The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to neglected works of the past; and to established classical texts reinterpreted in refreshing new ways. Over the past thirty years it has garnered many of the nation's most distinguished awards, including a Pulitzer Prize (1982), a Tony Award (1986), and a Jujamcyn Award (1985).[1] In December 2002, the A.R.T. was the recipient of the National Theatre Conference's Outstanding Achievement Award, and in May 2003 it was named one of the top three theaters in the country by Time Magazine. The A.R.T. is housed in the Loeb Drama Center at Harvard University.
In 2002 Robert Woodruff replaced founder Robert Brustein as the A.R.T.'s Artistic Director. After Woodruff's departure in 2007, Associate Artistic Director Gideon Lester took the reins for 2008-09 season, and in May 2008 Diane Paulus was named the new Artistic Director. Paulus, a Harvard alum, is widely known as a director of theater and opera. Her work includes The Donkey Show, which ran off-Broadway for six years; productions at the Chicago Opera Theatre; and the Public Theater's 2008 production of Hair, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
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Of the ART's 31st season, Artistic Director Diane Paulus said, "I promise that our 2010/2011 season will be another year of theatrical events — from rock stars to a robot chorus, mosh pits to the geodesic dome, Sophocles to Lewis Carroll — there will be something for everyone."[3]
The A.R.T.'s 30th season, its first under the helm of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, eschews the traditional model and instead offers a series of "festivals" which will encourage audiences to experience productions as parts of larger cultural events.
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, Steven 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, Steven Mitchell Wright, Yuri Yeremin, Francesca Zambello, and Scott Zigler.
In 1987, the A.R.T. founded the Institute for Advanced Theater 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 was discontinued in 2004; the dramaturgy program was simultaneously tripled in enrollment. This joint program has historically conferred an M.F.A. from the Moscow Art Theatre School and a certificate of completion from Harvard. The program is administered and housed by the A.R.T., and training is provided by full-time, part-time, and visiting teachers and artists at the A.R.T. These include Russian teachers affiliated with the Moscow Art Theatre School, who teach in residence in Cambridge as well as in Moscow when the students study there. The Institute is remarkable among conservatory programs for the degree to which it offers the opportunity for exposure to and collaboration with internationally renowned artists of the "avant-garde," particularly those from eastern Europe and Russia.
OBERON (sometimes referred to as Club Oberon) is a new club theater venue that opened in August 2009. The venue inhabits the space that was once the Zero Arrow Street Theater. The venue was originally created as set for the A.R.T.'s production of The Donkey Show and it was soon decided to convert the theater into a full functioning club theater venue fitting the revolutionary club theater model and philosophy developed by The Donkey Show's creator Randy Weiner.
Before the OBERON and the now defunct Zero Arrow Theater, the A.R.T. used the old Hasty Pudding theater in addition to the Loeb Mainstage, and the Institute for Advanced Theater 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.
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