Feb 20—22, 2026
The Things Around Us
Ahamefule J. Oluo / from USA
With the timing of a stand-up comic and the sounds of a symphony, this profound, hilarious one-person show will remind you how the ordinary can be so extraordinary.
The Things Around Us is a musically astounding, hilarious, and surprising new one-person show from acclaimed musician, artist, and storyteller Ahamefule J. Oluo. Trumpet in hand, Oluo uses live looping to build layers of music until they brilliantly build to dizzying heights. These stunning songs are in direct conversation with a series of uncanny stories about strangers, acquaintances, and friends—full of unpredictable, delightful twists and turns—which Oluo delivers with the perfect timing of a seasoned stand-up comic.
As Oluo creates entire songs out of anything within arms’ reach, an expansive one-person symphony provides reflective moments for audiences to consider the profound nature of life before bouncing back to the laugh out loud stories and universal observations. The Things Around Us is a perfect 90-minutes that will draw you in and remind you of the beauty that surrounds all of the people and places, both familiar and strange, that we all hold dear.
The Things Around Us is the third in a trilogy of shows from Oluo, following Now I’m Fine and Susan.
Info
Venue
Robert J. Orchard Stage,
Emerson Paramount Center
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Dates
Feb 20, 2026 - Feb 22, 2026
Tickets
PACKAGES
Groups
Details
90 mins
Ages 13+
Access
Audio Described Performance
Sun, Feb 22 2:00 pm
NOTE: OUR PRICES HAVE NOT INCREASED! ALL-IN PRICING is now in effect. In compliance with the H.R.1402 bill , we now list the total price of tickets, with no additional mandatory fees added at checkout.
Tickets
Artists
Composed, Written, & Performed by
Ahamefule J. Oluo
Produced by
Roya Amirsoleymani
Ahamefule J. Oluo
Ahamefule J. Oluo (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, comedian, and creator of live performance. They were a member of award-winning experimental jazz quartet Industrial Revelation. They are a Mellon Creative Research Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, MAP Fund awardee, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Creative Research Fellow, FCA Emergency Grant recipient, USArtists International grantee through MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, and Artist Trust Arts Innovator awardee. Oluo premiered Now I’m Fine (2016) and Susan (2020) at The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, both of which were critically acclaimed by The New York Times. Oluo wrote, scored, and starred in the award-winning film Thin Skin (2020), which won Best Director at the Harlem Film Festival; appeared on This American Life; and produced albums by comedians Hari Kondabolu and Dwayne Kennedy. Oluo is co-writer and director of Lindy West’s solo comedy show Every Castle, Ranked. They have written for television, including HBO Max’s Santa Inc. with Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. Oluo has received presentation and/or residency support from Transform Festival in Leeds, UK, Under the Radar Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ArtsEmerson, the Historic Asolo Theatre at the Ringling Museum, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, The Clarice at the University of Maryland, Fusebox Festival, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, On the Boards, UW’s Meany Center, Seattle Theatre Group, Seattle Rep, Intiman, Field Hall in Port Angeles, Wa Na Wari, Langston, Yaddo, and MacDowell. THE THINGS AROUND US premiered at Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival in Fall 2024 and continues to tour nationally and internationally. A second-generation Seattleite, Oluo is now based on Twana lands on the Olympic Peninsula in rural Washington and remains active in Seattle’s music, comedy, and performance communities.
Roya Amirsoleymani
Roya Amirsoleymani is a curator, writer, and creative produce in contemporary performance and visual art, based rurally on Twana lands on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Currently, she is the producer of new performance works by San Cha, Ahamefule J. Oluo, and Holland Andrews & yuniya edi kwon and serves as a consultant for National Performance Network. She was a co- curator of the 2025 Northwest New Works Festival at Seattle's On the Boards and was one of four co-curators of the Out of Sight visual art exhibition at Seattle’s beloved Bumbershoot Festival in 2023. From 2012-2023, she was a co-artistic director and curator at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), where she curated exhibitions, experimental dance and theatre, residencies, public programs, community events, grant making, and the annual, globally renowned Time-Based Art Festival. Internationally, nationally, and regionally, her practice has also spanned research, curatorial and creative writing, graduate-level teaching, conference papers and panels, symposia, publications, public art, book making, and cultural policy and advocacy. She is an Artist Trust grantee and has held residencies with Centrum in Port Townsend, WA; Sou’wester in Seaview, WA; and Studio Faire in Nérac, France. She is currently developing a long-form experimental narrative and archival project about death and friendship. Across all her work, she strives for anti-racism, equity, and justice.
Gallery
Photo Credit: Hanan
Photo Credit: Malique Pye
Photo Credit: Hanan
Photo Credit: Hanan
Photo Credit: Roya Amirsoleymani
Photo Credit: Robert Franklin
Photo Credit: Robert Franklin
Photo Credit: Alex Dugan
Photo Credit: Alex Dugan
Photo Credit: Alex Dugan
“An astounding display of musicianship.”
— The Washington Post
“Had the audience howling…As they’re layered on top of one another, the seemingly random stories Oluo tells generate kinetic energy like atoms heating up.”
— The Seattle Times
“Oluo presents monologues and anecdotes interspersed with immersive and incredibly transcendent musical numbers on trumpet, clarinet, and improvised instruments. If presented on their own, either would be a powerful and compelling show. Together, they create something mesmerizing, powerful, and innovative that is worth seeing…full of nuance, emotion, and the depth of personal experience, it’s a show that shouldn’t be missed.”
— The Sound On Stage
“A soulful and surprising gift”
— The Berkshire Eagle
“The result is a sound unlike anything I’ve ever heard. It was full, complex, genre-bending, and just so cool…Go treat yourself to something special and catch it.”
— Broadway World
“As both a speaker and a musician, Ahamefule J. Oluo specializes in mellow anxiety. It’s a smooth but layered style that makes them highly agreeable to listen to and at the same time unexpectedly moving. The concentrated emotional force lurking in their ease of manner sneaks up on you.”
— The New York Times
“Part monologue and part stand-up… [They’re] multitracking live, before our eyes, building three or four layers of trumpet one by one, and then harmonizing with the stack [they’ve] just made…It sounds so goooood…, [they] captivate the crowd with music, then knocks ‘em dead—and makes it all look easy.”
— Public Display
December 12, 2025
Symphonic Storytelling in The Things Around Us
When The Things Around Us arrives at ArtsEmerson in February, you’ll meet a storyteller, composer, comedian, and one-person orchestra all at once. Created and performed by Ahamefule J. Oluo, the...
Read More