Repertory Theatre Opens Its Season With an Ambitious and Closely Watched New Program

The Brookline Repertory Theatre opened its new season on Friday evening to a full house and what the company's artistic director, speaking afterward in the lobby, described as the most gratifying first night he could remember. The production, a substantial revival of a work that has not been staged in this region in more than a decade, was received with sustained applause and the sort of engaged, attentive silence during performance that actors and directors tend to describe, afterward, as the audience doing its job.

The production benefits from a cast that includes several performers with strong regional ties alongside others appearing here for the first time. The combination produces an ensemble quality that is evident from the opening scene — a quality of genuine attention to one another that is less common on regional stages than audiences might expect and more valuable than it is usually credited for being.

"Theatre at its best reminds a community of something it already knows about itself but has not recently had occasion to say aloud."

The company's season continues through the spring and includes four additional productions, among them a new work by a regional playwright whose previous two pieces were staged by smaller companies in the area to considerable notice. The theatre has positioned the new work as a centerpiece of its season, which suggests a confidence in both the material and the playwright that the region's arts community will be watching closely.

Tickets remain available for most performances. Readers wishing to support the theatre's programming may contact the box office directly.