A.R.T. Continues Live @ OBERON With THE TRANSFORMATIONS SUITE

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), under the leadership of Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger, is pleased to announce upcoming performances of the next offering in the Live @ OBERON series: Samora Pinderhughes' The Transformations Suite at OBERON (2 Arrow Street, Cambridge) Saturday, October 6 at 7PM and Sunday, October 7 at 8PM.

Tickets are $25 - $35 and are currently available online at amrep.org/Samora, by phone at 617.547.8300, in person at the Loeb Drama Center Ticket Services Offices (64 Brattle Street, Cambridge), and 30 minutes before doors open at OBERON.

Jazz, theater, film, and poetry combine to examine the radical history of resistance within the communities of the African diaspora in Samora Pinderhughes' The Transformations Suite. Named one of DownBeat magazine's Top 10 Albums of 2017, The Transformations Suite paints a musical picture of the current state of social inequality and injustice in the United States and beyond, continuing in the tradition of artists such as Bob Marley, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holliday, and Tupac Shakur.

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, Saul Williams, Tupac Shakur, and Pinderhughes himself.

DownBeat calls the piece, "Powerful...If Pinderhughes succeeds in one thing, it is creating a work of art that matches the intensity of these troubled times than any Twitter hashtag or Facebook debate ever could."

Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes is a composer/pianist/vocalist known for large multidisciplinary projects and for his use of music to examine sociopolitical issues. He has performed in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, MoMA, the Sundance Film Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Kennedy Center, and has toured internationally with artists including Branford Marsalis, Christian Scott, Gretchen Parlato, Common, and Emily King. Pinderhughes was raised in the Bay Area and moved to New York City to study jazz at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Kenny Barron and Kendall Briggs. It was in NYC that he met his artistic mentor, acclaimed playwright Anna Deavere Smith, who praised The Transformations Suite as, "Wonderful... an absolutely gorgeous piece of music. A huge undertaking; a nuanced, delicate, and powerful perspective on heavy and important topics."

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.

The Live @ OBERON concert series brings together an eclectic array of music artists for exceptional original shows that utilize A.R.T.'s club-style theater space for cutting-edge performance.

Upcoming Live @ OBERON events include:

• BILLY Dean Thomas on November 2, 2018

Also known as "The Queer B.I.G", Billy Dean is a musician who challenges the hip hop game with lyrics that align with #blacklivesmatter and intersectional feminism.

• THE SWEETBACK SISTERS' CHRISTMAS COUNTRY SINGALONG SPECTACULAR: December 14 and 15, 2018

Back for a third year, The Sweetback Sisters bring their signature take on the holiday sing-along to OBERON, complete with Christmas trivia.

Spring Live @ OBERON dates to be announced.

ABOUT AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University 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 programming events that immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences.

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 Tony Award for Best Regional Theater; and numerous 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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