Theater Profile: The American Repertory Theater
The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is the professional theater at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, the theater strives to immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences. In all its productions and initiatives, A.R.T. is motivated by a mission to expand the boundaries of theater.
In Cambridge and beyond, A.R.T. continues to re-imagine performance spaces for the 21st century. In Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (produced at A.R.T. in 2015 and arriving on Broadway in 2016), the entire theater was transformed into a decadent Russian supper club with 360-degree staging and seating. Sleep No More (produced in an empty schoolhouse in Brookline in 2009 and now running in New York’s McKittrick Hotel) invited audience members on a haunting, site-specific tour through Macbeth and the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock. At OBERON, A.R.T.’s club theater and incubator for emerging talent, The Donkey Show (still running in Cambridge every Saturday night) spirits audiences through a disco-inspired re-telling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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Zachary Quinto, Cherry Jones, and Celia Keenan-Bolger in THE GLASS MENAGERIE.
Photo by Michael J. Lutch.[/caption]
A.R.T.’s productions frequently unite creative teams from far-flung genres, broadening the traditional scope of theater collaborations. Directed by Diane Paulus, a Tony Award-winning production of Pippin (A.R.T. 2013, Broadway 2013, National and International Tours ongoing) fused Stephen Schwartz’s score and Bob Fosse’s classic choreography with circus work by Montreal’s Les 7 Doigts de la Main. Waitress (a 2015 musical adaptation of Adrienne Shelley’s film, opening on Broadway in 2016) features an original score by Sara Bareilles — the pop icon’s first work for the stage. Magic by Teller (of the Vegas duo Penn & Teller) reimagined Prospero as a dust bowl-inspired itinerant magician in The Tempest (A.R.T. 2014, National Tour 2014–2015).
The A.R.T. is immersed in the cognitive life of Harvard University. Over multi-year programming initiatives, the A.R.T. sparks new work through collaborations between A.R.T. artists and Harvard’s community of scholars and leaders. The 2014–2015 season concluded a multi-year initiative to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. This series culminated in the world premieres of Suzan Lori Parks’ Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (co-produced with the Public Theater) and Matthew Aucoin’s new American opera, Crossing (inspired by the diary Walt Whitman kept as a Civil War nurse). The A.R.T. is currently engaged in a groundbreaking collaboration with Harvard’s Center for the Environment, which will result in the development of new ecologically focused theater over several seasons.
In collaboration with Harvard’s Theater, Dance, and Media undergraduate concentration, A.R.T. artists teach courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy. The A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training offers graduate-level training in acting, dramaturgy, and voice. Over a two-year program, Institute students present work at A.R.T and in residency at the Moscow Art Theater School. (Recent work debuted by the Institute in Moscow includes a 2012 evening of Thornton Wilder One-Acts including Samuel French texts Pullman Car Hiawatha, The Long Christmas Dinner, and Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden).
Since its founding in 1980 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. has supported a diverse array of innovative work and emerging talent. A generation of visionary directors — Julie Taymor, Peter Sellers, Robert Wilson, among others — and writers including David Mamet, Anna Deavere Smith, Marsha Norman, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Christopher Durang have all premiered work at the theater.
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Patina Miller and the cast of Pippin. Photo by Michael J. Lutch.[/caption]
The A.R.T.’s work has been honored with many distinguished awards, including the Tony Award for Best New Play for All the Way (2014) and consecutive Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin (2012) and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2011). The A.R.T.’s production of The Glass Menagerie (2013), which will play at the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival, received seven 2104 Tony Award nominations. Other awards include a Pulitzer Prize for Marsha Norma’s ‘Night, Mother (1983); a Jujamcyn Prize for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent; the Tony Award for Best Regional Theater; and numerous Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards.
Dedicated to making great theater accessible, the A.R.T. actively engages more than 10,000 community members and local students annually in project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with artists, and other enrichment activities both at the theater and across the Greater Boston area. Through all of these productions and initiatives, the A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.
All photos courtesy of American Repertory Theater.
