OFFBEAT THEATRE

Sheer Madness
Charles Playhouse
74 Warenton Street
617-426-5225

Performances: Tuesday through Friday 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, 3 and 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $34

The nation’s longest running play, Sheer Madness, has been entertaining audiences in this whodunit theatre performance since 1980. Stage II of the Charles Playhouse has been home for this lasting show where audiences actively partake in finding the murderer of a classical pianist who resided above a hair salon located on Newbury Street.

Blue Man Group
Charles Playhouse
74 Warenton Street
617-426-6912

Performances:
Wednesday and Thursday at 8 p.m.
Friday at 7 p.m. and 10p.m.
Saturday, 4, 7, 10 p.m.
Sunday, 3 and 6 p.m.
Tickets: $39 to $49

Since 1995, this trio of cobalt blue-painted performance artists has entertained thousands with their boisterous and thrilling acts. . Stage I has never been the same at the Charles Playhouse since their arrival from New York. This off-Broadway show brings new meaning to the word ‘messy’ with their use of toilet paper, Twinkies, marshmallows, cereal and plenty of blue paint as props. A rock band backs up the trio who uses the music, food, and some non-expecting audience goers to help convey their social commentary.

 

The Footlight Club
Eliot Hall
Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
Ticket information 617-524-3200

Named "Boston’s Best" Community Theater for the past two years by The Improper Bostonian, The Footlight Club is the "oldest continuously running community theatre in the United States." Eliot Hall, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is a short distance from Boston in a residential area in Jamaica Plain near Jamaica Pond. The Footlight Club has been performing high quality, creative theatre at affordable prices since 1877.

While the theater has seen many changes since the days when Boston’s aristocrats came by coach to be entertained, Eliot Hall still attracts audiences from all over as serious, amateur performers under the direction experienced directors perform creative plays and musicals.

Mystery Café- Boston’s Original Murder Mystery Dinner
Three Cheers
290 Congress Street, Boston
1-800-697-2583
Free parking next to building

Price: Dinner and Show $34.95 plus gratuity

Originally started in Cambridge in 1987, this unusual mystery dinner theatre has become a model for others across the United States and Canada. Performances take place in Boston every Friday and Saturday night, although they will take their act to private parties and events. A different mystery is performed each month by some of Boston’s finest actors.

The evening includes 2 ½ hours of dining and amusement as audiences actively partake in this mysterious fantasy world. Be the one to solve the mystery of "whodonit at dinner" and you may win the Super Sleuth prize!

 

ImprovBoston
The Back Alley Theatre
1253 Cambridge Street
Inman Square, Cambridge
617-576-1253
Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturday at 8 and 10:30 p.m.

Tickets $12, $10 for students and seniors

Boston’s oldest and most recognized improvisational comedy troupe, continues to delight audiences with songs, stories and settings – based solely from suggestions from the audience. Shows also include the popular TheatreSports Boston where two local improvisation troupes duke it out in a "improvisational fight to the finish." TheatreSports Boston performs every Friday night.

On Thursday evenings at the Back Alley Theatre, catch Sitcom! a special show where the audience must first create a Sitcom for the troupe to then perform. For additional information on these and other special improvisational shows call the Back Alley Theatre. Tickets are also available at the door 30 minutes before show time.

Boston Center for the Arts

539 Tremont Street, Boston
617-426-7700

Home for many theatre troupes, the Boston Center for the Arts maintains four theater areas including the immense Cyclorama, which was built to house the 360-degree mural of the Battle of Gettysburg. Located in the heart of the South End, theatergoers will enjoy Boston’s best-untapped talent at budget prices. Performances occur year round and change continually so it’s best to contact the Boston Center for the Arts for current listings.

See Also the American Repertory Theater page.