a new play by Nia Akilah Robinson
directed by Mina Morita
dramaturgy by Sonia Fernandez
a co-production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

About the Production
Charity and her mom both work as counselors at a sleepaway camp in Philadelphia. On the same grounds, almost two centuries earlier, a strangely familiar mother and daughter stand watch at the grave of a recently deceased loved one. As betrayals and buried horrors come to light, love holds fast across twisting timelines. The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar) is a darkly comic play which asks: how do we go on living with a history we cannot change?

Why This Play Now?
Set in 1832 and the present day, The Great Privation asks us to examine our country’s complex racial history through the parallel stories of a mother and daughter, who each embody the roles of both ancestor and descendant. This play interrogates our nation’s long practice of harming Black bodies in the name of progress, and demonstrates the necessity of joy as a form of resistance to racial violence and injustice.

Learn more about Company One Theatre.

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January 9 - 31, 2026

Suffolk University's Modern Theatre - 525 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111

All tickets are Pay-What-You-Want ($0 minimum). Tickets can be purchased online through the Company One Box Office at the link above.