A.R.T. Announces Access Performance Dates for 2017-18 Season

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, announces dates of accessible programming in the 2017/18 Season. American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted, open-captioned, audio-described, and sensory-friendly performances will be offered.

For further information or to book tickets, contact A.R.T. Ticket Services by phone at 617.547.8300, by email at ticketservices@amrep.org, or online at americanrepertorytheater.org/access.

The Loeb Drama Center, located at 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, is accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating or first-floor restrooms.

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The schedule is as follows:

WARHOLCAPOTE - A non-fiction invention (playing now through October 13)

From the Words of Truman Capote and Andy Warhol

Adapted by Rob Roth

Directed by Michael Mayer

Starring Stephen Spinella and Dan Butler

- ASL Interpretation: Sunday, October 1 at 2PM & Thursday, October 5 at 7:30PM

Randee Pascall-Speights, Coach; Deborah Perry, Interpreter, Michael Sullivan, Interpreter

- Open Captioning: Thursday, October 5 at 7:30PM & Saturday, October 7 at 2PM

- Audio Description*: Friday, October 6 at 7:30PM & Saturday, October 7 at 2PM

Janet Stankus, Primary Audio Describer; Jessica Shroder, Secondary Audio Describer

In the late 1970s, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol decided that they were destined to create a Broadway play together. Over the course of the next several months, they would sit down to record a series of intimate, wide-ranging conversations. The play never came to be, and the hours and hours of tape were lost to the ages. Until now.

With the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Truman Capote Literary Trust, award-winning director Rob Roth adapted WARHOLCAPOTE from never-before-heard conversations between these two icons of American art and literature. This world premiere production is staged by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, Hedwig and the Angry Inch).

Charlotte's Web (production description below)

Sensory Friendly: Friday, December 29 at 2PM

- Environmental adjustments to the show include:
--> House lights will remain dimmed during the performance, rather than completely off.
--> The volume of the performance will be reduced.
--> A staffed quiet area will be available in the lobby for those who need to take a break from the show.
--> There will be a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere where patrons can enter and exit the theater freely during the performance.
--> Trained volunteers will be on hand to assist with patron needs.
--> Tablets and smartphones will be permitted to help non-verbal children communicate.

Sense and Sensibility (production description below)

- ASL Interpretation: Wednesday, January 3 at 7:30PM & Saturday, January 6 at 2PM
- Open Captioning: Thursday, January 4 at 7:30PM & Sunday, January 7 at 2PM
- Audio Description*: Friday, January 5 at 7:30PM & Sunday, January 7 at 2PM

HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True (production description below)

- Open Captioning: Thursday, February 8 at 7:30PM & Sunday, February 11 at 2PM
- Audio Description: Friday, February 9 at 7:30PM & Sunday, February 11 at 2PM

Jagged Little Pill (production description below)

- ASL Interpretation: Wednesday, June 13 at 7:30PM & Sunday, June 17 at 2PM
- Open Captioning: Thursday, June 14 at 7:30PM & Saturday, June 16 at 2PM
- Audio Description*: Friday, June 15 at 7:30PM & Saturday, June 16 at 2PM

Open Captioning provided by C2.

*Please note: Touch tours beginning one hour prior to curtain precede all Audio Described performances. Tours include tactile guided exploration of costumes and production materials and will be held in the West Lobby of the Loeb Drama Center.

This season, the A.R.T. fondly remembers Alice Austin, who passed away unexpectedly this summer. Alice provided description for blind and low-visioned patrons of numerous productions at A.R.T. and around the Greater Boston area. Since first working with the A.R.T. on The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2011), Alice guided the theater in the creation and curation of audio-described performances and advocated nationally for access to the arts.

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Descriptions of Additional 2017/18 Season Productions:

Charlotte's Web

Adapted by Joseph Robinette

Based on the story by E.B. White

Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky

December 17, 2017 - January 7, 2018

On the Arable family farm, a miracle is about to happen. In order to save young Wilbur from the butcher, Charlotte-a very special spider-hatches a plan to show the world how "radiant" one pig can be in the eyes of a true friend. Adapted from E.B. White's beloved children's classic and directed by A.R.T. Institute alumnus Dmitry Troyanovsky ('00), (James and the Giant Peach), Charlotte's Web will feature graduate students from the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training Class of 2018.

Sense and Sensibility

By Kate Hamill

Based on the novel by Jane Austen

Directed by Eric Tucker

December 10, 2017 - January 7, 2018

Eric Tucker's exuberant, inventive staging of Jane Austen's classic novel follows the adventures (and misadventures) of the Dashwood sisters-sensible Elinor and hypersensitive Marianne-after their sudden loss of fortune. Bursting with humor, emotion, and bold theatricality, Sense and Sensibility asks: when reputation is everything, how do you follow your heart?

HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True

Directed by Ifeoma Fafunwa

January 26 - February 11, 2018

Featuring a cast of leading Nigerian actresses, HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True is inspired by multi-generational stories of inequality and transformation. Staged by director and writer Ifeoma Fafunwa, the show grapples with the issues affecting the lives of women across Nigeria and the factors that limit their potential for independence, leadership, and meaningful contribution in society. Combining song and dance with intimate portraits of resilience and resistance, the show celebrates the women who have broken the culture of silence, challenged the status quo, and moved beyond barriers to achieve solutions. The critically-acclaimed production of HEAR WORD! Returns to the A.R.T. after its US premiere in a limited run last season.

Jagged Little Pill

Music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard

Book by Diablo Cody

Directed by Diane Paulus

May 5 - June 30, 2017

Introducing nineties anthems including "Ironic," "You Oughta Know," and "Hand In My Pocket," Jagged Little Pill (1995) established Canadian singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner Alanis Morissette as an alternative rock icon. Diane Paulus (Waitress, Finding Neverland, Pippin, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess) directs this world premiere musical based on the groundbreaking album with a book by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno).

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The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University is a leading force in the American theater, producing groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. The A.R.T. was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, who served as Artistic Director until 2002, when he was succeeded by RoBert Woodruff. Diane Paulus began her tenure as Artistic Director in 2008. Under the leadership of Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, the A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by programming events that immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences.

Throughout its history, the A.R.T. has been honored with many distinguished awards, including the Tony Award for Best New Play for All the Way (2014); consecutive Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin (2013) and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2012), both of which Paulus directed; a Pulitzer Prize; 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.

The A.R.T. collaborates with artists around the world to develop and create work in new ways. It is currently engaged in a number of multi-year projects, including a new collaboration with Harvard's Center for the Environment that will result in the development of new work over several years. Under Paulus's leadership, the A.R.T.'s club theater, OBERON, has been an incubator for local and emerging artists and has attracted national attention for its innovative programming and business models.

As the professional theater on the campus of Harvard University, the A.R.T. catalyzes discourse, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative exchange among a wide range of academic departments, institutions, students, and faculty members, acting as a conduit between its community of artists and the university. A.R.T. plays a central role in Harvard's newly launched undergraduate Theater, Dance, and Media concentration, teaching courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy. The A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training, run in partnership with the Moscow Art Theatre School and the Harvard Extension School, offers graduate training in acting, dramaturgy, and voice.

Dedicated to making great theater accessible, the A.R.T. actively engages more than 5,000 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 initiatives, the A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.

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