Umbrella's Boruta Spotlighted in Globe Article on Changing in Theater Scene
August 15, 2019 by Stewart Ikeda
With The Umbrella Stage Company's debut as Greater Boston's newest professional theater in new state-of-the-art facilities, it's no wonder that theater enthusiasts are excited by the changes here in Concord.
Since turning professional earlier this year, The Umbrella Stage Company's developments have been covered in publications from Art New England and Broadway World to Your Arlington, Discover Concord and The Concord Journal. Most recently, on the eve of moving back into its brand-new, multitheater facility at 40 Stow Street, The Umbrella Stage Company was prominently featured in a new column by Boston Globe's Terry Byrne, "A Spotlight on Change in Local Theater Scene".
"Changes are rippling across the Boston area’s small and midsize theater scene," writes Byrne, "in the form of new leadership, a new venue, and more active conversations around diversity, equity, and theater’s role in the cultural conversation."
Among those new leaders interviewed for the piece is The Umbrella's Brian Boruta, Director of Performing Arts and the producing Artistic Director of the new Stage Company. Boruta, along with Michael J. Bobbitt of New Repertory Theatre, and Harold Steward and Evelyn Francis of The Theater Offensive, shares a vision of theater that not only addresses relevant, contemporary issues boldly, but that provokes conversation in the audience -- even it can be sometimes a little challenging.
All told, Byrne sees such fresh leaders as helping reiognal theater keep up with changing times and diversifying audiences, and foresees that "This time of transition promises to usher in an exciting new wave of theatrical experiences in the Boston area."
For the complete article, see "A spotlight on change in local theater scene," in the Aug. 7, 2019 issue.