The Nora Theatre Company began in 1987 with a production of Edna O’Brien’s play, Virginia, about the celebrated author Virginia Woolf. Since that time we have staged 48 productions, including 28 professional Greater Boston-area premieres.

Our first two seasons were spent at the former Lyric Stage space on Charles Street, and from 1989 to 1996 we resided at the Harvard Freshman Union, where we continued mounting our own productions and established an internship program with Harvard students through an affiliation with the Harvard College Freshman Dean’s Office. From the beginning we have sought plays that jostle our hearts and minds and have attempted to produce them in ways that reveal our common humanity.

During its 16-year history, The Nora has received many media citations for the high quality of its work. In 1994, the company’s production of Death of a Salesman was recognized as the “Outstanding Production of 1994 by a Small Resident Theatre Company,” and its director, Eric C. Engel, as the “Outstanding Director” of that year. The Nora’s production of Equus was cited by The Boston Globe as one of the “best of 1996” and garnered an Elliot Norton Award for Stephen Largay as “Outstanding Actor Small Resident Company;” The Boston Globe honored Bed and Sofa as one of the “best of 1997;” Molly Sweeney was named in both The Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix as being among the “best of 1998” and received an Elliot Norton Award for its director Scott Edmiston; The Swan received an Elliot Norton Award for its sound designer, J. Hagenbuckle in 1999; As Bees in Honey Drown received two IRNE Award nominations in 2000; and Stop Kiss was noted as one of the highlights of the 2000 season in both The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald. The Nora’s production of Betrayal won the Elliot Norton Award for “Outstanding Production, Small Resident Company” and was cited as one of the 2003 ten “Best of the Boards” by the Boston Phoenix. Betrayal also garnered one IRNE award nomination and an IRNE award for Anne Gottlieb, who played the role of Emma.

The Nora Theatre Company is currently conducting a capital campaign in partnership with Underground Railway Theater to establish a state-of-the-art theater facility in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge as permanent residence for both companies.

The Nora Theatre Company, Inc. is a non-profit theater operating under the NEAT Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association. The Nora is a member of StageSource, the Alliance of Theatre Artists and Producers; ARTS/Boston; NEAT, the Producers’ Association of New England Area Theatres; TAMA, Theater Arts Marketing Alliance and NETC, New England Theatre Conference.

This organization is participating in the Access Collaborative through a partnership with Cultural Access Consortium.

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About the Nora Theatre Company

2006-2007

Screen Play*

by A. R. Gurney

Directed by Richard McElvain

Buried Child

by Sam Shepard

Directed by The Nora's Associate Director, Daniel Gidron

New Plays at The Nora Series:

PARALLELOGRAM by Kate Snodgrass

SILVER SPOON by Amy Merill & songs by Si Kahn

9th Annual Boston Theater Marathon :

MILK by Rosanna Alfaro

2005-2006
New Play Reading Series
Boston Theater Marathon
The Man Who
by Peter Brook, Marie Hélène Estienne and Oliver Sacks
How I Got That Story by Amlin Gray

2004-2005
Antigone
adapted from the Sophocles by Richard McElvain ***
The Sea Horse by Edward J. Moore

2003-2004
Dublin Carol by Conor McPherson *
Full Gallop by Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson
Van Gogh in Japan by R.L. Lane **

2002-2003
Smelling a Rat by Mike Leigh *
Betrayal by Harold Pinter

2001-2002
Asher's Command by Marilyn Felt *
(produced for the 6th Annual Women On Top Theater Festival)
The Unexpected Man by Yasmina Reza *

2000-2001
The Countess by Gregory Murphy *
Crave by Sarah Kane *

1999-2000
As Bees in Honey Drown by Douglas Carter Beane *
Stop Kiss by Diana Son *

1998-1999
Mere Mortals by David Ives *
The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff *

1998
Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel*

1997
Bed and Sofa by Polly Pen and Laurence Klavan *
(based on a silent film by Abram Room)
The Fever by Wallace Shaw

1995-1996
A Perfect Ganesh by Terrence McNally
3 by Chekhov translation by George Malko
Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology conceived, adapted and
arranged by Charles Aidman ***
Equus by Peter Shaffern

1994-1995
The Club by Eve Merriam
Loot by Joe Orton
A Roadside Garden by Adam Bock **
Life Sentences by Richard Nelson *

1993-1994
One Tit, A Dyke, & Gin! by Pennell Somsen/
We All Have the Same Story by Franca Rame and Dario Fo
Spoils of War by Michael Weller
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Phantasie by Sybille Pearson *

1992-1993
Savage in Limbo by John Patrick Shanley
Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo
Carthaginians by Frank McGuinness *
Orphans by Lyle Kessler
Thatcher’s Women by Kay Adshead *

1991-1992
Albertine, in Five Times by Michel Tremblay *
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald *
Eastern Standard by Richard Greenberg *
The Speed of Darkness by Steve Tesich *

1990
Morning’s at Seven by Paul Osborn
Skirmishes by Catherine Hayes
The Dresser by Ronald Harwood
Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon *

1989
Morning’s at Seven by Paul Osborn
Travesties by Tom Stoppard

1988
Virginia by Edna O’Brien
A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney
Beauty by David Elliott and Barbara Phaneuf **

1987
Virginia by Edna O’Brien *

* professional area premiere
** professional world premiere
*** professional world premiere translation