Boston Public Library, GBH, The Huntington, and Next Chapter Podcasts announce a national podcast of Mfoniso Udofia's "runboyrun"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Gabrielle Jaques, Publicist
617-273-1520
Members of the press, RSVP here
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, GBH, THE HUNTINGTON, AND NEXT CHAPTER PODCASTS ANNOUNCE A NATIONAL PODCAST OF MFONISO UDOFIA’S runboyrun
Boston’s citywide Ufot Family Cycle continues with the third play in the series, which will expand the national reach of the Cycle as a podcast, with two sneak-peak Boston performances
(BOSTON) – The Huntington continues the sweeping nine-play Ufot Family Cycle and announces plans for runboyrun, the powerful drama written by Mfoniso Udofia and directed by Christopher V. Edwards. The third play in Boston’s epic nine-play Ufot Family Cycle, runboyrun will be recorded and made nationally available as a podcast in partnership with the Boston Public Library, GBH, and Next Chapter Podcasts. runboyrun will also be performed as a live reading at the Boston Public Library’s GBH Newsfeed Café (700 Boylston Street) on Thursday, March 13 at 3:30pm and again at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave) on Friday, March 14 at 7:30pm. The audio play podcast will be made available at a later date to be announced.
Jumping between chilly 2012 Worcester, MA and hot 1968 Biafra, Mfoniso Udofia’s runboyrun asks what happens when a long-ago war continues inside the body of a survivor. Every day, Disciple lives in the echoes of the Biafran War, fracturing his connection to his wife Abasiama. The survival of their 30-year marriage depends on building new vocabularies, breaking traditions built on trauma — and daring, once again, to live moment by moment.
“It is a beautiful thing to work with Mfoniso on her Ufot Cycle with runboyrun,” says director Christopher V. Edwards. “This audio play creates a unique opportunity to delve deep into the psychological landscape of the characters dealing with intergenerational trauma and the echoes of history that reverberate and haunt the present. Mfoniso’s language is gorgeous with a power to transport the listeners between Nigeria and America, highlighting the challenges experienced by many immigrant families.”
The cast is led by playwright Mfoniso Udofia as family matriarch Abasiama Ufot, and acclaimed actor Chiké Johnson as the family patriarch with persistent ghosts, Disciple Ufot. This production marks the first time Udofia is taking on a role in her own play cycle in Boston. And Johnson’s casting marks his return to the role of Disciple after his previous performance in runboyrun at New York Theatre Workshop.
GBH will be recording the play in their state-of-the-art recording space. Thanks to GBH’s equipment and expertise, runboyrun’s podcast will be not only convenient for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their home, but it also will be recorded in the highest professional quality. The podcast release date is still to be announced.
“We are honored to join with The Huntington and their citywide partners for the celebration of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle,” says President and CEO of GBH, Susan Goldberg. “This ambitious undertaking brings together an incredible cohort of partners across the culture sector, shining a light on the immigrant experience through both art and community. We look forward to playing a role in its success.”
runboyrun comes to the BPL, GBH, The Huntington, and Next Chapter Podcasts, after its world premiere at the Magic Theatre in San Franscisco, under then Artistic Director Loretta Greco. The play received development support at New Dramatists through the Bucket List Initiative, a program supported by a grant from Venturous Theatre Fund of Tides Foundation; and the project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. runboyrun also enjoyed a highly acclaimed run at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2019, also directed by Loretta Greco. Curtain Up called this Off Broadway production, “unquestionably compelling” and Exeunt NYC said it was “a tremendous gift…one of the best plays I’ve seen about survivors of war and the PTSD that keeps them running after decades.”
“The Boston Public Library is incredibly excited to partner again with The Huntington on such an ambitious and innovative project alongside such a diverse and wonderful group of community organizations,” says Director of Library Services at Boston Public Library, Michael Colford. “This exciting and varied cycle of plays allows communities to experience a wide range of experiences to absorb and to share.”
“Mfoniso Udofia’s storytelling genius should be experienced by as many people as possible and in as many mediums as possible,” says Head of Scripted Fiction at Next Chapter Podcasts, Michael Goodfriend. “It’s a privilege for Next Chapter Podcasts to be working with Mfoniso on runboyrun, building on the fruitful collaboration we shared in the award-winning podcast adaptation of her Othello translation for Play On Shakespeare. Mfoniso challenges us to perceive our reality in new ways and reminds us of what it is to be human, in all our complexity, promise and fallibility. We are honored to help realize runboyrun as an audio production alongside all of the incredible producing and organizational partners who are helping to bring Mfoniso’s groundbreaking Ufot Family Cycle to life.”
The creative team for runboyrun includes sound design and original music by Lindsay Jones. The language consultant is Emmanuel Sylvester and the radio play adaptor is Catherine Eaton. The stage manager is Adele Traub Nadine. The dramaturg is Charles Haugland. Casting is by Lyndsay Allyn Cox.
runboyrun is the third play in Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle. Over 35 community and creative partners in Greater Boston are coming together over two years to produce and finish developing all nine plays in their intended order for the first time. Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco largely drove this initiative when she joined The Huntington in 2022. At that time, Greco brought with her a longstanding partnership and friendship with playwright Udofia, and a vision for producing the complete Ufot Family Cycle in the Boston area – a festival marked by radical collaboration with an unprecedented scale and scope across our city. After two years of planning and leadership from The Huntington, the festival of all nine plays kicked off with Sojourners at the Huntington Theatre in November 2024, and The Grove at The Huntington’s Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, running now through March 9, 2025.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mfoniso Udofia (Playwright) a first-generation Nigerian American storyteller and educator, attended Wellesley College and obtained her MFA from the American Conservatory Theater (ACT). While at ACT, she co-pioneered The Nia Project which provided artistic outlets for San Francisco youth.
Productions of her plays runboyrun, Her Portmanteau, and In Old Age have been seen at New York Theatre Workshop, American Conservatory Theater, Playwrights Realm, Magic Theatre, National Black Theatre, Strand Theater Company (MD), and Boston Court. She received the 2021 Horton Foote Award, the 2017 Helen Merrill Playwright Award, the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission, and is a member of New Dramatists.
She is currently commissioned by The Huntington, Hartford Stage, Denver Center, ACT, and South Coast Repertory. Her plays have been developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, ACT, McCarter Theatre, OSF, New Dramatists, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Hedgebrook, Sundance, Space on Ryder Farm, and more.
Since 2018, Mfoniso has been working extensively in television; she has worked on such acclaimed shows as 13 Reasons Why on Netflix, A League of Their Own on Amazon, Let the Right One In on Showtime, and Pachinko (Peabody Award), Little America, and Lessons in Chemistry (WGA Nomination) all on Apple TV+. She has also developed films for HBO, Legendary, and Amazon.
Christopher V. Edwards (Director) is the Artistic Director of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston, where he has directed critically acclaimed productions of The Piano Lesson, Equivocation, The Bomb-itty of Errors, and The Taming of the Shrew. He is a Senior Lecturer at Boston University’s School of Theatre. National credits include Fences, Othello, The Three Musketeers, ART, Romeo and Juliet, and the world premiere of How to Break. Edwards has worked Off Broadway, in London’s West End, internationally, and at regional theaters across the country: Shakespeare & Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and The National Theatre in Oslo, Norway, among others.
ABOUT THE UFOT FAMILY CYCLE
Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle marks the first time all nine plays will be complete and performed in their intended order. In addition to producing the first two plays and co-producing the podcast of the third play, The Huntington will also serve as a motherboard of resources and connection to bolster the creative process and success of the remaining six productions that will be mounted through 2026 by and with arts organizations, universities, social organizations, non-profits, and a host of community activation partners.
Each of the productions will be professionally filmed by partner Kligerman Productions to expand the reach of the Ufot Family Cycle and preserve it in perpetuity, allowing the Ufot Family Cycle to be taught in educational settings as part of the American theatrical canon.
Boston’s Ufot Family Cycle is supported by The Huntington with funding from Amy and David Abrams, the Barr Foundation, The Boston Foundation, the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, the Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation, and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
Partners in the Ufot Family Cycle include: AfroDesiaCity, ArtsEmerson, The Barr Foundation, Boston Arts Academy, The Boston Foundation, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Boston Public Art Triennial, Boston Public Library, Boston Public Schools, Boston University, Central Square Theater, Coolidge Corner Theatre, DiasporaMass, Embrace Boston, Facing History & Ourselves, Front Porch Arts Collective, GBH, The Huntington, Kligerman Productions, The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, McCoy Audio, Next Chapter Podcasts, Nigerian Professionals Group, Northeastern University, Prior Performing Arts Center, Reimagining Migration, Riverside Theatre Works, Roxbury Community College, Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation, Wellesley College, Wellesley Repertory Theatre, West End House, Wheelock Family Theatre, and ZUMIX.
More information about the Ufot Family Cycle, including the 35+ partners and funders involved in bringing the Ufot story to life, can be found at bostontheatrescene.com/ufotboston
INSPIRATION FOR THE UFOT FAMILY CYCLE
When nationally acclaimed playwright Mfoniso Udofia grew up in Southbridge, Massachusetts and attended Wellesley College, she rarely saw stories about Africans and African Americans that felt like her family. Inspired in part by August Wilson’s Century Cycle, she set out to create an emotionally engrossing cycle of nine plays that follows one Nigerian American family through three generations: parents, children, grandchildren. Each play stands alone brilliantly, yet together forms a stunning tapestry that will resonate with everyone.
“I’m writing these plays for myself, for my immediate family, for my extended family, for the Ibibio community,” says Udofia. “I’m writing us — so we can see us. I believe my work incites community action. When one cares about a character so much they are crying for them, they usually cannot meet a similar person in life and instantaneously judge them. A dramatic telling of an immigrant story, when done well, can cause an audience to change irrevocably in the moment. These audience members will then leave the building and enter their own communities with newfound empathy.”
Mfoniso’s own experience informs the Cycle as her parents immigrated to Texas from Nigeria in the 1970s, had children, and then moved to the Boston area because of the educational opportunities available. Mfoniso went to Wellesley College, during which time she had her first experience with The Huntington through her Africana Studies class when Professor Selwyn R. Cudjoe took students to see Gem of the Ocean and introduced her to playwright August Wilson (1945-2005). To see herself onstage, reflected in Wilson’s ten-play American Century Cycle, with each set in a different decade of the 20th century about Black American life, was influential years before she would pursue her career in playwriting and return to Wellesley as a faculty member of the Albright Institute.
The New York Times states, “While building empathy is important to Ms. Udofia, as she continues to work on the rest of the ‘Ufot’ plays, she is also unapologetic about the fact that she isn’t writing the Cycle for a traditional theatre audience.” Mfoniso spoke about this during several Boston community meetings in 2023, stating her intentions to be an active participant in meeting community members where they are to inform the making of the remaining Cycle plays.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION FOR RUNBOYRUN
Live performance of runboyrun
Thursday, March 13 at 3:30pm
Boston Public Library – GBH Newsfeed Café (700 Boylston St)
RSVP HERE: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/whats-on/runboyrun-2/
Live performance of runboyrun
Friday, March 14 at 7:30pm
Huntington Theatre – 264 Huntington Ave
RSVP HERE: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/whats-on/runboyrun-2/
TICKETS
Tickets are complimentary with advance online registration. Walk-ups are also welcome.
The podcast recording will be available online later this spring following the live readings. More information will be shared at huntingtontheatre.org
MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA
Any members of the media who are interested in speaking with the artists of runboyrun, please contact Publicist Gabrielle Jaques at gjaques@huntingtontheatre.org or 617-273-1520.
ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON
Celebrating over 40 years of outstanding theatre, The Huntington is Boston’s theatrical commons and leading professional theatre company. On our stages and throughout our city, we share enduring and untold stories that spark the imagination of audiences and artists and amplify the wide range of voices in our community.
Under the leadership of Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Executive Director Christopher Mannelli, The Huntington is committed to welcoming broad and diverse audiences, provides life- changing opportunities for students through its robust education and community programs, is a national leader in the development of playwrights and new plays, has acted as the host organization for a multi-year residency of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theatre company based in Boston, and serves the local arts community through our operation of The Huntington Calderwood/BCA.
The Huntington reopened the historic Huntington Theatre in fall of 2022 after its transformational renovation, and is currently in phase two of the project; the renovation and building project of this storied venue with a bold vision for the future will allow us to innovatively expand our services to audiences, artists, and the community for generations to come. For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.
ABOUT BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library is a pioneer of public library service in America. It was the first large, free municipal library in the United States; the first public library to lend books; the first to have a branch library; and the first to have a children’s room. The Boston Public Library of today is a robust system that includes the Central Library in Copley Square, 25 neighborhood branches, the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center, the Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center, and an archival center, offering public access to world-class special collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and prints, along with rich digital content and online services. The Boston Public Library serves nearly 4 million visitors per year and millions more online. All of its programs and exhibitions are free to all and open to the public. The Boston Public Library is a department of the City of Boston, under the leadership of Mayor Michelle Wu. To learn more, visit bpl.org.
ABOUT GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH’s local television channels include GBH 2, GBH 44, GBH WORLD and GBH Kids. With a newsroom headquartered in Boston, GBH reaches across New England with GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; CRB Classical 99.5; and CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station. From Boston to the Berkshires, from Worcester to the Cape and Islands, GBH is dedicated to connecting the Commonwealth through news, programming, learning tools and events. GBH has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards. Find more information at gbh.org.
ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER PODCASTS
Next Chapter Podcasts is committed to elevating bold, authentic voices to enlighten and inspire. Through open, honest conversations centered on values, Next Chapter partners with brands and thought leaders to closely create content that not only expands reach but also fosters deeper, more profound connections with their audiences. Their award-winning library of podcasts spans multiple genres from sports to scripted fiction and reaches a global audience. Through an ongoing partnership with Play On Shakespeare, Next Chapter is a leader in the field of adapting plays into podcasts, surpassing 5 million downloads of Shakespearean audio worldwide and winning multiple awards for its productions.
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