Every Thursday, WGBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen sums up the exhibitions, theater, movies and music you should check out in and around Boston.
LEAP BEFORE YOU LOOK: BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE 1933-1957 , on view at the ICA through Jan. 24
Synopsis: If you look at a list of the major artists that came to define art in America around the mid-20th century, you’ll find an intriguing connection: many of them had an affiliation with a small liberal arts school in North Carolina. In a first-of-its-kind show, The Institute of Contemporary Art considers the extraordinary nexus that was Black Mountain College.
Jared says: "There was something magic in the mountains happening, and it was really because these artists could come and they could practice and they could work together and they could feed off each other."
DRY LAND , presented by Company One Theatre, at the Boston Center for the Arts, through Oct. 30
Synopsis: A pregnant high-school student who can’t get an abortion without telling her family asks her new friend to—between conversations about biology and "Harry Potter"—help her DIY it in the girl’s locker room.
Jared says: "It’s very, very naturalistic, it’s very, very intense. It’s just amazingly written, given that this is a 21-year-old voice that we’re hearing from."
ROOM , in theaters Friday
Synopsis: Trapped in a 10-by-10 room by a madman, a young Ma (Brie Larson) and her 5-year-old son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), have made the best of their close quarters. The joy of their eventual escape is undercut by the shock of a world that Ma had been snatched from and Jack had never known.
Jared says: "Jacob Tremblay is this extraordinary actor. He plays a 5-year-old; he’s all of 9 years old. He should definitely be a best actor contender."
Looking for more arts coverage? On Open Studio this weekend, Jared heads to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum to discover the importance of drawing to even artists who’ve moved well beyond the canvas. Then, it’s an in-studio discussion with choreographer John Neumeier about the North American company premiere of the ballet “Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler."
