"I think [Tommy] is one of the most exciting directors in the American theater," said Dayron Miles, the ART's associate artistic director.
"Passing Strange" tells the story of a young musician, called "the Youth," who trades his middle-class Los Angeles roots for Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1980s -- lands of punk rock and protest. Giles Terera, who earned an Olivier Award for his performance as Aaron Burr in the West End premier of "Hamilton," will lead the cast as the show's narrator, making his North American debut.
"I think everybody goes on a journey of discovery and finding themselves and responding to the pressures of the outside world and family expectations... it's just a universal story that we can't ever get enough of," Miles said. "It's a good reminder that in order for us to be in great community with one another, we have to be in great alignment with our truth and who we are. 'Passing Strange' exemplifies that notion in a world that is continually polarized by so many forces."
According to Miles, both Stew and Tommy have Boston connections, with Stew serving as a professor of the practice of musical theater writing in Harvard's Theater, Dance, and Media program, and Tommy's family moving to the Boston area from her native South Africa.
Tommy's revival of "Passing Strange" debuted at the Young Vic Theatre in London in May. In 2008, the show played on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre with Stew in the leading role, where it ran for 165 performances. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards, and won for Best Book of a Musical.
The Boston Playwrights' Theatre also announced its 2024-2025 season on Monday, which will include four plays by students in their final year of Boston University's MFA in Playwriting program, a public reading from Jack Welch Developmental Residency recipient Ginger Lazarus, and Boston Theater Marathon XXVII. The four plays will be presented in two festivals -- one in the fall and one in the spring.
The Fall Rep Festival will include Maggie Kearnan's "How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos," a "chaotic dark comedy about capitalism," according to the theater's press release, and Tina Esper's "Soft Star," a domestic drama. In the spring, BPT will present Isabelle Fereshteh Sanatdar Stevens's "The Fig Tree, and The Phoenix, and The Desire to Be Reborn," about a childhood romance in Southern Iran, and Brandon Zang's "Moth," a sci-fi love story that involves time travel.
"These four playwrights, the first to go through the program with [Head of MFA Playwriting] Nathan Alan Davis, are poised to become important new voices in the American theater," BPT Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian said in a press release. "Presenting their work in this festive format emphasizes our desire to celebrate that!"
The Boston Theater Marathon, which the BPT hosts annually, features 10-minute plays submitted by New England playwrights.