New season begins at Robsham Theater
The fall season of theater at Boston College begins with a production of Caryl Churchill’s “Top Girls,” touted as one of the best plays of the 20th century by, among others, Entertainment Weekly, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and The Guardian theater critic Michael Billington, who included it in his book The 101 Greatest Plays.
Directed by Theatre Department Associate Professor of the Practice Patricia Riggin, the play will run from October 2-5 on Robsham’s main stage.
Written by Churchill during the Margaret Thatcher era in England, “Top Girls” explores the choices modern women face in the workforce. Opening with a dinner party where each guest is a historical, fictional, or mythical woman who faced adversity and suffered bitterly to attain her goals—including Pope Joan, a Japanese courtesan turned Buddhist nun, and Dull Gret, a subject of a Flemish renaissance painting—the play culminates in a blistering and timely dispute over the politics of the right vs. left. “Top Girls” questions whether it is possible for women in society to combine a successful career with a thriving family life.
The Robsham main stage will be the venue from December 4-7 for one of the most beloved Christmas stories, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
The production, directed by Associate Professor Courtney Elkin Mohler, will feature live music and dance, as well as the timeless tale of miserly and humorless Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption and transformation—with the help of three spirits—on one Christmas Eve.
For more on Theatre Department/Robsham main stage productions, including performance times and ticket prices, visit bc.edu/theatre. For tickets, see bc.edu/tickets or call ext.2-4002.
Pascale Florestal
The Theatre Department also has welcomed Pascale Florestal as the Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor in Theatre Arts for the 2025-2026 academic year. Established in 2007 by a generous gift to the University, the Monan Professorship—named for the former University president and chancellor—brings regionally and nationally renowned theatre artists to work and teach at Boston College on an annual basis.
Florestal is a four-time Elliot Norton Award-nominated director, educator, dramaturg, writer, and collaborator based in Boston. She is the associate artistic director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater, and an assistant professor of theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music. She also created and manages the Young Critics and Apprenticeship Program and is associate producer of “The Reading Series,” “Black Out Events,” and other productions.
Her directing credits include “To the People Like Us” (Strand Theater), “No Child” (Gloucester Stage Company), “Is This America?” (White Snake Projects), “Our Town” and “Next to Normal” (Central Square Theater). As an assistant to the director, Florestal has worked with Kimberly Senior, Liesl Tommy, Billy Porter, Paul Daigneault, and M. Bevin O’Gara; as associate director, her collaborations have included Gil Rose (“X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X”) and Kimberly Senior (“Our Daughters, Like Pillars”). She served as associate director for the Broadway national tour of “Jagged Little Pill.”
In 2021, Florestal was named one of the WBUR ARTery 25 Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape in Boston. In 2020, she won the inaugural Greg Ferrell Award for her excellence in teaching and supporting young people.
Read more about Florestal in her Theatre Department profile.