American Repertory Theatre

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) is housed in the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein as a break off group from the Yale Repertory Theatre after a bitter dispute between Yale University and the long-established Yale company. [Kelly, Kevin. (June 13, 1984) The Boston Globe "Lives in the arts. If it's a part, Karen MacDonald can play it." Section Arts/Films.] Its last artistic director was Robert Woodruff. It is currently led by Acting Artistic Director Gideon Lester. The A.R.T premiered the Pulitzer Prize winning play Night, Mother by Marsha Norman in 1982. It is also famous for director JoAnne Akalaitis' 1984 production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, which angered the author by not following his stage directions and setting the play in a subway. In 2003, "Time Magazine" recognized it as one of the top five regional theaters in the United States. [cite news| last=Zoglin | first=Richard | title=Bigger than Broadway! | work=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,454479-2,00.html | date=27 May 2003 | accessdate=2008-05-30]

Playwrights and directors

The A.R.T. prides itself on presenting both American and World premiere productions. Over the years, these have included works by Robert Auletta, Robert Brustein, Anton Chekhov, Don DeLillo, Keith Dewhurst, Christopher Durang, Elizabeth Egloff, Peter Feibleman, Jules Feiffer, Dario Fo, Carlos Fuentes, Larry Gelbart, Leslie Glass, Philip Glass, Stuart Greenman, William Hauptman, Allan Havis, Milan Kundera, Mark Leib, Gideon Lester, David Lodge, Carol K. Mack, David Mamet, Charles L. Mee, Roger Miller, John Moran, Robert Moran, Heiner Müller, Marsha Norman, Han Ong, Amanda Palmer, David Rabe, Franca Rame, Adam Rapp, Keith Reddin, Ronald Ribman, Paula Vogel, Derek Walcott, Naomi Wallace, and Robert Wilson.

The A.R.T. has also engaged a collection of world famous stage directors throughout the years, including JoAnne Akalaitis, Andrei Belgrader, Anne Bogart, Lee Breuer, Robert Brustein, Liviu Ciulei, Ron Daniels, Liz Diamond, Joe Dowling, Michael Engler, Alvin Epstein, Dario Fo, Richard Foreman, David Gordon, Adrian Hall, Richard Jones, Michael Kahn, Jerome Kilty, Krystian Lupa, John Madden, David Mamet, Des McAnuff, Jonathan Miller, Tom Moore, David Rabe, François Rochaix, Robert Scanlan, János Szász, Peter Sellars, Andrei Şerban, Sxip Shirey, Susan Sontag, Marcus Stern, Slobodan Unkovski, Les Waters, David Wheeler, Frederick Wiseman, Robert Wilson, Robert Woodruff, Yuri Yeremin, Francesca Zambello, and Scott Zigler.

Productions

2007-2008 Season

* "Don Juan Giovanni and Figaro" directed by Dominique Serrand in association with Theatre de la Jeune Lune. In repertory August 31 - October 6, 2007 at the Loeb Drama Center.
* "Donnie Darko" adapted and directed by Marcus Stern, based on the film by Richard Kelly. October 27 - November 18 at the Zero Arrow Theatre.
* "No Child..." written and performed by Nilaja Sun. November 23 - December 23 at the Loeb Drama Center.
* "Copenhagen" written by Michael Frayn and directed by Scott Zigler. January 5 - February 3 at the Loeb Drama Center.
* "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. Directed by Arthur Nauzyciel. February 9 - March 22 at the Loeb Drama Center.
* "" by Pieter-Dirk Uys. April 2 - May 4 at the Zero Arrow Theatre.
* "Cardenio" by Charles Mee and Stephen Greenblatt. Directed by Les Waters. May 10 - June 1 at the Loeb Drama Center.

Educational institution

In 1987, the A.R.T. founded the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, a five semester professional training M.F.A. program which includes a three month period working and training at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. This program provides training for graduate-level actors, dramaturgs, and voice students. For a time, the Institute included a director-training program, which is currently defunct.

Performance venues

In addition to the mainstage at the Loeb Drama Center, in 2005 the A.R.T. opened a new black box theater space in Cambridge, at Zero Arrow Street, the aptly named Zero Arrow Theatre. This 300 seat space houses productions by the A.R.T. as well as outside companies and organizations.

Before the Zero Arrow Theatre opened the A.R.T. used the old Hasty Pudding theatre in addition to the Loeb Mainstage, and the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training used the sub-basement of The First Parish in Cambridge, Zero Church Street, a flexible almost black box venue, which they still occasionally use.

References

External links

* [http://www.amrep.org/ American Repertory Theatre official website]
* [http://www.amrep.org/iatt/homepage.html Institute for Advanced Theatre Training webite]
* [http://www.amrep.org/venues/zarrow/ Zero Arrow Theatre homepage]
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