Theater News

Frayn, Mee, Serrand, Sun, et al. Set for ART’s 2007-2008 Season

Nilaja Sun in No Child
(© Carol Rosegg)
Nilaja Sun in No Child
(© Carol Rosegg)

The American Repertory Theatre announced the productions for its 28th season. The line-up is follows:

Don Juan Giovanni and Figaro
Directed by Dominique Serrand, in association with Theatre de la Jeune Lune
September 1-October 6, Loeb Stage

Theatre de la Jeune Lune’s Artistic Director Dominique Serrand has created a unique pair of productions that combine the beauty of Mozart with the brilliance of two of France’s greatest comic writers. Don Juan Giovanni joins Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Molière’s Don Juan to form a cross-country road trip which skewers notions of love, sex, and hypocrisy; Figaro unites Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with its source, Beaumarchais’ revolutionary comedy of intrigue and seduction. The productions are performed in repertory on one set, with a chamber ensemble accompanying a cast of actors and opera singers that includes Steven Epp.

Donnie Darko
Based on the screenplay by Richard Kelly; directed by Marcus Stern
October 27-November 18, Zero Arrow Theatre

During the presidential election of 1988, Donnie Darko, a troubled teenager, encounters a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. Donnie returns home to discover that a jet engine has crashed through his bedroom — and so begins one of the strangest and most haunting stories ever told.

Copenhagen
Written by Michael Frayn; directed by Scott Zigler

November 24-December 23, Loeb Stage

In 1941 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg traveled to Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr. Old friends and colleagues, now they found themselves on opposite sides in a world war, and embroiled in a race to create the atom bomb. Why Heisenberg went to Copenhagen, and what he wanted to say to Bohr, are questions that have intrigued and divided historians and scientists ever since. The play will star Will LeBow, Karen MacDonald, and John Kuntz.

No Child
Written and performed by Nilaja Sun

January 3-February 3, Loeb Stage

Nilaja Sun worked as a teaching artist at a high school in the Bronx, where every day the students face huge challenges in simply coming to school. She directed them in a play, and their trials and triumphs form the basis of this wok. Sun takes all the parts, transforming into the students, teachers, parents, administrators, janitors and security guards who inhabit our public schools and shape the future of America.

Julius Caesar
By William Shakespeare; directed by Arthur Nauzyciel
February 9-March 22, Loeb Stage

Centered around three of Shakespeare’s most vivid characters — Caesar, Brutus, and the young Mark Antony — the play contrasts a vast historical canvas with the private fears and dreams of men whose words can change the world. This is the first production of Julius Caesar in the A.R.T.’s history.

Elections and Erections — A Chronicle of Fear & Fun
Written and performed by Pieter-Dirk Uys
April 2-May 4, Zero Arrow Theatre

Spend an evening in the company of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Mrs. Evita Bezuidenhout (“the most famous white woman in South Africa”) and their alter ego, Pieter-Dirk Uys, in his latest, most outrageous attack on political outrage, which underlines the “mock” in democracy and exposes the “con” in reconciliation.

Cardenio
By Stephen Greenblatt and Charles L. Mee; directed by Les Waters

May 10-June 1, Loeb Stage
Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt and playwright Charles Mee have joined forces to produce a midsummer comedy of love based on Cardenio, a play by Shakespeare that was lost soon after its first performance. The play is now set at a wedding party on the terrace of a villa in the Umbrian hills.

For more information, visit www.amrep.org.