Starting Thursday, an 11-day festival will show off Arrow Streets Arts’ takeover of the old Oberon Theatre in Harvard Square and bring visitors into the reimagined space.
Arrow Street added a second performance space and opened up the lobby. It also expanded the original black box theater that was previously leased by ART, the American Repertory Theatre, until the end of 2021.
With these renovations, the new spaces can accommodate everything from spoken word, plays and musicals, to aerial circus and drag performances.
“It’s sort of basically a ... wandering smörgåsbord of art forms,” Arrow Street Arts founder David Altshuler told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday.
The nonprofit was created with the mission to provide an accessible, affordable, high-quality performance venue for Boston-area artists to showcase their work.
ArrowFest starts with an immersive spectacle called “Don’t Open This” from the theater ensemble Liars and Believers to showcase the changes.
“We’ve transformed the space into an otherworld called ‘box,’ and it is the source of all your desires. But what happens when what you order online is not actually what your soul needs?” said ArrowFest curator Georgia Lyman.
The event will feature dance, aerialists, puppets and live music, and attendees are free to roam around the theater.
Boston drag star Candace Persuasian will premier her original show “FABULA: Gods and Goddesses Among Us” as part of ArrowFest. “Fabula” is Latin for “fable” and each act will highlight individuality, gender expression and gender identity through dancing, singing and lip synching, Persuasian said.
The re-opening of the theater by Arrow Street Arts helps fill the void in Boston’s theater scene, especially for Persuasian, who said it can be difficult to find drag performance venues.
“We also lost Machine,” said Persuasian, citing the venue that shut down in early 2020. “Coming back after the pandemic, it’s like, ‘Oh, all the places that I went to are no longer there.
“When Georgia approached me with this opportunity, I was like, ‘I’m going to take it,’” she said.
After the 11-day festival, Altshuler says another couple dozen artists will be parading through the theater spaces through the next year, including Bollywood dance groups, puppets and live music.
For more information on ArrowFest and Arrow Street Arts, visit ArrowStArts.org.
