 2010 Kustendorf Film and Music Festival).
February 14-17 — A Dennis Lehane Retrospective
The Modern will welcome Boston-based novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane and screen the following award-winning films based on his work:
- February 14 - Gone Baby Gone
- February 15 - Mystic River
- February 16 - Shutter Island
- February 17 - Dennis Lehane will discuss his films, his involvement in award-winning HBO series The Wire and Boston crime drama.
February 24 — Digital Medium: New Aesthetics of the Moving Image
Vlada Petric, founding curator of the Harvard Film Archive will present a lecture discussing montage and special effects in Hollywood films, including excerpts from The Wall of Memories, Petric’s video essay about his own life in film.
Performance Series
Car Talk: The Musical!
March 31 — April 3
The Modern Theatre will present the World Premiere of Car Talk: The Musical! written and directed by Suffolk University Professor Wesley Savick. Inspired by NPR’s hit radio show, Car Talk: The Musical! brings love and joy to Boston drivers. Russell D. Fenders, a hapless middle aged owner of a terminally ill '93 KIA, falls in love with Miata C. La Chassis who convinces him to go to the Emerald Garage to beg the explosive Wizard of Cahs for help.
Shakespeare at the Modern
April 9 — A reading of Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women, a tale of political decadence and violence, directed by Sarah Newhouse and presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, guests at Suffolk University during April and May.
April 11 — A reading of Robert Brustein’s play The Last Will, directed by Daniella Varon. This is the third play of Brustein’s lively trilogy about the life and work of William Shakespeare. Robert Brustein, a celebrated playwright, critic, author and artistic director, is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University.
April 27-May 22 — Antony and Cleopatra
The Actors’ Shakespeare Project present a four-week run of Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy about the powerful leaders whose love and loss created an empire will be directed by Adrianne Krstansky and will feature Elliot-Norton Award-winner Paula Plum as Cleopatra.
Conversation Series
February 10 — Maxine Hong Kingston at the Modern
The Modern will present an evening of poetry and discussion with Maxine Hong Kingston, National Book Award-winning poet, memoirist, and novelist. She will speak about her latest book of poems and personal essays, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life with Fred Marchant, distinguished poet and Director of Suffolk’s Creative Writing Program and Poetry Center.
February 28 — James Carroll at the Modern
Noted author, novelist, filmmaker, columnist for the Boston Globe, and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University, James Carroll will discuss his latest book Jerusalem Jerusalem: The Ancient City that Ignited the Modern World with Robert Jay Lifton, eminent psychiatrist and National Book Award-winning author.
March 3 — Peter Beinart at the Modern
The series will continue on with Peter Beinart, one of the nation’s leading political writers. Beinart will discuss a topic related to President Obama and American foreign policy.
April 7 —David Hoberman at the Modern
David Hoberman is a leading producer in the entertainment industry and has made his mark on more than 100 movies for Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, and Hollywood Pictures. His latest film, acclaimed award-winner The Fighter, featured Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams and Christian Bale. David is currently in pre-production for The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made.
This season marks the official opening of Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, the newest performance space in the Washington Street Theater District. The grand facade of the historic theater, Boston’s first designed specifically for showing movies, has been painstakingly restored and reconstructed as part of the Modern Theatre and residence hall development. Inside, an intimate jewel-box theater showcases central design elements that are a modernization of some of the most distinctive historic features of the 1914 theater. The state-of-the-art, 185-seat venue is ideal for live performances, conversations, readings and film screenings and will promote excellence and innovation through all of its programming. For more about these and other programs at the Modern visit:www.moderntheatre.com.
Suffolk University, located in historic downtown Boston, with international campuses in Madrid and Dakar, Senegal, is a comprehensive global institution distinguished by the teaching and the intellectual and artistic contributions of its faculty. Suffolk University offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs in more than 90 areas of study. Its mission is to provide access to excellence in higher education to students of all ages and backgrounds, with strong emphasis on diversity. Learn more at www.suffolk.edu.
Modern Theatre at Suffolk University
Inaugural Season Calendar at a Glance
The following events are free to the public and begin at 7pm:
Wednesday, February 2 Screening: Heaven’s Gate
Thursday, February 3 Screening: The Deer Hunter
Friday, February 4 An evening with Michael Cimino and
Screening: Year of the Dragon
Tuesday, February 8 Russian Shorts
Thursday, February 10 Maxine Hong Kingston at the Modern
Monday, February 14 Screening: Gone Baby Gone
Tuesday, February 15 Screening: Mystic River
Wednesday, February 16 Screening: Shutter Island
Thursday, February 17 An evening with Dennis Lehane
Thursday, February 24 An evening with Vlada Petric
Monday, February 28 James Carroll at the Modern
Thursday, March 3 Peter Beinart at the Modern
Thursday, April 7 David Hoberman at the Modern
Saturday, April 9 Women Beware Women
Monday, April 11 The Last Will
Extended Engagements:
Car Talk, The Musical!
Thursday, March 31 – Sunday, April 3
8 p.m. Thursday – Saturday
3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets $15 - $30
Antony & Cleopatra presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project
Wednesday, April 27 – Sunday, May 22
Tickets: $21 - $48
Visit www.actorsshakespeareproject.org for performance times, details and tickets to these performances.
Seating for all events at the Modern Theatre is limited, and reservations are highly recommended.