diff --git a/bin/run.js b/bin/run.js
index 87976c580..4f2357d51 100755
--- a/bin/run.js
+++ b/bin/run.js
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ const constructDefaultArgs = _ => {
     timeout: +process.env.TAP_TIMEOUT || defaultTimeout,
     color: !!colorSupport.level,
     reporter: null,
+    reporterOptions: {},
     files: [],
     grep: [],
     grepInvert: false,
@@ -282,6 +283,10 @@ const parseArgs = (args, options) => {
         options.reporter = val || args[++i]
         continue
 
+      case '--reporter-options':
+        options.reporterOptions = JSON.parse(val || args[++i])
+        continue
+
       case '--gc': case '-gc': case '--expose-gc':
         options.nodeArgs.push('--expose-gc')
         continue
@@ -595,9 +600,9 @@ const setupTapEnv = options => {
 const globFiles = files => files.reduce((acc, f) =>
   acc.concat(f === '-' ? f : glob.sync(f, { nonull: true })), [])
 
-const makeReporter = options =>
-  new (require('tap-mocha-reporter'))(options.reporter)
-
+const makeReporter = options => {
+  return new (require('tap-mocha-reporter'))(options.reporter, {}, options.reporterOptions)
+}
 const stdinOnly = options => {
   // if we didn't specify any files, then just passthrough
   // to the reporter, so we don't get '/dev/stdin' in the suite list.
diff --git a/bin/usage.txt b/bin/usage.txt
index e01bfa0df..ef1357c56 100644
--- a/bin/usage.txt
+++ b/bin/usage.txt
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ Options:
                               Available reporters:
 @@REPORTERS@@
 
+  --reporter-options=<opts>   Configure the specified reporter with a
+                              JSON value.  For example, you could use
+                              '{"reporter": {"open": "(", "close": ")"}}'
+                              to customize the progress reporter.
+
   -o<file>                    Send the raw TAP output to the specified
   --output-file=<file>        file.  Reporter output will still be
                               printed to stdout, but the file will
diff --git a/docs/cli/index.md b/docs/cli/index.md
index 2d0234dac..6d0eafcec 100644
--- a/docs/cli/index.md
+++ b/docs/cli/index.md
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ Options:
                               landing list markdown min nyan progress
                               silent spec tap xunit
 
+  --reporter-options=<opts>   Configure the specified reporter with a
+                              JSON value.  For example, you could use
+                              `{"reporter": {"open": "(", "close": ")"}}`
+                              to customize the progress reporter.
+
   -o<file>                    Send the raw TAP output to the specified
   --output-file=<file>        file.  Reporter output will still be
                               printed to stdout, but the file will
diff --git a/docs/reporting/index.md b/docs/reporting/index.md
index 29e091db8..d7bcdbdb1 100644
--- a/docs/reporting/index.md
+++ b/docs/reporting/index.md
@@ -86,3 +86,11 @@ The following options are available:
 - xunit
 
     XML output popular in .NET land.
+
+You can pass options to those reporters using `--reporter-options`
+with a JSON value.  For example:
+
+```
+--reporter=progress
+--reporter-options='{"reporter": {"open": "(", "close": ")"}}'
+```
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c429d7c92..3a725df52 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
     "signal-exit": "^3.0.0",
     "source-map-support": "^0.5.6",
     "stack-utils": "^1.0.0",
-    "tap-mocha-reporter": "^3.0.7",
+    "tap-mocha-reporter": "FIXME: bump to contain https://github.com/tapjs/tap-mocha-reporter/pull/49 once it lands",
     "tap-parser": "^7.0.0",
     "tmatch": "^4.0.0",
     "trivial-deferred": "^1.0.1",