Things to See & Do

The Umbrella Stage Company is proud to announce the presentation of TICK, TICK… BOOM!, the autobiographical rock musical by Jonathan Larson, directed by Ilyse Robbins. From Friday, October 10 through Sunday, November 23, 2025, audiences will be invited into the creative crucible of a composer on the brink of his 30th birthday, facing the crossroads of love, ambition, and artistic purpose.

Join local author Ruth Madison to celebrate her newest novel, Waiting to Break. This deeply emotional contemporary romance explores themes of community, grief, family expectations, the dignity of choice, and what it means to be truly seen. Ruth will read from her novel, answer audience questions, and sign books. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.  Click on the link for more information about the book.

Join historian Zara Anishanslin and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston curator Erica Hirshler for a conversation about Dr. Anishanslin new book, The Painter’s Fire, which tells the gripping story of three revolutionary artists – Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah, and Patience Wright – who used their creative talents to challenge the British monarchy and advance the cause of liberty. 

While Concord’s role in the start of the American Revolution is widely recognized, less well known are the continued experiences of disruption and turmoil in Concord throughout the war. Through eyewitness historical objects, artworks, and documents, Transformed by Revolution explores what it was like to be part of this war-time community that hosted Harvard College and became a hub of military supplies for the army in Boston. The exhibition also considers who participated in this fight for Independence and the meanings of freedom for women, the Black community, and sovereign Indigenous nations.

A few years ago, historian Elizabeth Herbin-Triant uncovered a long-hidden family secret: her family tree included one of Providence’s most prolific slave traders, Cyprian Sterry. Her research into Sterry’s life—marked by great wealth, a role at Brown University, and eventual ruin—led her to explore both her white and African American lineage. In Family Tree: A Reckoning, Herbin-Triant examines how families forget painful histories and asks: What do we gain—as individuals and as a nation—from confronting the full truth of our past?

Join Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag) as she discusses her ground-breaking Young Adult book, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story, part of the Race to the Truth Series published by Penguin Random House that seeks to correct some of the long-standing myths about American history. The book has attracted many readers for its compelling story of a young girl's life in a Wampanoag family and community long before any contact with Europeans. This is juxtaposed in the following chapters with documented accounts of European exploration, settlement, the institution of colonization, as well as its many impacts, which carry through to the present day. 

Join filmmaker Raouf Zaki on September 27 for a screening of his film Dream, in celebration of Blindness Awareness Month. Frank, an autistic man, loses his parents to COVID-19. He visits a petting zoo where he meets Daisy, a blind woman with dreams of sailing solo. Immersing himself in the world of the blind, Frank experiences how they rely on their other senses through activities such as fencing, and begins to face his own fears. 

The Umbrella Arts Center proudly presents the Boston-area premiere of The Counter, a riveting new play by acclaimed playwright Meghan Kennedy. This production will run Sep 26 – Nov 9, 2025, transforming the intimate Black Box space into a prism for a surprising, funny and moving reflection on the everyday connections that can change our lives.

Professor Kate Culkin will discuss her new book,   Emerson’s Daughters - Ellen Tucker Emerson, Edith Emerson Forbes, and Their Family Legacy. She will focus on the critical role the manuscript holdings of the Concord Free Public Library's William Munroe Special Collections played in her ability to write the book. Emerson’s Daughters is a biography of a sisterhood, the first full-length study of Ellen and Edith’s lives.

ARE YOU PREPARED? Come celebrate National Preparedness Month on Monday, September 22, 2025, at 1:00 PM, the first day of Climate Preparedness Week.