ArtsEmerson Announces its Inaugural Season

Boston, MA — 

Highlights include F. Murray Abraham in The Merchant of Venice; the World Premiere of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later; legendary stage director Peter Brook; the Boston return of Elevator Repair Service with The Sun Also Rises; an Irish Festival featuring the Abbey and Druid Theatres and a World Premiere about Rose Kennedy; and much more–over 100 performances of 17 different productions.

The inaugural season of world-class international theatre programming by ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage was announced today at a press conference at the Paramount Theatre in Boston’s historic Theatre District. ArtsEmerson is the organization established by Emerson College to program the Paramount Theatre, Cutler Majestic Theatre and other venues at Emerson’s Paramount Center. The announcement was made by Robert J. Orchard, appointed Executive Director of the Arts in October 2009, along with the President of Emerson College, Jacqueline W. Liebergott. The season includes over 100 performances of 17 different productions, including world premieres, Boston debuts and works to be developed in the new facilities created by Emerson College.

Beginning in September 2010, ArtsEmerson will give Boston audiences a new level of cultural choice, bringing professional American and international work to its four distinct venues: the beautifully re-imagined 590-seat Paramount Theatre, a cornerstone in the revitalization of downtown Boston; the versatile, intimate Black Box Theatre, which can seat up to 150 people; the state-of the art 170-seat Bright Family Screening Room (all located within the new Paramount Center); and the beloved, historic 1,186-seat Cutler Majestic Theatre in the heart of the Theatre District, fully restored by Emerson in 2003.

Along with the season announcement, Orchard shared his programming vision, which draws from his decades of work in theatre and Boston, and highlighted the unique production facilities available at the Paramount Center—a new, full scene shop, rehearsal studios, soundstage, and elsewhere at the College’s resident artist apartments. These support spaces will allow for the development of new work, and the establishment of multi-year relationships with some of the world’s most celebrated makers of theatre. According to Orchard, “We’ve grouped these artists into two programming streams: legends and pioneers. Legends are established, highly-regarded companies and artists whose work is celebrated around the world, such as The Abbey Theatre, The New York Theatre Workshop, Peter Brook, Tectonic Theater Project and F. Murray Abraham, among others. Pioneers include a new generation of artists whose ideas are redefining theatre, such as Elevator Repair Service, 7 Fingers, Rude Mechs and Basil Twist. We will also host a wide variety of performances for people of all ages. Some of these works will be developed at the Paramount Center for Boston audiences and travel the world. This is truly an exciting time to be a theatre fan in Boston.”

“Rob Orchard’s vision and enthusiasm, as well as his connections with a wide-range of theatre productions worldwide, is reflected in the programming for the inaugural season of the Paramount Center,” said Liebergott. “The vibrant line-up of productions will add a new dimension to the cultural vitality of Boston and the city’s reputation as an internationally recognized leader in the arts.”

One-year memberships to ArtsEmerson are now being offered at $60. Members get one free ticket, substantial discounts, access to tickets before they go on sale to the general public, and standby seating upgrades. Members will also receive special access to residencies and workshops, designed to offer audiences insights into works in development, and the opportunity to provide feedback. According to Director of External Affairs Ruth Davidson, “Our goal is to create an ArtsEmerson community of patrons, who engage with the work, the artists and even each other over time. This is a new approach for Boston, and we’re excited about the possibilities. Rob’s multi-year commitment to many artists will allow for long-term relationships between creators and audience.”
Tickets for booking period one (performances through the end of 2010) are available to members now, and on sale to the general public July 26. Tickets for booking period two (January—May 2011) are available to members beginning October 1, and on sale to the general public November 1. In addition, ArtsEmerson offers specially-selected member packages, including All for Fall (six projects starting at $199), Family Pack, Pioneer Pack and Legends Pack. For details about membership and tickets, visit artsemerson.org or call 617-824-8000. Packages are designed to give audiences flexibility in designing their own season.

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Booking Period One – September through December 2010

Fraulein Maria

Boston Premiere
September 23 through 30, 2010
Presented by Doug Elkins and Friends
Paramount Theatre

Fraulein Maria is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music as deconstructed by the brilliant mind and playful spirit of acclaimed choreographer Doug Elkins. A gender-bending, tour-de-force comedy, Fraulein Maria began as a love letter to Elkins’ children, on a tiny stage at Joe’s Pub at New York’s Public Theater, and is now a bona fide family tradition. The von Trapp children are hoodied hip-hop dancers; cross-dressing nuns cavort across the stage. Set to the original Julie Andrews soundtrack, Elkins’s affectionate humor shines through his idiomatic tips of the hat to such dance legends as Martha Graham, George Balanchine, Jose Limon, Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. He seamlessly merges modern and popular dance forms including hip-hop and “vogueing,” reinventing this beloved 1965 standard into an edgy yet fun cabaret romp. Recommended for everyone, including children 5 and older.

Two-time Bessie award-winner Doug Elkins began his career as a B-Boy, touring the world with break dance groups. In 1988, he founded the Doug Elkins Dance Company, which performed nationally and internationally for 15 years before disbanding in 2003. Elkins is a recipient of significant choreographic commissions and awards from the NEA and others. He has created original work for Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, Flying Karamazov Brothers, MaggioDanza, Pennsylvania Ballet, Union Dance and CanDoCo of London, as well as a number of university dance companies, and the renowned Mini & Maxi of Holland. His theatre work includes collaborations with Joanne Akalaitis and Philip Glass, Robert Woodruff, Pavel Dubrusky, Annie Hamburger, Molly Smith, Craig Lucas, David Henry Hwang, Michael Preston and Barbara Karger. He teaches at The Beacon School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

For more information about Doug Elkins, visit dougelkinschoreography.com.

The Laramie Residency

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

World Premiere
September 24 through October 2, 2010
Written by Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber
Tectonic Theater Project
Cutler Majestic Theatre

The creators of one of the most important plays in recent times make their Boston debut. In October 1998 Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. Five weeks later, members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, and over the course of a year, conducted more than 200 interviews with townspeople. From these interviews they wrote The Laramie Project, one of the most-performed plays in America today. Recommended for age 14 and up.

ArtsEmerson is thrilled to present the world premiere of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. Members of Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie to find out what happened in the 10 years since Matthew Shepard died. They asked the questions: Has Matthew's murder had a lasting impact on that community? How has the town changed as a result of this event? What does life in Laramie tell us about life in America 10 years later? From the interviews, they wrote an Epilogue for the original play, and in the fall of 2009, on the 11th anniversary of Matthew’s death, companies all over the world performed staged readings. This will be the first full stage production, presented in repertory with the original. Recommended for age 14 and up.

Tectonic Theater Project is an award-winning ensemble dedicated to developing innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with audiences on the social, political and human issues that affect everyone. Tectonic Theater Project was founded in 1991 by Moisés Kaufman and Jeffrey LaHoste. Its groundbreaking plays, The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and I Am My Own Wife, have sparked national discourse about their subjects and have inspired artists and audiences worldwide.

For more information about Tectonic Theater Project, visit tectonictheaterproject.org.

The Method Gun

Boston Premiere
October 13—17, 2010
Written by Kirk Lynn
Directed by Shawn Sides
Created and performed by Rude Mechs
Black Box at Paramount Center

The Method Gun hilariously explores the life and techniques of Stella Burden, an apocryphal actor-training guru of the 60s and 70s, whose sudden emigration to South America still haunts her most fervent followers. Burden’s training technique, “The Approach” (often referred to as "the most dangerous acting technique in the world"), fused Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to give even the smallest role a touch of sex, death and violence. Amid swinging pendulums and talking tigers, The Method Gun uses found text from “actual” journals and performance reports from the final months of rehearsals for Burden’s nine-years-in-the-making production of A Streetcar Named Desire using only the minor characters. It’s about the ecstasy and excesses of performing, the dangers of public intimacy and the incompatibility of truth on stage and sanity in real life. Recommended for age 17 and up. (Contains nudity.)

Since 1995, Austin Texas’s Rude Mechs has used performance to explore collectivity, collaboration, and community. The result is a mercurial slate of 22 original theatrical productions ranging from Low-Fi, Agit-Prop, Lec-Dems to Multi-Media, Romantic-Era, Closet Dramas. What they hold in common is bold physicality, intellectual savvy, a preference for the actor above the character, and an irreverent sense of humor. This will be their Boston debut.

For more information about Rude Mechs, visit rudemechs.com.

One Small Step

U.S. Premiere
October 20 through 24, 2010
Oxford Playhouse
Written by David Hastings
Directed by Toby Hulse
Black Box at Paramount Center

One Small Step, launched at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe, on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, garnered rave reviews and thrilled audiences. Two extraordinary young actors, using little more than cardboard boxes, buckets and a thermos, recount the history of moon travel, taking the audience on an action-packed trip involving 41 characters, in a brilliantly inventive exploration of the space race. From the first dog to be rocketed into space, to the moon landing and beyond, One Small Step is full of emotion, epic achievements and humor. Recommended for everyone, including children 6 and older.

Oxford Playhouse presents and produces a wide range of performances. The program includes the best of British and international drama, family shows, contemporary dance and music, comedy, lectures and poetry. The Playhouse tours its own shows, hosts artists-in-residence and presents Playhouse Plays Out, an ongoing series of off-site events which happen at locations across the country.
For more information about Oxford Playhouse, visit oxfordplayhouse.com.

Aftermath

Boston Premiere
October 27 through 31, 2010
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
Directed by Jessica Blank
Presented by New York Theatre Workshop
Paramount Theatre

March 20, 2003, the day that President Bush announced the invasion of Iraq, changed the lives of ordinary Iraqis forever. In June 2008, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, award-winning creators of The Exonerated, traveled to Jordan to find out what happened to Iraqi civilians who escaped in the wake of the War. They interviewed some 35 people—a cross-section of lives interrupted—who fled the chaos and violence that befell Iraq for the relative safety of Jordan. Following their visit, these encounters were crafted into this vivid, illuminating and unforgettable play that gives voice to the upheaval of everyday life in a country struggling to find its way back home. Aftermath reveals a truth, charged with emotion, outrage, and in the end, lessons in courage and humanity. Recommended for age 14 and up.

New York Theatre Workshop is a remarkable off-Broadway theatre noted for acclaimed and cutting-edge productions. It’s a workshop where artists create work, hone their craft and collaboratively explore theatre. NYTW is committed to the development of innovative theatre by supporting artists at all stages of their careers, providing an environment where work can be created free from artistic compromise and forbidding financial demands. Over two decades, NYTW has evolved to become a significant force in New York City's vibrant cultural landscape and is now recognized as one of the leading producers of original theatre in the United States.

For more information New York Theatre Workshop visit www.nytw.org.

Petrushka

Boston Premiere
November 11—21, 2010
Created and directed by Basil Twist
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Twin pianos by Julia and Irina Elkina
Paramount Theatre

Known the world over for his astonishingly innovative puppet shows, master puppeteer and Guggenheim Fellow Basil Twist spins new magic around the legendary Ballets Russes production. Set to Stravinsky’s classic score, it’s the story of a tragic love triangle between three magical creatures; the clown Petrushka, the alluring Ballerina and the dashing Moor, whose stories emerge amidst the swirl of the Russian carnival. The program opens with an abstract fantasia of puppetry set to Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos, performed by Russian identical twin pianists, Julia and Irina Elkina. Nine hidden puppeteers combine Czech and Japanese traditions in a tour de force of music, movement, design and storytelling. Recommended for everyone, including children 7 and older.

Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer who lives and works in New York. He became the only American to graduate from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, France, one of the world's premiere puppetry training programs. Twist's work was first spotlighted in New York in 1995 with his creation The Araneidae Show, for which he was awarded a 1997 Bessie Award and a UNIMA Citation of Excellence. 1998 was a landmark year for Twist with a Drama Desk Award nomination for his work with Theatre Couture's Off-Broadway hit Tell Tale, and the premiere of Symphonie Fantastique at HERE Arts Center. Since 1998, Twist has continually expanded the realm of puppetry by creating and touring new works, focusing especially on work integrated with live music. Twist was the underwater puppetry consultant on the third Harry Potter film and just completed creating creatures for The Addams Family Musical on Broadway. In 2000, his Petrushka premiered in New York and was awarded a 2000 UNIMA Citation of Excellence. Twist is the director of The Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE Arts Center, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a United States Artists Fellow.

Co-presented with The Celebrity Series
For more information about Basil Twist, visit basiltwist.com.

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Booking Period Two – January through May 2011

PSY

January 18—23, 2010
Les 7 doigts de la Main (Boston Debut)
Directed by Shana Carroll
Assistant Director: Isabelle Chassé
Cutler Majestic Theatre

French-Canadian contemporary circus company Les 7 doigts de la Main (The 7 Fingers) blend acrobatics, theatre and dance in PSY, a two-hour, mind-blowing extravaganza. Sitting in the quiet of a psychiatrist's office, the voices in a man's head instruct him to climb on a trapeze and hang by his toes. An obsessive - compulsive patient crosses a busy intersection, his attempts to avoid contact leading him to perform acrobatics across a sea of pedestrians. A woman, confronting agoraphobia, is led to swing through the air. Trapeze, juggling, aerial ropes, Chinese poles, and German wheels fill the stage, as The 7 Fingers brings out humor, beauty, and the commonality of everyday human limitations, while celebrating the power of the individual, and finding moments of strength, courage and joy while flying through the air. Recommended for everyone, including children 7 and older.

The 7 Fingers was founded in Montreal in 2002 by seven seasoned circus performers. Friends who had worked together in such prestigious companies as the Cirque du Soleil, the Cirque Eloize, Wintergarten Variety, Teatro Zinzanni, the Pickle Family Circus and Cirque Knie, or trained together at Montreal’s National Circus School, these artists decided it was time to offer something new to the circus arts scene, creating a circus of an entirely different flavor. Their goal was to bring circus to a human scale, employing a strikingly human and unprecedented multi-disciplinary approach to circus. Witness the grace and youthful virtuosity of this decidedly hip group of performers.

For more information about The 7 Fingers, visit 7doigts.com.

Paris Commune

Boston Premiere
January 19—23, 2011
The Civilians
Created by Steven Cosson and Michael Friedman
Directed by Steven Cosson
Paramount Theatre

In 1871, working class Parisians overthrew the French government, declared Paris autonomous and launched an attempt to reinvent society. Inspired by an actual concert that took place in the overthrown imperial palace at the height of the uprising, this memorable musical employs a bold theatrical form to tell the story of the first socialist revolution in Europe. The acclaimed New York theatre ensemble uses found texts, original songs from the time period, and the cabaret form to tell the story of this extraordinary event that re-imagined an entire culture. Recommended for age 14 and up.

The Civilians is an investigative theatre company, developing new work from the creative exploration of real life. Working with a dynamic combination of journalism and art, The Civilians creates theatrical events that promote an inquisitive curiosity about the world and an engagement with the most vital questions of the present. The company has created works that have been produced Off Broadway and in over 40 cities nationally and internationally, at theatres such as The Public Theater, Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, A.R.T., HBO's US Comedy Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, London's Soho Theatre, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

For more information about The Civilians, visit thecivilians.org.

Irish Festival

January 19 through February 13
Supported in part by Culture Ireland: cultureireland.com.

The Color of Rose

World Premiere
January 19 through30, 2011
Written by Katherine Bates
Black Box at Paramount Center

In this world premiere by Katherine Bates, as the aged Rose Kennedy prepares herself for a pressing interview, she revisits her past through the eyes of her youth and middle-age. Her candid reflections paint a unique and fascinating picture of this legendary family through the lens of its least-known yet most important anchor, Rose. Recommended for age 12 and up.

Produced in collaboration with the Performing Arts Department at Emerson College.

The Cripple of Inishmaan

February 2 through 6, 2011
Druid Theatre (Boston Debut)
Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Garry Hynes
Paramount Theatre

The Cripple of Inishmaan is a quintessentially Irish comic masterpiece with eccentric island characters trading stories to within an inch of their lives while a young man tries to make sense of who he is. This production revives the unique partnership of the Druid ensemble with writer Martin McDonagh and director Garry Hynes. It’s 1934 and the sleepy island of Inishmaan is abuzz with the news that Hollywood filmmaker Robert Flaherty has arrived on the neighboring island of Inishmore to film his movie The Man of Aran. For orphaned Billy Claven, who has been relentlessly scorned by Inishmaan's inhabitants, the film represents an escape from the poverty of his existence. He vies for a part in the film, and to everyone's surprise, it is the cripple who gets his chance. Recommended for age 12 and older.

Druid Theatre was founded in Galway in 1975 by graduates of the National University of Ireland and was the first professional theatre company in Ireland to be based outside Dublin. The company also tours around the world, making Druid one of the best known theatre companies in the English speaking world. Druid has always worked to reinvigorate perceptions of classic dramatic texts and to engage with new writing of a challenging, innovative and daring kind.

For more information about Druid Theatre, visit druidtheatre.com.

Terminus

February 8 through 13, 2011
Abbey Theatre
Ireland’s National Theatre
Written and directed by Mark O’Rowe
Paramount Theatre

Ireland’s famed Abbey Theatre presents its most acclaimed recent production - Mark O’Rowe’s Terminus. A vivid and exhilarating play, Terminus is a tale of three people ripped from their daily lives and thrown into a fantastical world of serial killers, avenging angels and love-sick demons. As their stories progress, the narratives begin to intersect and crisscross, and their emotions, yearnings, and desires simmer and occasionally explode. This work is filled with humor, hope and so much humanity that audiences leave with a greater sense of being. Recommended for age 16 and over.

Abbey Theatre was founded in 1903 by W. B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory. The organization creates world-class theatre that actively engages with and reflects Irish society, placing the writer and theatre artist at its heart.

For more information about the Abbey Theatre, visit abbeytheatre.ie.

The Sun Also Rises

Boston Premiere
March 9 through 20, 2011
Elevator Repair Service
Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway
Adapted and directed by John Collins
Paramount Theatre

Elevator Repair Service thrilled Boston audiences with Gatz at the A.R.T. They return to Boston with a very different production – a single-sitting adaptation of The Sun Also Rises, which will have its world premiere at the main Edinburgh Festival this summer. The first world war is over, but some battles still rage on. Elevator Repair Service brings Hemingway's novel to life on a stage littered with liquor bottles and cafe chairs as the story winds its way through France and Spain and lands in the streets of Pamplona where bullfighting and the fiesta are in full swing. Recommended for age 14 and older.

The Sun Also Rises is a co-production of ERS and New York Theatre Workshop. Commissioned by the Ringling International Arts Festival, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, in association with the Baryshnikov Arts Center; the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival with funding from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative; and ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage.

Elevator Repair Service, a theatre ensemble, was founded by director John Collins and a group of actors in 1991. Since then, ERS has built a body of work that has earned it a loyal following and made it one of New York’s most highly-acclaimed experimental theatre companies. They combine elements of slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, both literary and found text, common objects and discarded furniture, and the group's own highly developed style of choreography.

For more information about Elevator Repair Service, visit elevator.org.

A Celebration of Director Peter Brook

March 22 through April 3

Peter Brook is a giant of contemporary theatre - a creative genius who, through his groundbreaking productions, has reinvented the way actors and directors think about their craft. His influential book, The Empty Space, explores the nature of theatre, as well as Brook’s theories on the purpose and potential of the theatrical form. Famous for his innovative approach, Brook worked on many productions in Britain, Europe, and the United States, in the 1950’s. In 1962, he joined the newly established Royal Shakespeare Company for which he directed, among other productions, King Lear (1962) and Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade (1964). Hailed as one of the greatest Shakespeare productions of the 20th century, Brook’s 1971 A Midsummer Night’s Dream toured the United States, and was his last production seen in Boston (at the Shubert Theatre). Most of his work in recent decades is done with the Paris-based Centre for Theatre Research, which he founded. Among his films are The Beggar's Opera (1952), Lord of the Flies (1962), and King Lear (1969).

The Grand Inquisitor

Boston Premiere
March 22 through April 3, 2011
From The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
With Bruce Myers
Directed by Peter Brook
Adapted by Marie-Hélène Estienne
Black Box at Paramount Center

Peter Brook directs Marie-Hélène Estienne’s adaptation of The Grand Inquisitor scene from Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, a chilling parable about the perversion of religious faith. The action takes place in Seville during the Inquisition. In his infinite mercy, Christ returns to the world of man in the human form he wore during his 33 years on earth. He enters the burning streets of the city, where the previous day the Grand Inquisitor had sent a hundred heretics into the flames. The Cardinal Grand Inquisitor sees Him and his face darkens. He orders the guards to seize Christ and shut Him in a narrow vaulted cell. In the darkness, suddenly, the iron door opens and the Grand Inquisitor quietly enters. For a long moment, he stays in the doorway, studying the Holy face. Then he draws nearer, saying: “Is it You? You?” Theatricalizing one of the most profoundly moral works in all of literature, Brook has created a one-man show of urgency and intensity. His minimalist staging of the Inquisitor’s monologue is no less than a naked inquisition of our age, our complicity and our answers to his questions. Recommended for age 12 and older.

Fragments

Boston Premiere
March 29 through April 2, 2011
Based on texts by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Peter Brook
Co-directed by Marie-Hélène Estienne
Paramount Theatre

With his characteristic theatrical alchemy, Peter Brook stages a quintet of works by preeminent playwright Samuel Beckett—Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Neither, and Come and Go. Brook’s long awaited vision of Beckett’s Fragments illuminates the comedy and courage in Beckett’s characters who dare to face the void. Says Brook, “Today, with the passage of time, we see how false were the labels first stuck on Beckett – despairing, negative, pessimistic. Indeed, he peers into the filthy abyss of human existence. His humor saves him and us from falling in. He rejects theories and dogmas, that offer pious consolations, yet his life was a constant, aching search for meaning.” With renowned international artists Hayley Carmichael, Antonio Gil Martinez, and Bruce Myers, Brook plumbs the depths of Beckett’s sparse, dynamic texts, revealing humor and humanity. Recommended for age 12 and older.

The Merchant of Venice

March 29 through April 10, 2011
By William Shakespeare
Theatre for a New Audience
Starring F. Murray Abraham
Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Cutler Majestic Theatre

Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham stars as Shylock in this brilliant production from Theatre for a New Audience, fresh from hugely successful runs at the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and New York. A mysteriously melancholy rich man; a dashing young lover in desperate need of cash; a moneylender with good reason to seek revenge; and a witty young woman with a knack for disguise are the elements of Shakespeare's sparkling and troubling tragicomedy, in a new modern-day adaptation where cell phones and wallets replace messengers and moneybags. Recommended for age 12 and older.

Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, the mission of Theatre for a New Audience is to help develop and vitalize the performance and study of Shakespeare and classic drama. A reverence for language, spirit of adventure and visual boldness, which support the work of the writer and actor, mark the Theatre's productions. The Theatre nurtures relationships with some of the finest American and European directors, actors, designers and composers. Theatre for a New Audience has an ongoing collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in 2001 became the first American theatre company to be invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the RSC. Theatre for a New Audience's productions and artists have been recognized with many awards and nominations, including the Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, OBIE and Tony.

For more information about Theatre for a New Audience, visit tfana.org.

Farfalle

May 10 through 15, 2001
Compagnia TPO of Italy (Boston Debut)
Black Box at Paramount Center

The wondrous, other-worldly "sensory gardens" of Farfalle (Butterflies) take audiences on a magnificent journey through a literal and symbolic story of a butterfly’s life cycle. It brings together theatre and contemporary art and technology – at the centerpiece of Farfalle is the CCC (or “Children Cheering Carpet"), a special sensor-covered mat which interacts with dancers and the audience in real, enchanted time. Recommended for age 5 and older.

The TPO was founded in 1981 as a visual theatre company. From its early years, the company produced children's theatre conceived as paintings in movement, making use of artistic objects, mechanical devices, and plays of light. Since then, the group has continued to focus attention on the figurative arts, with performances for children that bring together theatre and contemporary art. Since 1999, under the direction of Davide Venturini and Francesco Gandi, TPO has been exploring the use of digital graphics, combining traditional theatre with other artistic forms such as dance and video art. The success of this project has brought international fame to TPO and has opened up new paths for collaboration with a variety of European artists. This synergy has given rise to projects which put new technologies to artistic use, creating an innovative relationship between children and performers.

Co-presented with The Celebrity Series
For more information about Compagnia TPO, visit tpo.it.

Susurrus

Beginning in May
Written and directed by David Leddy
Boston Public Garden

Susurrus is part radio play, part sonic art, and part stroll in the park—a poignant story of misplaced passion that sensuously refracts the themes of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and includes music from Benjamin Britten’s opera of the same name. Edgy young Scottish playwright David Leddy’s site-responsive work melds dramatically spiraling theatrical writing and performance art in an unconventional location: the audience listens to Susurrus through the headset of an MP3 player while following a charted path through Boston’s exquisite Public Garden. Recommended for age 16 and older. (Exact details and dates available soon)

David Leddy is an award-winning playwright and director based in Glasgow. He specializes in work that combines dramatic new writing with elements of performance art and unusual locations ranging from a graveyard to a greenhouse, from a pitch-black cupboard to his own bedroom. He sometimes even shows his work in theatres. He has been described as ‘Scotland's hottest, edgiest young playwright’ by The Sunday Times, a ‘theatrical maverick’ with a ‘propensity for fearless experiment’ by the Financial Times and a ‘brilliant site-specific theatre-maker’ who is ‘one of the most interesting dramatic writers on the Scottish scene’ by Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman. His work has also been shown in London, Amsterdam, Milan, Buenos Aires and Delhi. Recent prizes include the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Award, a Herald Angel and a Fringe First.

For more information about David Leddy, visit davidleddy.com.

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In addition to theatre, ArtsEmerson will present music, movement and multimedia works in the performance venues; classic and contemporary film in the Bright Family Screening Room; and workshops and discussions throughout the Paramount Center. Music, film and additional programming will be announced at a later date.