The Minutes

GREATER BOSTON PREMIERE 

By Tracy Letts 

Main Stage Theater 144 

Mar 1 - 24, 2024 

Run time: ~95 minutes

Boston Theater Critics Association CRITICS PICK

"The Smallest Towns Hide the Biggest Secrets"

An evening in Big Cherry – a small town in anywhere USA – and the city council meeting unfolds in real time, unmasking undercurrents that threaten to undo life as they know it … and driving the question, “How far would you go?”

Award-winning playwright Tracy Letts’ (August: Osage County) new play was called one of the most thrilling on Broadway in recent years. Nominated as Best New Play by the Tony Awards and Outer Critics Circle in 2022, and for the Pulitzer Prize in drama, The Minutes is part biting comedy, part Hitchcockian mystery, and at its dark heart an unflinching allegory about small-town politics and real-world power.

This new production is helmed by Scott Edmiston, three-time Norton-winning director, hailed as “one of Boston’s finest directors” by the Boston Globe, who calls Letts' play "completely original and outrageous...both funny and dark, located somewhere between The Office and The Twilight Zone. It’s brilliant in the way that it uses comedy to dramatize some serious issues facing our country today. It takes a hard look at the growing movement to deny or rewrite some of the unpleasant truths about America's past. What are some of the myths about ourselves and our nation that we find hard to admit -- and why?”

"The Umbrella’s ‘The Minutes’ Is Sheer Perfection..." - Linda Chin, Theater Mirror

"Intensely compelling...one of the best shows this season. [I]ngeniously staged by Edmiston...THE MINUTES is an allegorical masterpiece by Letts and one which would have probably made Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling proud...or jealous that he did not write it himself." - Kevin T. Baldwin, METRMAG

One of "12 theater productions to see this spring" - Jacquinn Sinclair, WBUR

“...both a political comedy and a wicked, methodically plotted horror show… It’s devilishly funny until it’s not. It is thrilling and essential theater …”  - Variety

“An important play, a visceral theatrical experience about what has happened to retail American democracy and how this nation decides which stories about itself it wants to believe.”  - NY Daily News

"You will never ever look at a Select Board meeting the same way." - Weston Owl  

NOTE: The Minutes contains strong language, adult themes, mention of sexual assault, some ableist language and the use of a racial slur. The production also utilizes flashing, flickering and strobing lighting effects, and the use of theatrical haze and smoke.

About the Director

Scott Edmiston is the recipient of the 2011 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence for his acclaimed body of theatrical work.  Since moving to New England in 1992, he has directed more than 70 productions at theaters such as the American Repertory Theater, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, New Rep, Central Square Theatre, Gloucester Stage, and Huntington Theatre Company, where he was an artistic associate. Six of his productions have been honored with the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production or Musical: Constellations (2018), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2017), My Fair Lady (2016), A Marvelous Party (2008), Miss Witherspoon (2007), and Five by Tenn (2006). Edmiston is best known for his bold reimagining of classic American plays and musicals. These include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Glass Menagerie; Long Day's Journey Into Night; The Little Foxes; The Women; his original adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie; and the first U.S. revival of the opera Nixon in China, praised as “musically deft and deeply touching” by the New York Times. He has directed more than 25 New England premieres, most recently The Thanksgiving Play by Indigenous American playwright Larissa Fasthorse. He teaches acting and dramatic literature at Berklee and previously served as dean of theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.  

UPCOMING SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS

• Sunday, March 10, 2024 3:00PM - Kid-Care Performance* - The Umbrella is pleased to offer our Kid-Care Show Program, giving parents and caregivers an opportunity to attend select performances while their child(ren) engage in art activities inspired by the production. This program aims to provide better access to arts and culture events and create a shared experience opportunity for families. Spaces are limited and can be reserved alongside ticket purchases.
• Thursday, March 13, 2024 - Community Discussion - The Umbrella will host a post-show talkback with representatives of Concord’s DEI commission, Concord 250, the Concord Visitor Center, and The Robbins House to discuss the play’s themes and how they relate to Concord’s effort to recover, interpret and amplify underrepresented aspects of local history. The discussion will be moderated by Kira Troilo of Art & Soul Consulting, and will feature Jen Turner, Joe Palumbo, and Jimi Two Feathers.
• #DinnerAndAShow Thursday Night Out Packages! Thursdays in Concord are now a fun and easy entertainment Date Night thanks to optional pre-show dinners here at The Umbrella provided by Nosh restaurant and the Concord Market! Coming straight from work? Park free at The Umbrella, then take a load off and enjoy a delicious catered dinner, pick up beverage at concessions, and explore our free art galleries at your ease until it’s time for curtain! Our chef-planned menus for The Minutes:
  Option 1: Nosh Chicken Sliders with Nosh Sauce and Pickles with a Garden Salad and Cookie
  Option 2: Mushroom and Kale Flatbread with Ricotta Balsamic Glaze and Herbs with Garden Salad and Cookie

Of Interest

• Umbrella Stage Keeps Stepping Up
  By Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
  The Minutes is the latest instance of the Concord-based theater company fashioning a sharper identity

• Review: "The Umbrella’s ‘The Minutes’ Is Sheer Perfection..."
  Linda Chin, Theater Mirror
  Thought-provoking...The Minutes will stay with you for many minutes, hours, and days afterwards. 

• Radio: The Minutes on The Culture Show
  Joyce Kulhawik, Christopher Ehlers, and Jaren Bowen discuss The Minutes, called "Just terrific!" and "very timely" with an "A-List cast" in The Umbrella's " beautiful theater". Starts at 18:55

• Review: "A reading of 'The Minutes' leads to hilarity — and horror — at Umbrella Arts Center
  By Jacquinn Sinclair, WBUR

• In Umbrella Stage’s ‘The Minutes,’ it’s time for the truth
  By Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
  I saw the COVID-delayed Broadway premiere of The Minutes two years ago, and I think The Umbrella Stage production actually makes a stronger case for Letts’s play

• Review: The Minutes at The Umbrella Arts Center
  By Kevin Baldwin, METRMAG
  "The Umbrella Arts Center has staged an intensely compelling mystery in "THE MINUTES" which is one of the best shows this season"

• "12 Theater Productions to See This Spring" 
  Jacquinn Sinclair, WBUR

• Media Release: The Umbrella Presents the Greater Boston Premiere of Tracy Letts’ Tony and Pulitzer Nominated The Minutes
   

• Tracy Letts on The Minutes

Header photo, dress rehearsal photos, and Director Scott Edmiston photo by Jim Sabitus