Diane Paulus to Direct Steven Sater and Serj Tankian’s New Musical Prometheus Bound at A.R.T.; Season Announced

Steven Sater and Serj Tankian’s new rock musical Prometheus Bound, based on the play by Aeschylus, will receive its world premiere from The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in March 2011. Tony nominee Diane Paulus, who is also A.R.T.’s artistic director, will helm the production.

The piece, to be presented in the OBERON, illustrates one man’s struggle against the brute force of a ruthless dictator. Sater won Tony Awards for his book and lyrics to Spring Awakening. Tankian is the composer and lead singer for the Grammy Award-winning rock band System of a Down.

Paulus will also direct the American premiere of Death and the Powers, to be presented by A.R.T. in the Cutler Majestic, March 2011. The piece features music by Tod Machover, and a libretto by poet-laureate Robert Pinsky from a story by Robert Pinsky and Randy Weiner. In it, eccentric patriarch Simon Powers downloads himself into The System, and his entire house comes to life around his family and friends.

A.R.T.’s 2010-2011 season will also include the Joe Masteroff-John Kander-Fredd Ebb musical Cabaret, directed by Steven Bogart (in the OBERON, September); Alice vs. Wonderland, based on Lewis Carroll’s works, as adapted by Brendan Shea and directed by János Szász (in the Loeb, September); Jim and Ruth Bauer’s musical The Blue Flower, directed by Will Pomerantz (in the Loeb, November); writer/director D.W. Jacobs’ R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe (in the Loeb, January); and Charles Connaghan’s new translation of Sophocles’ Ajax, directed by Sarah Benson (in the Loeb, February).

In addition, A.R.T. will continue its performances of The Donkey Show on Saturday nights at OBERON; and will present the 2nd annual Emerging America, the festival of theater devoted to supporting and launching the new American voices of tomorrow, in collaboration with the Huntington Theatre Company and the I.C.A., in the spring of 2011.

For more information, visit www.americanrepertorytheater.org.