Diane Paulus and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Helmed ROMEO AND JULIET & More Set for A.R.T. 24/25 Season

American Repertory Theater at Harvard University has announced three of the four  productions that will comprise its 2024/25 subscription season as well as an additional world-premiere music theater production to perform at a location on Harvard's campus to be announced. Subscription productions will be at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. The 2024/25 Season marks A.R.T.'s 45th at the  Loeb Drama Center. 

The season will begin in September with A.R.T.'s production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and choreographed by two-time Olivier Award winner Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui  (Jagged Little Pill; Beyoncé at the 2017 Grammy Awards and APESHIT; Madonna's Celebration tour). This powerhouse duo reunites for the first time since their Tony Award-winning collaboration Jagged Little Pill,  staging a bold new production of Shakespeare's iconic love story. 

In December and January, A.R.T. will produce Ayodele Casel's Diary of a Tap Dancer. The world-premiere production combines dance, narrative, and song both to share the story of Ayodele's life and to honor the histories and  legacies of the extraordinary women tap dancers who came before her. The piece was commissioned by A.R.T. and  was developed, in part, during Casel's time as a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow (2019/20). 

Following Diary of a Tap Dancer, A.R.T. will produce Kate Hamill's adaptation of The Odyssey. By reimagining  Homer's stories of both Odysseus and his wife, Penelope, this world-premiere production asks how we can learn  to embrace healing and forgiveness in order to end cycles of violence and revenge. One of the most produced  playwrights in the US from 2017 through 2023, Hamill is renowned for shining a contemporary spotlight on classic  works. 

A.R.T. will announce one additional title in the coming weeks to complete its subscription season. 

In addition to the four shows in the subscription season, A.R.T. will produce Night Side Songs by Richard  Rodgers Award recipients the Lazours—Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour (We Live in Cairo). A genre-breaking  theatrical kaleidoscope that fuses story, character songs, and group singing, the communal experience takes the  audience on a journey through illness that brings us closer to life. The world premiere of Night Side Songs is produced in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company.  

“I'm excited our season will invite audiences to experience extraordinary stories—from beloved classics to  boundary-breaking new work—that have the power to open our hearts and minds,” says Paulus. “These  productions are being created by a roster of visionary artists. I am personally thrilled to be reuniting with Sidi Larbi  Cherkaoui on Romeo and Juliet. Our partnership on Jagged Little Pill was one of the most exhilarating creative  collaborations of my life, and I can't wait to bring Shakespeare's iconic play to new life on our stage.”  

Three and four-play subscriptions are now on sale to A.R.T. supporters and will be available to renewing  subscribers and to the general public in June. Tickets to Night Side Songs may be added to subscription  packages at the time of purchase. Single tickets to all 2024/25 productions will go on sale to the public at later  dates. Visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/Subscribe for more information.  

In addition, throughout 2024/25, A.R.T. will: 

• Continue to develop Essential Questions that will drive artistic exploration and audience engagement  opportunities around each production. 

• Continue to partner with Dr. Charmain Jackman and Innopsych to curate audience resources for  learning, healing, and understanding around the themes and ideas sparked by our productions. • Continue to collaborate with Artists for Humanity, a Boston-based non-profit that provides teens the  keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in art and design, engaging AFH teens to create art  inspired by the Essential Questions. 

Additional programming will be announced at a later date. 

Season support is provided by Harvard University, The Barr Foundation, The Bob and Alison Murchison  New Work Development Fund, The Shubert Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts  Cultural Council, Barton & Guestier, and Meyer Sound.

2024/25 SEASON PROGRAMMING

ROMEO AND JULIET – A bold new staging 

By William Shakespeare 

Directed by Diane Paulus 

Choreography and Movement Direction by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui  

August 31 - October 6, 2024 | Loeb Drama Center 

A.R.T. Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director and Tony Award winning director Diane Paulus (Becoming A  Man, Jagged Little Pill, Waitress) reunites with two-time Olivier Award winner Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Jagged  Little Pill; Beyoncé at the 2017 Grammy Awards and APESHIT; Madonna's CELEBRATION tour) to stage a  visceral, heart-pounding new production of Shakespeare's iconic love story. 

DIARY OF A TAP DANCER – A.R.T. Commission / World Premiere By Ayodele Casel  

Directed by Torya Beard 

December 12, 2024 - January 4, 2025 | Loeb Drama Center 

Trailblazing tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel (Chasing Magic, Funny Girl, Max Roach 100) returns  to the A.R.T. in a new production that interweaves dance, narrative, and song to share the story of her own life  and honor the histories and legacies of the extraordinary women tap dancers who came before her. Experience  the joy, magic, and liberatory power of tap dance in this world-premiere production commissioned by the A.R.T. 

THE ODYSSEY – A.R.T. Commission / World Premiere 

By Kate Hamill  

Directed by Shana Cooper 

Adapted from the epic by Homer 

February 8 - March 16, 2025 | Loeb Drama Center 

Acclaimed writer and adaptor Kate Hamill (Sense & Sensibility, Vanity Fair, Dracula) turns a contemporary lens  on Homer's Odyssey in this new play that reimagines the stories of both Odysseus and his wife, Penelope, and  asks how we can learn to embrace healing and forgiveness in order to end cycles of violence and revenge. 

Support for the development of The Odyssey was provided by The Bob and Alison Murchison New Work  Development Fund. Additional support is provided by The Robert Brustein Endowment Fund for New Works.

NIGHT SIDE SONGS – A.R.T. Commission / World Premiere 

Words and Lyrics by the Lazours 

Directed by Taibi Magar 

March 27 - April 13, 2025 | Cambridge-area venue TBA  

Produced in association with Philadelphia Theatre Company 

“Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship in the  kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.” – Susan Sontag 

A communal music-theater experience performed for—and with—an intimate audience, Night Side Songs gives  voice to doctors, patients, researchers, and caregivers to meld the realms of the well and the sick. This genre breaking theatrical kaleidoscope by Richard Rodgers Award recipients Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour (We  Live in Cairo, Flap My Wings) fuses story and song to take us on a journey through illness that brings us closer  to life. 

TBA 

May 29 - July 6, 2025 | Loeb Drama Center 

A.R.T. IN THE WORLD

● Waitress (A.R.T. world premiere August 2015) will be produced in French in Quebec in Summer 2024 and is  available to stream on Amazon Prime. 

● We Live in Cairo (A.R.T. world premiere May 2019) will be produced at New York Theatre Workshop in Fall  2024. 

● Life of Pi (A.R.T. North American premiere December 2022) begins its US tour in December 2024. 

● The immersive phenomenon Sleep No More (A.R.T. production October 2009) continues at The McKinnon  Hotel in Shanghai and at The McKittrick Hotel in New York City.  

● Notes from the Field (A.R.T. production August 2016) is currently available on HBO.

● All the Way (A.R.T. production September 2013) is currently available on HBO.