Central Square's Arabian Nights Pre and Post Performance Events Announced

The Nora Theatre Company and Underground Railway Theater have announced a list of pre and post performance events in conjunction with the run of Domenic Cooke's Arabian Nights from November 17 through December 31, 2011 at Central Square Theater. These family-friendly events range from Pre Show Story Telling events with massmouth to Puppetry Demonstrations and Story Circles inspired by the production. All events are free with the price of admission to the selected performance of Arabian Nights.

Enter ancient Persia, and be transformed by the power of storytelling. King Shahrayar, after being driven mad by his first wife's infidelity, brands all women unfaithful. He takes a new bride every night, until he meets Shahrazad, who enchants him with magical tales spanning the globe, winning his love and respect in the process. Based on One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of folk tales from the Middle East and Asia, Arabian Nights is rich with suspense, romance and hilarity - stories irresistible for all ages. At its heart is the power of the imagination to heal, inspire, and transform.

Dominic Cooke's adaptation of Arabian Nights, envisioned with actors and puppetry with and, at the center, the strong feminine character of Shahrazad, is the perfect production to inaugurate the performance collaboration of Central Square Theater's resident companies: The Nora Theatre Company, which has traditionally focused on the voice and power of the feminine, and Underground Railway Theater, with its history of award-winning epic storytelling using puppetry for adults and families.

Arabian Nights plays at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Thursday, November 17 through Saturday, December 31. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30PM, Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 3PM and 8 PM, and Sundays at 2PM. The first week, there will be no performance on Saturday at 3PM. There will be no performance on Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving there will be performances at both 3PM and 8PM. There will be a 3PM performance on Wednesday, December 28 and Thursday, December 29. On Friday, December 30 and Saturday, December 31 there will be performances at 3PM and 8PM. Auxiliary events are all free with the price of admission. For box office hours, group discounts, and more info call (617) 576-9278 x210.

LIST OF AUXILARY EVENTS

WHAT: Pre Show Story Telling Events with Massmouth:
"1,001 Stories From Your Life:
Stories That Save Lives, Stories of Lives Being Saved and Life-Saving Stories."
Led by Storyteller Norah Dooley

WHEN: Saturday, November 19 @ 7 PM (before 8 PM performance)
Saturday, December 3 @ 7 PM (before 8 PM performance)
Saturday, December 10 @ 7 PM (before 8 PM performance)

ABOUT: massmouth promotes the timeless art of storytelling in the 21st century through live performance, education and digital media. Through massmouth.com, they work to develop new audiences while supporting the next generation of storytellers through workshops, social media and performance at non-traditional venues. Central to massmouth's mission is live performance of all genres of story. massmouth is best known for their Greater Boston Story Slam series, now in its third season with over 35 slams in Boston and throughout Massachusetts.

WHAT: Puppet Demonstrations with Artistic Director Debra Wise

WHEN: Friday, November 25, 2011 (after 3:00PM performance)

ABOUT: Take a look inside the magic world of puppetry in Arabian Nights with Artistic Director and Master Puppeteer, Debra Wise. See how the puppets work and try them out for yourself!

WHAT: Central Conversations with special guest Nancy Carlsson Paige

WHEN: Thursday, December 1 (after 7:30PM performance)

ABOUT: Our "Central Conversations" evening for ARABIAN NIGHTS will include a post-show dialogue about images of violence in stories for young people. CST Executive Director Catherine Carr Kelly will be joined by representatives from Cambridge not-for-profit organizations and special guest Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an activist and educator who has written and spoken extensively about the impact of violence, especially in the media, on children's lives and social development, and how children learn the skills for caring relationships and positive conflict resolution.

WHAT: Artists and Audiences - Conversation with the Cast and the Director

WHEN: December 8, 2011 (after 7:30PM performance)

WHAT: Story Circle Talkback

WHEN: December 10, 2011 (after 3:00PM performance)

ABOUT: After the performance, audience members and artists are invited to form a circle in the theater and share (or just listen) to personal stories inspired by your experience watching Arabian Nights. URT Associate Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian will facilitate.

WHAT: Scholar Social with Mitra Shavarini, "The Changing Role of Muslim Women."

WHEN: December 15, 2011 (after 7:30PM performance)

ABOUT: Mitra K. Shavarini is a lecturer at Brandeis University. She is the author of Educating Immigrants: The Experiences of Second-Generation Iranians and the co-author of Women and Education in Iran and Afghanistan, An Annotated Bibliography. Her most recent book, Desert Roots: Journey of an American

Dream, is a family biography (coming in 2012). Ms. Shavarini will use Sharazade as a point of departure, and invite conversation with the audience.

For more information on Arabian Nights, the public can call (866) 811-4111 or visit CentralSquareTheater.org.

About Central Square Theater
Central Square Theater (CST) is a four-year old nonprofit organization, created through a groundbreaking partnership between The Nora Theatre Company (The Nora) and Underground Railway Theater (URT). This collaboration has been called a model for the arts community (The Boston Foundation, Culture is our Commonwealth and The National Collaboration Prize), as it has paired two like-minded performing arts organizations in a strategic alliance with the City of Cambridge and MIT, resulting in the development of a state-of-the-art performing arts center in the heart of Central Square. CST has a mission to support its two theaters-in-residence while maintaining a shared vision of artists and audiences creating theater vital to their communities. The Nora and URT have a combined 52-year track record of producing award-winning theater. Located in Central Square, Cambridge, and steeped in its multiracial, intergenerational, ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods, the CST theater experience exudes a democratic energy where classes, races and age groups come together to be inspired, entertained and energized.

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