A.R.T. Institute to Present 'MUCH ADO' & 'DESDEMONA'

The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training, presents the last two productions of its season, William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Anya Safir, and Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, directed by Melia Bensussen.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Anya Safir
May 21, 22, 23 at 7:30PM; May 28, 29 at 6:30PM; May 30 at 7:30PM
The Experimental Theater, Loeb Drama Center

When a group of friends and rivals comes together to prepare for a wedding, deceit, flirtation, and wit run amok. One of Shakespeare's most celebrated comedies, Much Ado About Nothing follows the story of two pairs of lovers - one betrothed, the other reluctant - who face a whole cast of characters dedicated to meddling in their relationships. Featuring live music, this production celebrates giving yourself over to the power of love...and accepting the chaos that comes with it.

Anya Safir previously directed the Institute actors in American Sojourns, three plays by Thornton Wilder performed at The Moscow Art Theater. Other directing credits include Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle with Pipeline Theater Company at Theater for the New City (special ITBA citation for Outstanding off-Broadway Show), an all-male Romeo and Juliet at American Theater of Actors, Hamlet with Orpheus Productions (nominated for three Innovative Theater Awards including Outstanding Direction), Chekhov's Three Sisters for Muse Theater Company, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! for Atlantic for Kids at Classic Stage Company, The Illusion by Pierre Corneille at The Abe Burrows Theater at Tisch School of the Arts, original works for Atlantic Theater Company's New Works Series and 10x25 Play Festival, a new translation of Chekhov's The Seagull which she co-developed with translator Moti Margolin, and numerous productions at Atlantic Theater Acting School including Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, The Winter's Tale and As You Like It. Anya has served as Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company, Adjunct Professor in the drama department at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and senior faculty member at Atlantic Theater Company Acting School since 1998. Anya is a regular contributor on Shakespeare topics for National Public Radio's The Takeaway with John Hockenberry.

DESDEMONA: A PLAY ABOUT A HANDKERCHIEF
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Melia Bensussen
May 27 at 7:30PM, May 28 at 7:00PM & 10:30PM
OBERON

Having slept with Othello's entire encampment, Desdemona revels in her bawdy tales of conquest. Her foils and rapt listeners are the other integral and re-imagined women of this Shakespeare tragedy: Emilia, Desdemona's servant and the wife of Iago, and Bianca, now a majestic whore of Cyprus.

Paula Vogel's plays produced at the A.R.T. include How I Learned to Drive (1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Lortel Prize, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, OBIE, New York Drama Critics Awards for Best Play) and Hot'N'Throbbing. Other plays include The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz (OBIE Award, 1992) And Baby Makes Seven, The Oldest Profession, and A Civil War Christmas. She is currently Chair of the Playwriting Department at Yale Drama School and playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as an artistic associate at Long Wharf Theatre. Her new play, Indecent (based on The God of Vengeance), a commission for Yale Repertory Theatre, will open there next fall. Her many awards also include 2004 Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2010 William Inge Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award, the Rhode Island Pell Award in the Arts, the Hull-Warriner Award, The Laura Pels Award, the Pew Charitable Trust Senior Award, a Guggenheim, an AT&T New Plays Award, the Fund for New American Plays, the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center Fellowship, several National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, the McKnight Fellowship, the Bunting Fellowship, and the Governor's Award for the Arts. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Melia Bensussen, a recipient of an OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction, has directed in Boston at the Huntington Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Sleeping Weazel, and Actors Shakespeare Project. Around the country she has directed at Baltimore Centerstage, Hartford Stage Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, New York Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Long Wharf, Actors Theatre of Louisville, People's Light and Theatre, San Jose Rep, and many others. Most recent work includes the world premiere of Oceanside by Nick Gandiello at MRT, Awake and Sing! at the Huntington, and The Cherry Orchard for Actors Shakespeare Project. Her direction of new works has taken her to New York Stage and Film, Sundance, Midwest Playlabs, and the O'Neill Theatre Festival, where she most recently directed a workshop of The War Department, a new musical, by Jim and Ruth Bauer. Her play The Bluebeard Project, co-authored with playwright Masha Obolensky, was part of the Huntington New Works last summer. For the Huntington this summer she is working with Melinda Lopez on a new adaptation of Lorca's Yerma. Her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Lorca's Blood Wedding is published by Theatre Communications Group. Melia is the Chair of Performing Arts at Emerson College in Boston.

Tickets are $20, $15 for Members and Subscribers. Seating is General Admission.

For more information call 617.547.8300 or visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org.

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