Estranged from his wife and son during the pandemic lockdown, Frank accepts a job as a content moderator for the world’s largest social media company. As he evaluates a never-ending stream of questionable content, the work takes an emotional and psychological toll. However, everything changes when Frank sees an opportunity to help a stranger and save himself in the process. Drama Desk Award-winning playwright Ken Urban (A Guide for the Homesick), and two-time Obie Award Winner director Jared Mezzocchi create a haunting, enveloping technological mindscape that explores the essence of human connection.
THE MODERATE
by Ken Urban
directed by Jared Mezzocchi February 5 – March 1, 2026 A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production
Production Sponsors
Roy Cockrum Foundation Funded in part by the Council for the Arts at MIT
Zach Durant-Emmons and Willis Emmons
National Arts Relief Fund, Americans for the Arts
Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation
The Moderate explores the lives of content moderators who witness the darker side of social media. The play contains mature themes including images, video, and audio depictions of violence, nudity, and racism.
For more details of the sensory experiences and themes audiences will experience in advance of attending The Moderate, please read our Content Transparency Statement. If you have any additional questions about content, age-appropriateness, or stage effects that might have a bearing on guest comfort, please utilize our Guest Experience Team at tickets@centralsquaretheater.org.
An English estate is haunted by its former mistress who has recently passed… or, has she? Two actors wear a caboodle of wigs, perform umpteen lightning-speed costume changes, and create a fantastical cast of characters including a sympathetic werewolf, a vampire, and a mummy. Elliot Norton winning director David R. Gammons (Vanity Fair, Frankenstein) reunites with fellow award-winner Paul Melendy (Vanity Fair) in this camp spoof of Gothic melodramas. Written by Charles Ludlam, the creator of New York’s subversive and iconoclastic Ridiculous Theatrical Company, The New York Times praised The Mystery of Irma Vep as “Far and away the funniest two hours on a New York stage!”
THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP – A PENNY DREADFUL
by Charles Ludlam
directed by David R. Gammons May 28 – June 21, 2026
Interested in bringing your school to see The Mystery Of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful? Student matinees are scheduled for Friday, June 5 and Thursday, June 11. Reserve your tickets for our student matinees today.
Alan Turing was hailed by Winston Churchill as having made the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany for breaking the Enigma code. By 1952 the eccentric British mathematician’s security clearance was revoked and he was barred from British intelligence work after being convicted for “gross indecency” – homosexual acts. Breaking the Code is Turing’s pioneering story of scientific achievement – the father of the computer and artificial intelligence. Eddie Shields (Angels in America) is Turing in a new production helmed by Elliot Norton winner Scott Edmiston (Constellations).
Hugh Whitemore’s
BREAKING THE CODE
by Hugh Whitemore
directed by Scott Edmiston
Based on the book Alan Turing, The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
With a new epilogue by Neil Bartlett A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production April 2 – 26, 2026
Central Figures with Eddie Shields | Breaking The Code
Interested in bringing your school to see Breaking The Code? Student matinees are scheduled for Friday, April 10 and Thursday, April 16. Reserve your tickets for our student matinees today.
1900. Cambridge. Enthralled by the night sky, Henrietta Leavitt joins the Harvard Computers, a sisterhood of scientists who chronicle the stars. Despite dismissal from her male supervisors, she records her own observations of Cepheid stars and changes the way we look at the universe forever. Sarah Shin (The Chinese Lady) returns to direct what the San Francisco Chronicle calls “sheer magic,” by the author of past favorites The Half-Life of Marie Curie and Emilie La Marquise du Chatalet Defends Her Life Tonight, Lauren Gunderson.
The Brit d’Arbeloff Women in Science Production
SILENT SKY
by Lauren Gunderson
directed by Sarah Shin September 11 – October 5, 2025 A Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Production
Interested in bringing your school to see Silent Sky? Student matinees are scheduled for Thursday, September 25 and Friday, October 3. Reserve your tickets for our student matinees today.
“The game is afoot, and what a game it is!” —The Boston Globe
Master sleuth Sherlock Holmes and trusty Dr. Watson unlock the mystery of The Hound of the Baskervilles! Enter the world of deductive reasoning and elementary logic, absurd accents and ridiculous puns as the inclusive, gender bending cast of three actors inhabit more than a dozen roles in this Central Square Theater favorite. Helmed by Artistic Director Lee Mikeska Gardner, leave your cares at home and join us this fall for a laugh out loud farce!
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
by Steven Canny & John Nicholson
directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner September 12 – October 6, 2024
Interested in bringing your school to see The Hound of the Baskervilles? Student matinees are scheduled for Thursday, September 26 and Wednesday, October 2. Reserve your tickets for our student matinees today.
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Design by Jules Talbot
Design by Jules Talbot
