20 11 January – March YOUR GUIDE TO 5=2A ;/167<3A /43AB7D/:=4B63/B3@ R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE Ajax Prometheus Bound Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera PLUS Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom OFFICIAL SEASON 2010/11 PRINT SPONSOR BROADWAY’S BEST IS COMING TO BOSTON! Coming soon: ©Disney/CML March 22–April 10 Boston’s Colonial Theatre –March 20 February 17 Boston Opera House March 8–13 Boston’s Colonial Theatre June 14 30 –July 9 April 26– Boston’s Colonial Theatre Boston’s Colonial Theatre For more information and to buy tickets, visit BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston. P2707-Boston-10-11 Season-ART-Magazine.indd 1 1/7/11 4:28 PM GODS + MACHINES WINTER 011 AT THE A.R.T. Welcome to Gods and Ma- and returning veterans. We are chines, a theater festival of also partnering with Theater of ancient dramas, modern voices, War on two “town hall” readings and visions of the future. This of Ajax and Philoctetes for mixed series of performances takes civilian and military audiences, us from the roots of Western directed by acclaimed playwright theater with the ancient Greeks and actress Ellen McLaughlin. to twenty-first-century advances Prometheus Bound rocks in science and technology. OBERON in a new musical ad- Throughout the festival, we ex- aptation of Aeschylus’s tragedy, amine issues of civic responsibil- written by Tony and Grammy ity, human rights, and the quest Award-winning lyricist and play- for immortality. wright Steven Sater Over the past (Spring Awakening) year, I have been and Grammy Award- asking people if they winning composer have ever heard Serj Tankian (System of Bucky Fuller, of a Down). and I have been The festival ends fascinated by the with Death and range of responses. The Powers: The In R. Buckmin- Robots’ Opera, a ster Fuller: THE groundbreaking new 4Diane Paulus, HISTORY (and production developed Artistic Director Mystery) OF THE Photo: Dario Acosta in partnership with UNIVERSE, long- the MIT Media Lab. time A.R.T. favorite Tommy Der- This revolutionary opera features rah portrays the visionary genius a chorus of robots and a score who anticipated and addressed by composer Tod Machover and some of the major challenges libretto by poet Robert Pinsky, of the modern world. I promise the former Poet Laureate of the that after seeing this production United States. Continue turning you will look at the world with the pages in this guide for more new eyes. Read on in this guide art and science related events, for more info about BUCKY AND including our robot cabaret ME, our exciting discussion at OBERON and the Institute series featuring local architects, production of Neighborhood designers, and scientists who 3: Requisition of Doom, a new have been influenced by this play directed by Marcus Stern remarkable innovator. about a suburban neighborhood We begin our series of where the boundaries between Greek plays with a world pre- reality and cyberspace break miere translation of Sophocles’s down. Ajax directed by Obie Award win- Join us at the A.R.T. to ner Sarah Benson. Ajax speaks experience theater that engages directly to the role of war in your heart and mind! contemporary culture, provoking a civic dialogue about a country’s response to the trauma of war WINTER 011 AT A GLANCE GODS + MACHINES Ajax BUCKY By Sophocles AND ME In a new translation by Charles Connaghan Hear from artists, Directed by Sarah Benson scholars, and scientists Starts February 12, 2011 about how Bucky At the Loeb Drama Center influences them. As the great warrior Ajax recovers from a See page 11. >>> night of madness, he struggles to live with the consequences of his crazed violence and the The Donkey Show trauma of war. A world premiere translation under See it every Saturday the direction of Obie Award-winning director At OBERON Sarah Benson. From its six-year run in New Production sponsors: Philip and Hilary Burling, York City to a world tour from Lis Tarlow and Stephen Kay London to Seoul, the celebrated smash hit The Donkey Show takes you behind the velvet ropes into a glittered wonderland of decadence, divas, and disco inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE Special Event: Written and directed by D.W. Jacobs THEATER From the life, work, and writings of OF WAR R. Buckminster Fuller Sophocles’s Ajax & Performed by Thomas Derrah Philoctetes followed by a Starts January 14, 2011 town hall discussion with At the Loeb Drama Center combat veterans. Be inspired and awed by the genius of See page 16. R. Buckminster Fuller and a tour de force performance by Thomas Derrah as he brings to life this true visionary. 4Brent Harris (Ajax). 4Photo: Marcus Stern Production sponsors: Ann and Graham Gund Photo: Richard Feldman. Buy online: americanrepertorytheater.org/tickets ORDER YOUR Call: 617.547.8300 Visit the Box Office: Loeb Drama Center 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. TICKETS TODAY! Hours: Tuesday—Sunday, noon—5 p.m. or until ½ hour before curtain. Book a group: americanrepertorytheater.org/groups GODS + MACHINES 4Gavin Creel The A.R.T. Institute for (Prometheus), in rehearsal. Death and the Powers: Photo: Kati Mitchell. The Robots’ Opera Advanced Theater By Tod Machover Training presents Libretto by Robert Pinsky Story by Robert Pinsky and Randy Weiner Neighborhood 3: Directed by Diane Paulus Conducted by Gil Rose Requisition Starts March 18, 2011 of Doom A.R.T. partners with At the Cutler Majestic By Jennifer Haley AMNESTY Opera. Passionately inventive music. With robots. Directed by Marcus Stern INTERNATIONAL This groundbreaking new production developed at February 3-5, 2011 See americanrepertorytheater. the MIT Media Lab explores what we leave behind At the Agassiz Theater org/amnesty for the world and our loved ones, using specially Something is very wrong designed technology including a chorus of robots in Neighborhood 3. The and a musical chandelier. U.S. Premiere. suburban teens refuse to talk Production sponsors: Don and Susan Ware, about it. The parents are afraid Rebecca Gold Milikowsky and Nathan Milikowsky to ask. The entire neighborhood finds itself trapped inside a dangerous multiplayer internet video game. Marcus Stern (Donnie Darko, Onion Cellar, Endgame, Hamletmachine) directs Jennifer Haley’s new play where online actions have life-threatening consequences. Prometheus Bound Text and lyrics by Steven Sater Music composed by Serj Tankian Directed by Diane Paulus Starts February 25, 2011 At OBERON is being made possible Special Event: through a generous grant A new musical written by Steven Sater (Spring from The Andrew W. Awakening) with music composed by System of a SPARKS! Mellon Foundation. Down lead singer Serj Tankian, this outcry against Robot Talent Show. tyranny immerses the audience in an environment See page 32. Our institutional partners that has the Dionysian energy and rebelliousness of help make the theater’s a rock concert. World premiere. programs possible: Production sponsor: Sarah Hancock 4Patricia Risley. Photo: Paul Aguilera. Buy a membership to get exclusive advance access to tickets, seats, and your preferred dates. Learn more at americanrepertorytheater.org/tickets. Cover photo: Patricia Risley in Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera, in Monaco. Photo: Jill Steinberg. EJTDPWFS IBSWBSE!TRVBSF Jan. 28th – 30th Mar. 1st - 31st May 1st CHOCOLATE WOMEN’S Harvard Square’s FESTIVAL HISTORY MONTH 28TH ANNUAL Come shop, dine and MAYFAIR Feb. 5th be entertained. And “SOME LIKE Our women-owned/ PRELUDE TO IT HOT” managed businesses EMERGING CHILI COOKOFF look forward to AMERICA Featuring our Finest celebrating with you! restaurants! FESTIVAL! Apr. 30th Feb. 20th 4th Annual June 18th CHINESE BOOKISH BALL & MAKE MUSIC NEW YEAR SHAKESPEARE’S HARVARD Lion Dance, Parade BIRTHDAY SQUARE! and Traditional CELEBRATION 4th Annual Fete de la Chinese activities for AND PARADE! all ages at the Hong Musique! Kong! Ibswbse!Trvbsf!Cvtjoftt!Bttpdjbujpo Gps!npsf!jogpsnbujpo!bcpvu!uiftf!fwfout boe!Ibswbse!Trvbsf!Tipqt-!Sftubvsbout-!Ipufmt!boe!DvmuvsfÊ! xxx/ibswbsetrvbsf/dpn IT’S A BUCKY WORLD AFTER ALL.... 4Boris Artzybasheff rendition By Annie DiMario of R. Buckminster Fuller, 1963. Forty-two hours. That’s the time it took for R. Buckminster Fuller to ten years—could be built for them in New York. muse on his entire body of work, in a sequence of lectures But that Orlando golf ball—and its counterparts in Montreal, recorded in Philadelphia in 1975. In the “Everything I Know” Japan, the UK, and all over the world—symbolizes Fuller’s series, a camera zooms in on an aged Fuller. At first, he jam-packed brain. The geodesic dome, formed by a series speaks cautiously in his patrician New England accent. of triangles which balance weight across a curved whole to But as he expounds on architecture and integrity, create a huge inner space with a small amount of material, is science and God, synergy and love, he transforms into a his most reproduced design. fast-talking, hands-flying, edge-of-the-seat interpreter all too It also encapsulates the key idea that runs through Fuller’s work: aware that even forty-two hours isn’t enough to encapsulate putting an end to waste. An environmental pioneer, his altruism was his life. born of hardship. In 1922, Fuller’s five-year-old daughter Alexandra Bucky Fuller was a futurist, environmentalist, designer, died of polio. Her death drove Fuller through a period of alcoholism scientist, teacher, inventor, author, cartographer, and visionary. that left his family destitute. Five years later, he underwent a spiritual His ideas seep into modern life, but few people are aware of the and scientific rebirth, rechristening himself as a “guinea pig” charged man behind the influence.