May 18: Choreographer and Boston Ballet Principal Dancer Paulo Arrais talks about his journey as a dancer from Goiânia, Brazil to schools and companies in Europe, to Boston, where he has performed as Puck in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the title role in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, among many others. Hear about how Arrais incorporates social and cultural themes including gender and mental health into the pieces he creates.
May 4: Following January’s dynamic conversation, Taylor Brennan (Jagged Little Pill, We Live in Cairo, ExtraOrdinary, and twenty other productions), Alfredo Macias (SIX, Endlings, Arrabal), and Ira Mont (Jagged Little Pill) return to answer your questions about the role of the stage manager from pre-production through rehearsals and performance to ensure everything goes as planned—and navigating the moments that don’t!
April 20: This Is Who I Am Director Evren Odcikin and cast members Ramsey Faragallah and Yousof Sultani visit to talk about their collaboration on the world premiere play by Amir Nizar Zuabi in which father and son reunite and reconnect as they cook in real time over video chat. This Is Who I Am premiered in November 2020 and returns April 13 – April 25 for a limited engagement available to stream on demand, presented by PlayCo and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in association with A.R.T., Guthrie Theater, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
April 13: Members of the Steering Committee for A.R.T.’s newly formed Creating Equal collective of artists, organizers, and facilitators will chat about their developing plans to generate in the coming months public art-making projects, arts-based workshops, connectivity events, and original artworks in conversation with the themes of 1776 in order to foster civic engagement in Greater Boston. Learn more about the members through different mediums as they introduce themselves and their recent work, engage in a Q&A, and lift joy in a culminating dance party.
April 6: Playwright Idris Goodwin, Original Stage Director/Co-Film Director Shawn LaCount, and Co-film Director/Cinematographer John Oluwole ADEkoje of Company One’s Hype Man speak with Line Producer Sophie Ancival about the development and creation of C1’s acclaimed production and the collaboration to reimagine it for the screen.
March 30: To mark the one-year anniversary of The Lunch Room, Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Senior Advisor For Civic Engagement and Strategic Partnerships Dayron J. Miles sit down with with Artistic Producer Mark Lunsford to discuss what’s on the horizon for A.R.T.
March 23: New Mass Cultural Council Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt speaks with Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus about his position as the Commonwealth’s most senior cultural official, his vision to catalyze the sector’s growth and drive economic development as it reemerges post-pandemic, and his work to foster racial equity. Co-presented with Mass Cultural Council.
March 16: Nina Fahari, the drag persona of The Theater Offensive Executive Director and Cultural Strategist Harold Steward (they/he), sits down with drag king Jayden Jamison, Kareem Khubchandani who performs as LaWhore Vagistan, and drag queen Just JP, to discuss the drag art form, its place in pop culture, Boston’s drag scene, and more.
March 9 (Rebroadcast): Gypsy Snider. This event originally aired on January 5, 2021.
March 2: The Conjurors’ Club Creators Vinny DePonto and Geoff Kanick talk with A.R.T. Line Producer Emma Watt about their interactive, multi-magician virtual experience that aims to change the face of magic.
February 23: Catherine T. Morris talks about Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Fest, the organization she founded to break down racial and social barriers to arts, music, and culture in Greater Boston, and her vision for a vibrant and inclusive arts and culture sector that celebrates all artistic talents, challenges societal perceptions, and empowers and engages audiences.
February 16 (Rebroadcast): Riccardo Hernandez, Mimi Lien, and Scott Pask. This event originally aired on October 3, 2020.
February 9: As Valentine’s Day approaches, Sara Faith Alterman (author of Let’s Never Talk About This Again) chats with A.R.T. Line Producers Sophie Ancival and Emma Watt about the OBERON usual suspect and favorite she co-produces, Mortified, a comic excavation of teen angst artifacts as shared by their original authors—in front of total strangers. This event will feature topics of a sexual nature and is recommended for adults.
February 2: Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, A.R.T.’s Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus, and Theater and Facilities Manager Tracy Keene discuss the collaboration to develop a Roadmap for Recovery and Resilience for Theater, the Roadmap’s latest content, and A.R.T.’s ongoing commitment to public health in its practice and programming.
January 26: Taylor Brennan (Jagged Little Pill, We Live in Cairo, The Donkey Show, and twenty other productions), Ira Mont (Jagged Little Pill), Alfredo Macias (SIX, Endlings, Arrabal), and Sharika Niles (The White Card, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, 1776 upcoming, and others) chat about the role of the stage manager from pre-production through rehearsals and performance to ensure everything goes as planned—and navigating the moments that don’t!
January 19: Entrepreneurial strategist Lisa Yancey, President of Yancey Consulting, talks with A.R.T. Managing Director Anna Fitzloff about her firm’s work to help unlock, provoke, facilitate, and collaboratively imagine social impacts on the local to national level, as well as Yancey Consulting’s engagement with the A.R.T. to co-design, develop, and activate a plan that embeds anti-racist and anti-oppressive values in how the organization operates and stewards its work.
January 12: Actor, playwright, composer, and Artistic Director of the Wild Wind Performance Lab for New Play Development at Texas Tech University Brian Quijada will chat about his recent works, including the critically acclaimed, award-winning hip-hop solo show Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, and Dragon Baby, the third piece in Sara Porkalob’s Dragon Cycle for which he serves as composer.
January 5: Gypsy Snider returns to A.R.T. to chat about her collaboration with director Diane Paulus and choreographer Chet Walker on the Tony Award-winning production of Pippin, for which she received a Drama Desk Award. Tune in to also hear about the arts collective The 7 Fingers, which she co-founded and co-leads, that tells stories using death-defying acrobatics with a life-affirming theatricality, as well as her family’s multigenerational relationship with the circus art form.
December 29: Broadway star Norm Lewis returns to chat about his time in Cambridge creating the title role in the A.R.T. revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, his upcoming holiday concert Christmastime Is Here, recent performances like “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”, and his work as a founding member of Black Theatre United.
December 22: A.R.T. Education and Engagement Director Brenna Nicely and Center for Wellness and Health Promotion (CWHP) Director Jeanne Mahon discuss how wellness needs and practices in the community have shifted over time—particularly during the pandemic—the role that culture can play in fostering wellness, and The Wellspring, A.R.T.’s new collaboration with CWHP that offers programs aimed at fostering connection and wellbeing through integrated artistic, health, and wellness practices. This event was pre-recorded.
December 15 (Rebroadcast): Elizabeth Stanley, Kathryn Gallagher, Celia Rose Gooding, Derek Klena, and Sean Allan Krill from the A.R.T. and Broadway casts of Jagged Little Pill. This event originally aired on December 1, 2020.
December 8: Writer Julia Riew and Director Rebecca Aparicio of A.R.T.’s new holiday musical Jack and the Beanstalk chat about creating theater magic with green screens, at-home studios, and a handful of magic beans! A.R.T. Line Producer Emma Watt will host.
December 1: From the A.R.T. and Broadway casts of Jagged Little Pill, powerhouse performers and Tony Award nominees Elizabeth Stanley, Kathryn Gallagher, Celia Rose Gooding, Derek Klena, and Sean Allan Krill visit to talk about their experiences developing and premiering the show at A.R.T., performing it on Broadway, learning of the show’s 15 Tony Award nominations, and their activities and activism since Broadway went dark due to the pandemic. Be sure to tune in, you never know who may stop by!
November 24: Poet, rapper, and educator Oompa chats about the Boston music scene, creating in 2020, and Unbothered, her new Virtually OBERON concert. This episode will be co-hosted by A.R.T. Line Producer Sophie Ancival and WBUR The ARTery’s Arts and Culture Reporter Amelia Mason.
November 17: Director, facilitator, and educator Jenny Koons (Burn All Night) chats about how she brings diverse artists together to create original cross-disciplinary work.
October 27: Poets and performers Justice Ameer and Chrysanthemum Tran (ANTHEM) join A.R.T. Line Producers Sophie Ancival and Emma Watt to discuss their artistic practice that combines poetry and social justice.
October 20: Artist, performer, producer, and activist Brandon Michael Nase (The Black Clown, ExtraOrdinary) speaks about his work furthering racial justice and equity in the theater community with Broadway for Racial Justice, which he founded this summer.
October 13 (Rebroadcast): Shawn LaCount and Summer L. Williams. This event originally aired on May 12, 2020.
October 6: Riccardo Hernandez (over twenty productions with A.R.T.), Mimi Lien (most recently Moby-Dick), and Scott Pask (longtime collaborator with Diane Paulus) sit down for a roundtable discussion about their careers as scenic designers in theater. A.R.T. Technical Director LT Gourzong will co-moderate this discussion.
September 29: Chanel DaSilva, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of MOVE|NYC| and Choreographer of Moby-Dick and The Black Clown, explores the process of making movement in our bodies and our culture. This event was pre-recorded.
September 22: Arts leader, director, choreographer, and playwright Michael J. Bobbitt talks about arts, activism, and what’s fresh at New Repertory Theatre, where he has been Artistic Director since 2019. This event was pre-recorded.
September 15: Cultural organizer and arts administrator Harold Steward (they/he) discusses what’s on the horizon for The Theater Offensive, where they currently serve as Co-Producing Executive Director, in presenting liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color.
September 8: Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Producer Diane Borger in conversation about A.R.T.’s upcoming civic engagement, public health, and virtual programming, as well as the theater’s recent work on the Roadmap for Recovery and Resilience and to center anti-racism at the theater.
May 26: Special guests Diana Oh, Creator of Clairvoyance, and A.R.T. Line Producer Sophie Ancival, who worked extensively with Diana.
May 19: Special guest Ifeoma Fafunwa, Director of HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True and the founder and creator of iOpenEye, a Nigerian production company driving social change through performance art.
May 12: Special guests Shawn LaCount and Summer L. Williams, the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director of Company One Theatre (We’re Gonna Die, Wig Out!, Miss You Like Hell, and Greater Good).
May 5: Special guest Gavin Creel, actor in Waitress (Broadway, West End), Prometheus Bound, and Hello, Dolly! (Tony Award).
April 28: Special guest Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
April 21: Special guest Zack Winokur, Director of The Black Clown.
April 14: Special guests Whitney White, Taibi Magar, and Tyler Dobrowsky, the creative team behind Macbeth In Stride.
April 7: Special guests Jack Noseworthy and Sergio Trujillo, key members of the team that brought A.R.T.’s 2017 production of Arrabal to the stage.
March 31: Special guests Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, members of the creative team behind We Live in Cairo.
