Boston University College of Fine Arts

MAGIC: We're looking back at Boston University CFA School of Theatre's fall 2025 mainstage show at Boston University's Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, Flowers for Mrs. Harris 🌷🌷🌷

For Ada Harris, day-to-day life is spent cleaning houses. But when she happens to stumble upon something that takes her breath away, she sets off on a journey that will change her life. Ada transforms the lives of everyone she meets along the way, but can she let go of her past and finally let her own life blossom?

BU's production of Flowers for Mrs. Harris was directed by BU alum Shamus (CFA’23) and with music direction by Harry Castle, assistant professor of musical theatre. "Flowers begs us not to wait for permission and instead to pursue what will make us happy," says Shamus. "It proposes that the journey and the people from the road are as important as the destination." ❤️

The musical by Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff is based on the novel by Paul Gallico.

Join Mrs. Harris as she goes from the cobbled streets of post-war London to the magical avenues of Paris and beyond ✨ Revisit the show in CFA's Featured Works ➡️ http://spr.ly/6184B87NBQ

ATTEND: Our friends at Boston University Tanglewood Institute - BUTI are celebrating their 60th anniversary this summer, and everyone is invited! 🎉

BUTI, the premier summer music program for the next generation of musicians, will honor six decades of artistic excellence and transformative music education with memorable celebrations of legacy and community in the Berkshires. 🎶

Join BUTI in marking this historic milestone by attending or performing in side-by-side performance opportunities, an alumni mixer at Tanglewood, or the BUTI Benefit featuring world-renowned violinist and BUTI parent Joshua Bell! 🎻

📅 August 1 - 4, 2026
Learn more and register ➡️ http://spr.ly/6188B8f5l6

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: After noticing a large bulletin board that had become damaged over time in a South Boston elementary school hallway, Yaming Jiang (CFA’23’26) decided it was time to do something about it. 🙌 🍎📚

Yaming, a recent graduate of Boston University’s Master of Arts in Art Education program and student teacher at Tynan Elementary, took on the task of transforming the board into a fun, engaging mural, inspired by the children’s picture book Over and Under, turning the board into a snowy forest scene, with animals hibernating underground. 🖼️❄️🌲🦉🦌🦊🦝

“On the morning I finished the mural, a student walked by and excitedly told me that it was Groundhog Day—and that the groundhog had predicted six more weeks of winter. That moment felt like a meaningful coincidence,” says Yaming. “I am very glad to be able to leave my paint marks on the walls of the school where I am student teaching, and that the students and teachers love the mural I made for them.” ❤️

In CFA’s Beyond the Classroom series, Yaming shares how heartwarming it is to see her students fall in love with art, how BU School of Visual Arts‘ curriculum and faculty helped her obtain this teaching opportunity, and what she’s learned about herself as she navigated being both a college student and student teacher.

Read Q&A ➡️ http://spr.ly/6185B8N6ff

LOOK: The painting before you, "Mosaic Excavation with Carpets," depicts two artifacts emerging from the mists of antiquity: a woven tapestry and a ceramic mosaic. Both objects meticulously rendered. No archaeological detail too small. No attribute left out. The painting? Real. The artifacts it depicts? Not real.

Inspired by objects unearthed on archaeological digs, James Gold (CFA'24) paints artifacts of his own invention, from papyrus scrolls to woven tapestries to stone mosaics. “My work has to do with transformation, taking something real and then using intuition and imagination to transform it into something else,” says Gold, a BU School of Visual Arts MFA painting alum. 🖌️ “These objects have a past, even though they’re entirely fictional.”

Welcome to the museum of the mind. 🧠 Dive into Gold's research, method, and art in CFA Magazine ➡️ http://spr.ly/6189B8LpZH

Theatre for your family. All year long! This year, season memberships are designed with families in mind! Offering early access, ticket flexibility, and meaningful savings throughout the 2026/2027 season! Head to our website https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/performances/membership/ and get your membership today! AND, now when you get a 3-show premium package, you can get a discounted price on your season membership!

LOOK: Entering summer means enjoying great sunny weather in Boston (finally!). 🌅 At CFA, it also means reflecting on the past academic year and putting the spotlight on the 2025-2026 highlights of the College. ✨

First up, The Eleanors! 🎼🎤🎭 Presented by Boston University Opera Institute and Boston University CFA School of Theatre, The Eleanors, a 90-minute chamber opera set in the final year of World War II, tells the story of newlywed nurse Maxie who turns to her friends Lilian and Ramona for support when her husband Cal is captured during the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned. Lyrical, funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, The Eleanors is infused throughout with musical influences from swing and American Songbook.

Learn more about the opera, which was part of Boston University's 29th annual Fringe Festival, amplifying and celebrating new works in the opera and theatre repertoire, shown in spare and minimal productions.

➡️ http://spr.ly/6189B8t8Zl

: They're acting, sound designing, costume designing, producing, and getting recognized with Tony nominations, Broadway's highest honor. ✨🎭🏆 The 79th Tony Awards are this Sunday, June 7 at Radio City Music Hall, and five Boston University alums are in the running! 🐾

For her performance as Melissa Gimble in this year's Broadway hit musical Schmigadoon!, Sara Chase (CFA'05) has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. “What attracted me to this show is that I not only genuinely love golden age musicals, but I also love comedy,” Chase says. “It’s such a pinch-me moment [getting nominated]. Growing up, I would tape the Tonys on VHS every year and rewatch them over and over again.”

Veteran Broadway sound designer Walter Trarbach (CFA’02) has also earned a Tony nomination for his work on Schmigadoon!, in the category of Best Sound Design of a Musical. “It has a ton of heart, incredible humor, and great songs and dances,” he says. “I knew from the jump, I was lucky to be involved in the project.” Trarbach got the news of his second Tony nomination while working on a TV industry event. “Word started to ripple through the stagehands that I had been nominated and they all congratulated me. It was very fun.”

David Reynoso (CFA'03) was at home in San Diego getting his children ready for school the morning the Tony nominations were announced. Reynoso is nominated for Best Costume Design of a Musical for The Rocky Horror Show, based on the 1975 cult film. “Never, in my wildest dreams as a kid, did I imagine that, first, I would get to design on Broadway, and then get to do it twice, and then be nominated twice for a Tony. I’m so fortunate that I get to live this life.”

In addition to Chase, Trarbach, and Reynoso, producers Stewart Lane (CFA’73) and Jay Marcus (COM’07) have been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical for The Lost Boys, and producer Sue Wagner (CFA'97) is nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Oedipus. 👏

Hear more from the nominated alums and their recognized work in BU Today ➡️ http://spr.ly/6189B8Uj97

CELEBRATE: Happy Pride Month, CFA Terriers! 🏳️‍🌈 Throughout the month of June, Boston University and organizations across the city are hosting parades, performances, workshops, and so much more to honor and support the LGBTQIA+ community. ❤️💚💛💙🧡💜

BU Today has rounded up a list of events across the city that spotlight the LGBTQIA+ community, creativity, and connection. Join the fun! ➡️ http://spr.ly/6182B8mf9I

OPENING SOON: This summer, Boston University Art Galleries, in partnership with Initiative on Cities, proudly announces the upcoming exhibition, RIGHT TO THE CITY, on view from June 9 through August 8, 2026, at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery. 🖼️

Anchored by images taken by photographic ethnographer Dominic Moulden (Hon.’25), Right to the City serves as a call to action, uplifting ways we can all safeguard the fundamental human right to a healthy place called home. 🌎

“The photographs featured in Right to the City reveal the sociopolitical and environmental consequences of displacement, while offering viewers insight into how communities globally are resisting inequitable development,” says the show's curator Ky Vassor. “There is a diverse range of imagery which includes depictions of civil unrest, rapidly changing landscapes, and solidarity between neighbors supporting one another." 📸

As a traveling exhibition, Right to the City‘s first location is right here at BU, hosted by urbanist and scholar-activist Loretta Lees, Director of the Initiative on Cities at BU. “The Initiative on Cities at BU is committed to the Right to the City in its research, learning, and practice. We promote cities as democratic spaces in which all should have the right to access, shape, and benefit from urban spaces. Dominic’s work is a testament to this,” says Lees. 🙌 🏙️

Learn more about Dominic and the exhibition in CFA News! ➡️ http://spr.ly/6183B8ik2D

🏙️ Right to the City
📍Stone Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave.
📅 June 9 - August 8
🇺🇸 Closed June 30 - July 6 in observance of Independence Day
🕐 Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11am to 5pm
🆓 FREE admission, open to the public

EVOLVE: In recent years, the art form of opera has seen more diverse stories, exciting new initiatives, and renewed commitments to inclusivity. Is opera in its strongest era yet? 🙌

Boston University School of Music and Boston University Opera Institute alums spoke with CFA about how they are leveraging their experiences as performers and as arts administrators to open the world of opera to more people—on both sides of the curtain. 🎶🎭 🌎

“Opera has survived every World War, the French Revolution, plagues, slavery, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement,” says Ishan Johnson (CFA’06), a baritone, chief philanthropic officer at Boston Lyric Opera, and member of Boston University’s Alumni Council. “Operas are being produced today during very tumultuous times. Opera is not going anywhere.”

Hear from more alums in CFA magazine 📖 ➡️ http://spr.ly/6182B8b4Py