The Arboretum Experience

Visitors are invited to experience the natural beauty of the Arnold Arboretum on an outdoor, self-guided journey that centers resilience, healing, wellness, and joy. This collaboration between the A.R.T. and the Arboretum features audio plays written and performed by artists from Greater Boston and beyond, movement experiences, as well as pop-up music and dance performances, all set against the 281-acre backdrop of one of the jewels of Boston’s Emerald Necklace.

The A.R.T. returns to the open-access living museum designed by Frederick Law Olmsted following the 2019 Tree Planting Ceremony of a gingko tree, the culmination of A.R.T. Artist-In-Community Diana Oh’s year-long Clairvoyance series of installations and concerts.

AUDIO PLAYS
Visitors are invited to begin at any of the Arboretum’s fourteen gates to experience one or all four audio-based narratives set in the preserve and written collaboratively by a team of six playwrights.

Ramona the Fearless Goes for a Ride, a fairytale
Disappointed by the grownups in her life, ten-year-old Ramona escapes to the Arboretum and goes on a search for the legendary lilacs.

Your Fingers Will Reach So Your Voice Can Sing, a proverb
High school senior Ellis is ready to leave the family picture behind when some voices on the wind guide them home.

After and Still, a ghost story
A wild night deep in the Arboretum allows friends Grayson, J, and Sara a much needed moment to deal with the year they’ve had.

In Bloom, a myth
Follow the life of Major, a yellowwood tree, from his early days in the Arboretum to one hundred seasons later.

Kirsten Greenidge led a writers’ room that included playwrights MJ Kaufman, Melinda Lopez, Sam Marks, Mwalim *7), and Eliana Pipes to generate these plays. Directed by Summer L. Williams and performed by Maria Hendricks, Jaime Hernandez, Becca A. Lewis, Greg Maraio, Micah Rosegrant, Sarah Shin, and Shanelle Villegas, the audio plays were recorded at The Record Co. and produced by HipStory.

MOVEMENT MEDITATIONS
Visitors are invited to use their bodies, breath, and imaginations to engage in a series of narrated interactive movement experiences centered in varied locations within the Arboretum and created by five distinct dance artists: Jill Johnson, Peter Chu, Jerron Herman, Nailah Randall-Bellinger, and Lonnie Anela O’kalani Neff Stanton.

“Using choreographic thinking and calling on our various practices and traditions, the maps aim to invite visitors to slow down, commune with nature, and connect to their bodies in open-ended ways,” says choreographer Jill Johnson.

POP-UPS
Live, pop-up performances by local artists begin Saturdays in September (rain dates Sundays). Artists and schedule to be announced at a later date.