A.R.T. Announces September/October OBERON Programming

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (A.R.T.) announces September and October 2018 programming at OBERON, its club space for cutting-edge performance and thriving incubator for local and emerging artists. Upcoming events include A.R.T.'s Live @ OBERON, Breakout (formerly OBERON Presents), and Afterglow @ OBERON series, as well as independently-produced events.

OBERON is located at 2 Arrow Street at the corner of Mass Ave. in Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Tickets are available online at americanrepertorytheater.org, by phone at 617.547.8300, in person at the Loeb Drama Center Ticket Services Offices (64 Brattle Street, Cambridge), and 30 minutes before curtain at OBERON. Prices vary per event. A.R.T. subscribers and members receive discounts to Live @ OBERON, Breakout, AfterGlow at OBERON productions, as well as The Donkey Show.

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VISCOUS & TINGLE: MOUNT OLYMPUS

Thursday, September 6 at 8PM

Tickets $20 - 25

We invite you to Mount Olympus with Viscous & Tingle! Join us for an epic display of mythological shenanigans, heroism, vengeance, beauty, strength, and at least one sheep as we pay tribute to the deities, demigods, heroes, mortals, and monsters of Greek mythology. Enjoy an evening of burlesque, live music, circus arts, and more as you're swept away in our Dionysian revels.

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CAMINO 84: MOB RULE

Live @ OBERON

Friday, September 7 at 10PM

Tickets $13 - 25

MOB RULE puts local disco/funk band and 2017 Boston Music Awards performers Camino 84 at the mercy of the OBERON audience via real-time voting. You choose the songs, hire (and fire) band members, give feedback, and control the ultimate fates of Camino 84 and special guests that include rapper/producer Latrell James, indie rock upstarts Cosmic Johnny, DJ Nick Minieri, and more. Think you and your fellow audience members will pull off a great show? Or will it devolve into MOB RULE?

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BORROWED CASH

A.R.T. Breakout

Thursdays - Sundays, September 13 - 23 at 7:30PM (Saturdays at 7PM)

Tickets from $25

Borrowed Cash is back! The band you know and love who made "Can't Let Go," "Passionate Kisses," "When She Loved Me," and "Leave Your Hat On"* into hits returns to the stage, and this time, we think Ann Marie Mayfield and Harper Stanton just might get through the tour without strangling each other.

Ann Marie and Harper skyrocketed to international popularity with their first hit record Passionate Kisses, but their careers came to a screeching and scandalous halt when the world discovered the shocking truth behind their success. After years of not speaking to each other, living out of cars, bouts of incarceration, appearing as celebrity judges on Japanese game shows, and frequent emotional breakdowns, the dynamic duo is hoping to win back the love and trust of their embittered fans with the Busted tour. See them together again-for the first time-in this multimedia live concert event featuring surprising and revealing documentary footage of the meteoric rise and fall of America's sweethearts. *We are currently unable to comment on claims that these songs are actually by Randy Newman or Lucinda Williams.

Written and Performed by Daniel Jenkins and Melissa Van Der Schyff

Directed by Gina Rattan

Featuring the songs of Randy Newman and Lucinda Williams

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THE MOTH

Usual Suspect

Tuesday, September 18 at 8PM (tickets available September 11 at 3PM)

Tuesday, October 23 at 8PM (tickets available October 16 at 3PM)

Tickets $10

The Moth StorySLAMs are steadily spreading all over the map, gathering people and stories from all over the country. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston have multiple shows each month. The Moth is open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night's posted theme. The brave of heart or those with stories they're aching to tell prepare personal, true tales. When the doors open, storyteller hopefuls put their names in The Moth Hat. A half-hour later, names are picked, and one by one, storytellers take the stage. Each person has just five minutes! The ten featured stories are scored by teams of judges selected from the audience. Each StorySLAM generates a StorySLAM winner. After ten SLAMs, the winners face off in our GrandSLAM Championships. Come sign up to tell a story, or just enjoy the show!

SEPTEMBER 18 theme is Rivals: Prepare a five-minute story about your nemesis: the Backstreet Boy to your N'Sync, the Killmonger to your T'Challa, the Paris to your Nicole. Yankees to Red Sox, cats to dogs, Coke to Pepsi. Tell of enemies, "frenemies," rivals, and foes.

OCTOBER 23 theme is Disguises: Prepare a five-minute story about your undercover self, about obscuring the real you-with a fake mustache, a nurse's uniform, a cloak, a girdle or a giant hotdog costume. Mental disguises, like the Ph.D. you earned to appease your mother; or the "sensitive guy" persona you put on to get with the ladies. Undercover cops and chameleons. Pranks and mistaken identities. Wolves gussied up like lambs and lambs tarting-it-up to pass as mutton. The Trojan Horse, The Mighty Oz, and now you!

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RESISTANCE MIC!: ARTISTS PERFORMING TRUTH TO POWER

Tuesday, September 25 at 8PM

Tickets $10

The 2016 election inspired a broad-based Resistance not seen in the United States in decades. People from all walks of life have been protesting, marching, mobilizing, and organizing in an effort to take back the country and create a more compassionate and just world. Artists are vital to this work. American Repertory Theater, in collaboration with the literary magazine Pangyrus, begins the second season of Resistance Mic!, a series of intimate, curated evenings where a diverse collective of artists take the stage to perform truth to power in these troubled times. Launched on November 9, 2017-the one-year anniversary of the day after the 2016 election-Resistance Mic! is part of the A.R.T. of Human Rights series, an ongoing collaboration between the American Repertory Theater and Harvard Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Featuring performances by Jenna Blum, Wes Hazard, Krysten Hill, Timothy Patrick McCarthy, and Reverend Jonathan L. Walton and hosted by Timothy Patrick McCarthy.

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OOMPA PRESENTS BLACK BOI JOY

Friday, September 28 at 9PM

Tickets $12

Black Boi Joy is a multimedia concert experience brought to you by Boston's own Oompa. The show explores the intersections of class, blackness, queerness, fatness, and the way that joy becomes a revolutionary experience when in the body of people at those intersections. Black Boi Joy is packed with guest surprises including an opening set from Anjimile, and features never-before-heard music from Oompa's upcoming album, while exploring the growth from her first. Of all the Oompa shows, this is certainly NOT the one to miss.

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BOSTON ARM WRESTLING DAMES - FIGHT NIGHT

Sunday, September 30 at 7:30PM

Tickets $15 - $20

Boston Arm Wrestling Dames (BAWD) is a bunch of fired-up Dames who tow the line between theatrical antics and hardcore athleticism. Eight wrestlers with big personas and money-hungry entourages will throw down in an all-out arm wrestling brawl, featuring a halftime performance by Sake Toomey and DJ sets by LUNAMARIPOSA and EarthaClit. Rules are determined and managed by the referees and judges whose calls are constantly manipulated by the influence of each wrestler's entourage and crowd hecklers with dolla dolla billz.

All proceeds raised at this event go to Boston GLASS.

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I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: A HOCUS POCUS BURLESQUE

Thursday, October 4 at 8PM

Tickets $20 - $25

It's just a little bit of Hocus Pocus! Look out Cambridge, someone lit the black flame candle and the Sanderson sisters are back and they've got a little extra shimmy in their step. Your favorite characters take to the stage in burlesque, comedy, live music, and more. Come little children, we'll take you away, it's time to pay tribute to Hocus Pocus!

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YO SOY LOLA: THE LATINA NARRATIVE - RECLAIMED

Friday, October 5 at 8PM

Tickets $25 - $50

The highly celebrated Yo Soy LOLA brings you another thought-provoking multimedia experience showcasing Latinas in the arts via spoken word, acting, dance, music, film, and more. Come be part of the Yo Soy LOLA world that transforms around you, and then stay for the Latin dancing that continues into the night after the show.

As if you needed another reason to attend, net proceeds fund scholarships for Latinx youth pursuing higher education in the arts with goals that directly impact their communities. Yo Soy LOLA's mission is to raise awareness of the multi-dimensional Latina experience and to build a platform that unites Latinas to tell our stories, change our narrative, and give back to our communities.

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SAMORA PINDERHUGHES' THE TRANSFORMATIONS SUITE

Live @ OBERON

Saturday, October 6 at 7PM

Sunday, October 7 at 8PM

Tickets from $25

Continuing in the tradition of artists like Bob Marley, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, and Tupac Shakur, Samora Pinderhughes' The Transformations Suite (DownBeat magazine's Top 10 Album of 2017) paints a musical picture of the current state of social inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond. Moving through five sections-Transformation, History, Cycles, Momentum (parts 1 and 2), and Ascension-the suite connects contemporary issues such as the prison industrial complex and the Black Lives Matter movement with the history of revolutionary movements of color as it builds a bridge between the past and the future. Lyrics are drawn from original poems by actor and poet Jeremie Harris, as well as Pinderhughes, Saul Williams, and Tupac Shakur.

The Transformations Suite has been performed throughout South America and the U.S. at venues including the American Museum of Natural History, the Harlem Arts Festival, The Juilliard School, UC Irvine, New York University, Joe's Pub, the Jazz Gallery, MoMA, and Columbia University. It was featured as part of Blackout for Human Rights' #MLKNow event which was viewed by over 500,000 people and trended #1 on Twitter.

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CHURCH OF SLUT

Wednesday, October 10 at 7:30PM

Tickets $20

Welcome to Church of Slut. Divined by Sugar Dish and the Lipstick Criminals (The Slutcracker, Fifty Shades of Bey, Rain Dogs), Church of Slut is a show, a party, a congregation, and a righteous grab at some good old-fashioned American civil rights protections, courtesy of the First Amendment. All walks of human life (aged 18 and older) are welcome. The Church of Slut worships no god. The Church of Slut believes in YOU. Witness a service of provocative, cock-block-ative dance, burlesque, and spoken word performances. Give and receive offerings at our sparkle altar. Cruise the Lipstick Criminal Library. Treat yourself at our blessed merch table. Register to vote.

We are ecstatic to welcome as our guest, comedian Nonye Brown-West. Give praise! Also featuring work by Lipstick Criminals: Sugar Dish, Abby Normal, Jolie LaVie, Jane Doe, Honey Pie, Legs Hershey, Belle Gunz, Miss Ginger Love, and Pinky Mink. lipstickcriminals.com.

Follow @lipstickcriminals and @churchofslut on Instagram for behind the scenes photos and videos leading up to the show.

RSVP to the Church of Slut Facebook event for updates.

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Tori Scott IS #THIRSTY

Afterglow @ OBERON

Thursday, October 11 at 8PM

Tickets $25

Tori Scott is #Thirsty is a shameless musical journey of slurred autobiographical stories (and songs written by other people). Join this "soul-baring singer and sharp comedian" (Huffington Post) direct from sold-out performances at The Public Theater in New York and London's Live at Zedel as she celebrates poor life choices and an unconditional love of vodka to the music of Aretha Franklin, Judy Garland, Miley Cyrus and more. Hailed as "the Bette Midler of the New Millennium" by Provincetown Magazine, Broadway World describes Scott as "the sound of someone who's not afraid to show you just how human she is, while her super-human pipes blow you away." The vocals are legit, the thirst is real, and the stories are, tragically, all true.

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MORTIFIED

Usual Suspect

Friday, October 12 at 7PM

Saturday, October 13 at 7PM

Tickets from $15

Hailed as a "cultural phenomenon" by Newsweek and celebrated for years by the likes of This American Life, The Today Show, The AV Club, and Entertainment Weekly, Mortified is a comic excavation of teen angst artifacts (journals, poems, letters, lyrics, home movies, schoolwork) as shared by their original authors - in front of total strangers.

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DANSE MACABRE: A WALKING DEAD BURLESQUE

Wednesday, October 21 at 8PM

Tickets from $15

We are all Negan! Come see Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and the rest of the survivors as Negan puts them through a gauntlet of trials at his complex in OBERON. Burlesque, aerials, gore, and of course, walkers! Missing this show? You have no idea how not cool that sh!t would be.

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THE STORY COLLIDER

Tuesday, October 30 at 8PM

Tickets from $12

From finding awe in Hubble images to visiting the doctor, science is everywhere in our lives. Whether we wear a white lab coat or haven't seen a test tube since eighth grade, science affects and changes us. We all have a story about science and at The Story Collider we want to hear those stories.

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THE DONKEY SHOW

The Long-Running Hit

Presented by A.R.T.

Every Saturday night

Tickets from $25

Tony Award-winner Diane Paulus' celebrated smash hit begins its tenth season at OBERON every Saturday night, bringing you the ultimate disco experience-a crazy circus of mirror balls and feathered divas, of roller skaters and hustle queens inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The party rages on the dance floor to all the best '70s hits as the show unfolds around the audience. After the show, the party continues into the night so you can live out your own disco fever fantasy!

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OBERON is the American Repertory Theater's club space for cutting-edge performance, a thriving incubator for local and emerging artists pushing the theatrical form, and host to some of A.R.T.'s most boundary-breaking productions. It has attracted national attention for its innovative programming and business models. Thousands of artists and performance groups bring work to the space each year.

ABOUT AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University (A.R.T.) is a leading force in the American theater, producing groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. 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 as the Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director and Executive Producer Diane Borger, A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.

Throughout its history, 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, and sixteen other Tony Awards since 2012; a Pulitzer Prize; a Jujamcyn Prize for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent; the Regional Theater Tony Award; and more than 100 Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards.

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 collaboration with Harvard's Center for the Environment that will result in the development of new work over several years. Under Paulus' 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, 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. mentors students in the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club working at the Loeb Drama Center and OBERON, and plays a central role in Harvard's undergraduate Theater, Dance & Media concentration, teaching courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy.

Dedicated to making great theater accessible, 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, A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.

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