Finish Line

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Finish Line

finish line

Boston Theater Company and the Boch Center presented the world premiere of Finish Line: A Documentary Play About the 2013 Boston Marathon at the Boch Center Shubert Theatre from March 15-26. Joey Frangieh directed from a script co-created with Lisa Rafferty. Finish Line was supported by Highland Street Foundation, Cummings Foundation & The Boston Foundation.

Finish Line brought a local story of recovery, resilience, and determination center stage. Through a transcript created verbatim from dozens of interviews, Finish Line used powerful firsthand accounts to show how a community came together to heal and grow stronger after a tragic act of violence. The documentary style production featured interviews from survivors, runners, doctors, police officers, journalists, clergy, students, and many others. Notable interviewees who contributed their stories include Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, news anchor Maria Stephanos, Life is Good founder John Jacobs, Massachusetts General Hospital trauma surgeon Dr. David R. King, 1976 Marathon winner Jack Fultz, and Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki.

We are proud to say that $3.00 of every Finish Line ticket sold was donated to support the Martin Richard Foundation and Martin's Park.

Through a first-of-its-kind partnership, NBC Boston and NECN aired both a 30-minute special on the making of Finish Line (March 3 at 7:30PM on NBC Boston and March 5 at 11:30AM on NECN) and a 60-minute preview of the production itself (March 11 at 7PM on NBC Boston and March 12 at 8PM on NECN)

The Gay Agenda Play

TGA is a documentary play about the kaleidoscope of the LGBTQ+ experience.

Learn more about TGA

Finish Line: Press

Broadway World REview

"...Finish Line as a love letter to the Boston Marathon, the City of Boston, and her people..."

American Theatre Magazine

"By focusing on the people directly affected in this case...the creators of Finish Line aim to inspire feelings of hope, not fear..."

B oston Globe Review

"With stellar cast, Finish Line bears witness to tragedy, recovery..."

NBC News

"Just a mile from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, actors are taking the stage in a new play highlighting the heroism, resilience and determination of dozens of survivors of the 2013 marathon bombings..."

Boston Globe

"..two years in the making, featuring excerpts from 88 candid interviews with runners, spectators, first responders, doctors, journalists, and many more..."

Associated press

"It's about the runners, it's about the spectators, it's about a city, a state, a country that chose to not allow an act of evil, an act of terrorism, an act of violence to define who we are..."

CBS Boston

"...we don’t focus on the terrorists. We don’t focus on the bombing. I don’t care to know about them. I certainly don’t want to promote them..."

NECN Boston

"...Out of the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombings emerged powerful stories of heroism and resilience in the face of evil..."

Fox25 Boston

"...It's important that their stories be kept alive. And that their stories be told and people remember what happened that day..."

Boston.com

...it’s the story of Boston and its people, and it’s from their mouths—word for word, pause for pause...

Finish Line PDF summary

Past Productions

Past productions: Press

“I LOVED Boston Theater Company’s update of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. The production does as much justice to the heartbreak beneath the slapstick as it does to the romance.”

— Joyce Kulhawik, Boston Theater Critics Association President

“Those with a good memory for the original [Romeo & Juliet] will be fascinated to see and hear how familiar lines function when re-contextualized... an admirable model of the sort of creative thinking that more companies should emulate when setting out to place Shakespearean drama in a contemporary American context. ”

— Ian Thal, The Arts Fuse

“What makes this production [of Romeo & Juliet] a success are thoroughly charming performances in an immersive, theatre-in-the-round setting...This streamlined adaptation works well, and the show clips along, jettisoning us right into the action...”

— Michael Cox, Edge Boston

“Usually I am not one to sing the praises of Shakespearean works... But I must say that I was captivated at every moment in this production [Romeo & Juliet]. This piece was so accessible, particularly to a younger audience, and I felt as though it made the very well known story relevant once more.”

— Alex Lonati, Broadway World Reviews

past productions

We are proud of our project-based approach to theatre-making, and believe that the tales we want to tell--the kind that illuminate the complexities of the human experience--develop best when we devote the full strength of our resources to their creation. In all of our productions, we hope to celebrate the beauty of language and the necessity of theatre as a tool for telling and preserving stories.

Click the images below to see more of our professional productions and From Broadway in Boston concerts.