FEB 20—22, 2026
Robert J. Orchard Stage,
Emerson Paramount Center
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
In an effort to reduce paper waste, we have stopped printing full show programs. Instead, we’ve created a small printed piece with the essentials that all audiences receive which then links to a complete digital program.
Dearest ArtsEmerson Friends,
Ahamefule J. Oluo has an extraordinary gift for turning sound, story, and spontaneous moments into something moving and unexpectedly joyful. Their solo show that you’re about to see, The Things Around Us, captures the kind of inventive artistry that ArtsEmerson is proud to champion; work that connects audiences through humor, music, and shared humanity.
Trumpet in hand, Oluo uses live looping to brilliantly build layers of music to dizzying heights—a technically demanding process that they spent more than two years meticulously developing and refining. 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.
We so strongly believe in Ahamefule J. Oluo’s incredible talents that they have also been selected as this year’s Fresh Sound artist in residency. The Fresh Sound Residency is an annual program that connects artists with students and faculty in the Emerson Community as well as the broader Boston community. Aham follows in a long line of Fresh Sound Residents including Sarah Ruhl, Toshi Reagon, Esperanza Spalding, and Kiki Katese. For the past two weeks, Aham has been visiting classrooms, sharing their craft, and inspiring the next generation of storytellers. Aham is a singular artist and a true innovator, and we are honored to welcome them to Boston.
We hope you enjoy the performance. Thank you for joining us.
Sincerely,
Ronee Penoi
Interim Executive Director of the Office of the Arts and ArtsEmerson
Director of Artistic Programming
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 is a curator, writer, and creative producer 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.
