2017 - 2018 Fall Spotlight by Huntington Theatre Company

A NEW ERA ON HUNTINGTON AVENUE MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK TARTUFFE MALA IN DEVELOPMENT & NEWS EDUCATION UPCOMING EVENTS PERFORMANCE CALENDARS

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FALL 2017-2018

SPOTLIGHT nile hawver

Mark Umbers, Damian Humbley, and Eden Espinosa will appear in Merrily We Roll Along

LEGENDARY ACCLAIMED MUSICAL

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG SEPT. 8 – OCT. 15 ARRESTING NEW DRAMA

A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK OCT. 6 – NOV. 4

BRILLIANT CLASSIC COMEDY

TARTUFFE NOV. 10 – DEC. 10 IRRESISTIBLE COMEDY

BAD DATES JAN. 26 – FEB. 25 RIVETING & TIMELY NEW PLAY

SKELETON CREW MAR. 2 – 31

DAZZLING CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC

TOP GIRLS APR. 20 – MAY 20

FASCINATING UNTOLD STORY OF ARTHUR MILLER

FALL MAY 18 – JUN. 16

PLUS A SPECIAL EVENT POWERFUL PERSONAL DRAMA

MALA JAN. 6 – 28

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YOU BELONG AT THE HUNTINGTON! JOIN US FOR THE 2017-2018 SEASON!

CLASSICS MADE CURRENT. RIVETING NEW WORK. 8 INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES THAT ARE INTELLIGENT, RELEVANT & JUST PLAIN FUN.

Only Huntington subscribers get the best plays, the best seats & the best prices. 7-play packages start at just $154. Subscribe now and guarantee yourself a great year of theatre, no matter how busy the rest of your schedule becomes. Join us for all 7 shows (our best deal!) or select a smaller package — either way you get access to the best seats at the best prices and lock-in your seats for a can’t-miss season, including an acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, recreated just for Huntington audiences with a cast of Boston favorites, and much more. Plus, you’ll get all our other exclusive subscriber benefits: free & easy ticket exchanges, missed performance insurance, and special discounts on local restaurants and parking. WE’RE SAVING GREAT SEATS JUST FOR SUBSCRIBERS — SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

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A draft rendering of the Huntington Avenue Theatre Complex, after construction and renovations are completed.

The Huntington Avenue Theatre — around our offices and shops we’ve been calling it “the HAT” — is now solely controlled by the Huntington Theatre Company, where we will produce world-class theatre and present other great companies for generations to come. We are making extensive plans to renovate and expand our beautiful theatre, adding to our already extensive services to audiences, artists, and the Greater Boston community. Working together with the architects at Bruner/Cott & Associates, the first improvements were made to the Huntington Avenue Theatre this summer, reconfiguring the theatre entrance to make it more accessible to the public and operational without the adjacent buildings. Our commercial development partners QMG Huntington, LLC have begun the process for approval by the Boston Planning and Development Agency, and their plans include an apartment building which will rise next door to the current theatre.

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A NEW ERA FOR THE HUNTINGTON — AND OUR HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE Designed by Stantec, the plans call for a new two-story entrance to the theatre, as well as lobby and events space for Huntington patrons with additional restrooms and new refreshment options. As depicted above in a preliminary exterior rendering, the project will restore the theatre’s historical architecture, create new and expanded lobbies open to the public throughout the day, and modernize our theatrical and mechanical systems. There are still many details and plans to put in place, and we will continue to share the latest information about the Huntington Avenue Theatre complex as it develops. The Huntington is extremely grateful for the support and encouragement we have received from Mayor Martin J. Walsh, from our Board of Trustees and Council of Overseers, from our major individual and institutional donors, and from our loyal audience members and supporters throughout Greater Boston.

For the latest news and information about the Huntington Avenue Theatre, please visit huntingtontheatre.org/FAQ. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

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Director Maria Friedman’s stunning London production of Merrily We Roll Along received universal rave reviews — the most five star reviews in West End history — and the Olivier Award for Best Musical. Now she recreates it for Boston audiences! Travelling backwards in time over 30 years in the entertainment business, this legendary, cult favorite musical charts the relationships of close friends Frank, Charley, and Mary, and features some of Sondheim’s most beautiful songs, including “Good Thing Going,” “Old Friends,” and “Not a Day Goes By.”

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“One of the greatest musical productions of this or any other era!”

“The best production of Merrily We Roll Along I’ve seen.” — STEPHEN SONDHEIM

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“After seeing Maria Friedman’s stunning staging of Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, I knew I had to share this tremendous production with Boston. Maria has captured lightning in a bottle, turning a musical long beloved by Sondheim geeks into an international hit. I can’t wait for her to recreate the definitive and mesmerizing version of Merrily for Boston audiences with the best of Boston, New York, and international talent. Put this show on the calendar in pen!” – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOIS

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim

Director Maria Friedman

BEST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED: THE TRIUMPH OF MARIA FRIEDMAN’S MERRILY “It is, make no mistake, one of the great musical productions of this or any other era,” raved The Independent of Maria Freidman’s Merrily We Roll Along. The universally celebrated revival, which garnered a record-breaking number of five star reviews during its West End run, makes its American debut at the Huntington Theatre Company this fall. With a show that contains some of composer Stephen Sondheim’s most beautiful songs, including “Not a Day Goes By” and “Good Thing Going,” the resounding success of Friedman’s production seems intuitive. Those familiar with the play’s history, however, will know that Merrily We Roll Along has proved notoriously difficult to direct. Sondheim regularly challenges the most consummate performers with his fondness for complicated rhythms, tongue-twisting lyrics, and surprising harmonies. George Furth’s book for Merrily We Roll Along, based on the original play by George Kaufman and Moss Hart, adds the additional challenge of a nonlinear storyline. This puzzle of music and story confounded the original Broadway production, which closed after just 16 performances. Friedman’s success, therefore, shocked critics and proved that — under the right director — Merrily We Roll Along could be a hit. Most astonishing was the fact that this production marked the four-time Olivier Award-winning actress’s directorial debut. The key to Friedman’s success? As The London Telegraph put it, she “really understands what makes Sondheim tick.” While she may have been new to directing, Maria Friedman’s facility with Sondheim did not develop overnight. As an actress, Friedman has spent the better part of her career studying and perfecting the art of interpreting Sondheim onstage. Friedman’s first Olivier Award nomination came from her portrayal of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George, and her later role as Fosca in Sondheim’s Passion won her the award. While she has since enjoyed an illustrious acting career, which includes a long run on BBC’s “East Enders” and a starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Woman in White, Friedman continues to revisit Sondheim time and time again. “Maria Friedman: Master of a Thousand Sondheimian Disguises” read a New York Times review of Friedman’s solo concert, entirely composed of Sondheim songs. “He appeals to every part of me as a performer,” Friedman explained. “He’s just got his finger on humanity and its foibles and difficulties.”

The choice to make her directing debut with a Sondheim piece was an easy one. “I think you should always do things you love and have a connection with,” she revealed. “Merrily We Roll Along is a musical close to my heart.” Fittingly, love and connection are the themes at the heart Merrily We Roll Along, which follows the friendship between three promising young artists: Charley has a knack for writing lyrics, Frank is a gifted composer, and Mary is an aspiring novelist. From their serendipitous first encounter atop a roof to watch the launch of Sputnik, the three form a bond and a vital artistic partnership. As the years pass, however, ambition, romance, money, family, and heartbreak push and pull at the trio, changing the shape of their friendship, perhaps forever. The keen ability to track this friendship through Sondheim’s melodies and George Furth’s plot proved the key to success for Friedman’s revival. “She brings to the table a blazing inwardness,” writes critic Paul Taylor of The Independent. “Above all, this revival lays out — with a more biting (yet compassionate) clarity than any I have seen hitherto — the tricky narrative and emotional logic of [Merrily We Roll Along].” Perhaps the highest praise for Friedman’s production came from the emotive response of Stephen Sondheim himself. “He cried,” Friedman reported of Sondheim’s visit to the Menier Chocolate Factory, where her production played before moving to the West End. “This production of Merrily We Roll Along is not only the best I’ve seen,” Sondheim wrote, “but one of those rare instances where casting, direction, and show come together in perfect combination, resulting in the classic ideal of the sum being greater than the parts.” A tip of the hat from the master only reflects what the critics felt when they watched her production — Maria Friedman has found a way to solve the Sondheim riddle onstage. As articulated by Ian Shuttleworth of The Financial Times: “The truisms about Sondheim are that he is both an acquired taste and the object of a fervent cult of devotees; Friedman’s production is likely to lead many through the first phase and quite a few into the second.” – SARAH SCHNEBLY HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

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Director Maria Friedman (center) and the Huntington’s cast of Merrily We Roll Along

COMPOSING ALL OUR YESTERDAYS:

THE GENIUS OF SONDHEIM’S MERRILY SCORE

Mark Umbers and Damian Humbley recreate their roles from the London production

“Yesterday is done,” a voice sings to the opening chords of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. Through the windows of an expensive apartment, the predawn glow illuminates a solitary figure. It is Frank, the disillusioned composer who has lost touch with the artistic dreams of his youth and spends his days adrift among the rich and shallow, mindlessly moving from one job to the next. Embittered by a career built on compromise, Frank illustrates the simple truth of these opening lines. “Yesterday is done” — there is no returning to correct the choices of your past. Notorious for his devilish wit and penchant for resisting simple analysis Sondheim writes this insightful first line only to immediately undermine it. From the first glimpse of our jaded protagonist, Merrily slides backwards in time and, with each new scene, the audience rediscovers a piece of his youthful hope. For the viewer settling in to their next Sondheim musical, yesterday is not done — it is the path that lies ahead. Following Sondheim’s lead, the Huntington is taking its audiences back several years in Sondheim’s career from last year’s production of Sunday in the Park with George, which debuted in 1984, to 1981 — the year of Merrily We Roll Along. At the peak of their joint success, Sondheim’s collaborator Harold Prince proposed a musical adaptation of a favorite Kaufman and Hart play entitled Merrily We Roll Along, known for its backwards storytelling. The challenge of reverse chronology intrigued Sondheim, who had already acquired a reputation for subverting traditional Broadway forms. Ironically, the familiar song structures of Golden Era musicals — from which Sondheim famously rebelled — provided the perfect historical soundscape for a story that moves from 1976 to 1957. A cheeky response to the recurring critique that his tunes were not hummable, the return to traditional form also fortified Merrily with what scholar Wendy Smith deems “his most engaging and accessible score.” As an unfailingly original composer Sondheim would never let traditional forms impede his powers of musical ingenuity. If the songs themselves followed convention, the backward narrative gave Sondheim the chance to arrange these songs unconventionally. This resulted in Sondheim developing an utterly new tool for musical storytelling: the reprise that precedes its original melody.

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NAME Jennifer Ellis ROLE Beth HOMETOWN Whitman, Massachusetts HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Beth and I are both trusting and friendly, but also resilient and strong.

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The London cast of Merrily We Roll Along

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR CAREER? Never stop learning, be kind and hardworking — and travel whenever and wherever you can! WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? That would be my husband, Ben. He’s a brilliant scientist. Our careers are very different, but we have a genuine interest in what the other is passionate about. NAME Eden Espinosa ROLE Mary Flynn HOMETOWN Anaheim, California

Composing on a backward timeline, Sondheim experimented with the story’s competing themes of disillusionment and promise and found a way to weave both feelings into a single moment through melody. In a traditional story of disillusionment, the lovers’ ballad comes first and is reprised with undertones of weariness and sadness. In Merrily We Roll Along, the order is reversed. The first time the audience hears Sondheim’s famous “Not a Day Goes By,” it is loaded with the heartbreak and betrayal of a relationship gone sour. The audience feels the emotional weight of a reprise without knowing how the characters have come to this place in their lives. When it reappears at the young protagonist’s wedding, the song is imbued with hope and passion. For the audience, the melody has evolved from tragedy into optimism. At the same time, however, the audience must listen to the optimistic young lovers with the knowledge of what their future holds, simultaneously hearing promise and disillusionment. Characteristically, Sondheim’s compositional knack for storytelling brings his audience to a place of emotional complexity, allowing it to be read as both a tragic tale and a hopeful discovery of dreams. When we return to the initial “Yesterday is done,” how do we interpret it? As a fatalistic take on the uncompromising motion of time? Or a summons to move passionately towards a hopeful future? This skillful blend of opposing themes that challenges audiences to find their own interpretation recalls another genius of dramatic storytelling. As director Maria Friedman put it, “Stephen is simply the best — musical theatre’s Shakespeare.” – SARAH SCHNEBLY

HOW HAS YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS CHANGED? In the beginning, there was one goal: TO BE ON BROADWAY! Now I just want to keep working, growing, and creating. That is success to me. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR CAREER? Be yourself. Don’t be afraid to fail, it’s how you grow and get better. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONDHEIM SONG OR MUSICAL? Sunday in the Park with George and “Move On.” This song, as an artist and as a human, really hits the spot. NAME Damian Humbley ROLE Charley Kringas HOMETOWN Queensland, Australia HOW HAS YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS CHANGED? I used to think other people defined my success, but I’ve come to the realization that the only person who can honestly comment on my success is me. HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? I connect with Charley’s ideology of “put the quality of work ahead of the quantity.” He’s constantly reminding Frank that writing something that means something has more value than selling out to simply make money. NAME Mark Umbers ROLE Franklin Shepard HOMETOWN North Yorkshire, England HOW ARE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTER? Like Frank, I can sometimes try to please everyone and lose my own way in the process. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR CAREER? Concentrate on the work, not on the money. In the case of acting, chase big roles, not big paychecks.

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR & EVENT LISTINGS

WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? My old college roommate. Despite us both having changed a great deal, we still share the same dynamic and sense of humor that we did all those years ago.

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“Urban is brilliant, provocative, and gushing with talent.”

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On his way home after a year in East Africa, a young aid worker goes back to a shabby Amsterdam hotel room with a fellow American. The two strangers look for redemption from their pasts and confess their shared fear that they betrayed the people who needed them most. A passionate encounter becomes a chance to confront the truth in this new play by Huntington Playwriting Fellow Ken Urban.

“Huntington Playwriting Fellow Ken Urban is a rising star in American playwriting. I was enraptured by this play and the deeply romantic, highly political way it explores the connection between East Africa and Boston. Under the seductively theatrical direction of Colman Domingo, this play is a striking exploration of danger and desire.” – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOIS Playwright Ken Urban

Director Colman Domingo

GHOSTS, MEMORIES & TRANSFORMATION: PLAYWRIGHT KEN URBAN ON A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK

PLAYWRIGHT KEN URBAN’S PAST PLAYS HAVE PREMIERED AT RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER, SUMMER PLAY FESTIVAL

AT THE PUBLIC, AND THEATRE503 IN LONDON. NOW, THE HUNTINGTON PLAYWRITING FELLOW ALUMNUS RECENTLY SPOKE WITH HUNTINGTON DIRECTOR OF NEW WORK CHARLES HAUGLAND ABOUT WHAT INSPIRED THIS LATEST WORK A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK.

CH: What inspired you to begin writing A Guide for the Homesick? KU: In 2011, Epic Theatre Ensemble, a New York theatre company devoted to social justice, commissioned me to write a play about international aid workers. That commission gave me the time to do research, and interview volunteers from Doctors Without Borders. During the interviews, I saw how these men and women were haunted by what they experienced. They all spoke about the difficulty of coming home and re-adjusting to life after their experiences overseas. They felt ostracized. Even small things, like friends complaining about going to the grocery store or problems with the subway, would make them very angry because they didn’t have a place to process what they had experienced. I thought: that’s my story. I cannot write about issues or themes. I think that leads to bad writing. Those interviews helped me discover the story of Jeremy and Teddy. It would be the story of two strangers who become friends in a hotel room one night. How did living in Boston and Cambridge shape how you thought about the issues you explore in the play? In 2011, I taught at “that school in Cambridge” and was living in Kendall Square. It was my introduction to students like Jeremy: insanely hard working, intellectually curious, sometimes crippled by intense pressure to succeed. Teaching at Harvard was a reminder that coming out is still difficult despite the vast changes in our country over the last 20 years. More importantly, I was following American involvement in the rise of anti-gay and lesbian violence in Uganda, and Massachusetts was crucial in fueling the flames that led to 2009’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Scott Lively’s Abiding Truth Ministries, based in Springfield, conducted talks about the “homosexual threat” with leaders in Uganda. [The contemporary context of the play is further discussed on page 12 of this issue.] That is why the Boston piece of the play is so important. Jeremy and Teddy both had to be from Boston. One of the things I love about this play is that each actor plays two characters. Can you talk about how you arrived at that choice? Thanks. It’s been in the play before I wrote the play. The people I interviewed were haunted by the people they met when they

worked abroad. When I saw the play in my head, I saw two strangers in a hotel room. And nothing is more haunted than a hotel room. Each character would bring the person that haunts them into that hotel room with them. I am always amazed at actors’ ability to transform, and so I decided before I even started writing that two actors would play four characters. I love watching actors navigate that in rehearsals. It’s an amazing thing to watch them discover. What has working with Colman Domingo as a director brought to the play? I have known Colman as an actor and playwright for years. New York theatre is a small world, so our paths crossed. This is a play driven by the power of acting and an actors’ ability to transform, and so I thought about him early on as a possible director of my play. Now that he is a huge TV star slaughtering zombies, I assumed it wouldn’t work. But I reached out and to my surprise, we had a coffee right away here in New York and talked about the play. Since we hadn’t worked together before as writer and director, he suggested that we do a reading to see if we were a match. We did a secret reading at New Dramatists, just us, two actors, and an intern reading stage directions; the five of us sitting around a table to see if we clicked. He worked with the actors so carefully, pushing them to go deeper, and he encouraged me to be bolder as I returned to the script. I knew he was the one. Paula Vogel calls the people who get you artistically “fellow travelers.” You just know when you meet one. What does it mean to bring this play to Boston for its premiere? It means a great deal. The Huntington took a chance on me when I first moved to Boston and made me a Huntington Playwriting Fellow, and I am eternally grateful for that. This is also a story about two Boston men and I am excited that the play will premiere in the city where I first wrote and developed it. The pull of Boston is strong. This fall, I will begin running the playwriting program at MIT. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

NAME McKinley Belcher III ROLE Teddy & Nicholas HOMETOWN Atlanta, Georgia WHAT PERSONAL ITEMS WOULD PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING HOMESICK? My sax is something like a comfort blanket. It was my introduction to the arts when I was quite young. There’s something pure about it, and it makes me just as happy as when I was 12 years old. Good Southern cooking is another. And my journal, just because I love to write, and it’s helped me process a lot as I journey through life. WHAT CITY WOULD YOU PICK TO DO SOME SOUL-SEARCHING IN AND WHY? The artist in me has always had a pull to Austin, Texas. I think it’s the kind of place I could be artistically inspired in. It’s the cross section of many things that I love. I vacillate between that kind of artsy, but still metropolitan energy, and secretly desiring a spiritual and literal quiet that you could have in the middle of nowhere. HOW DO YOU RELATE TO YOUR CHARACTER? I admire how comfortable Nicholas is in his own skin; some people go a lifetime without being that comfortable with who they are. And I unfortunately identify with Teddy’s tendency to fall in love with the wrong person. I think they’re both people who love hard, and that hits close to home for me. NAME Samuel Levine ROLE Jeremy & Ed HOMETOWN Brooklyn, New York WHAT PERSONAL ITEMS WOULD PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING HOMESICK? My Saint Christopher necklace, my DVD set of Lord of the Rings, and a wooden compass. WHAT CITY WOULD YOU PICK TO DO SOME SOUL-SEARCHING IN AND WHY? Lately I have found myself day dreaming of going to Granada in Spain, the birth place of Federico Garcia Lorca. I love Lorca’s poetry. It’s dark, sexy, and dream-like. I dream of walking where he walked. I could search for my soul there, as I am sure he did when he was a young man. HOW DO YOU RELATE TO YOUR CHARACTER? Like my character, I feel lost and confused constantly as I go through everyday life. I’ll have moments where I look around and think to myself, “How did I get here?” I think both Jeremy and Ed feel this way as well. And maybe it’s just the Gemini in me, but I also feel like I am being torn in two directions, forever split. Jeremy and Ed also share this with me.

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR & EVENT LISTINGS

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FACING HISTORY IN A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK As rain pelts down from a January sky at the beginning of Ken Urban’s new play A Guide for the Homesick, two strangers find themselves in the small sanctuary of an Amsterdam hotel room. Inexplicably drawn to one another, the two Boston natives seek solace in each other’s company and an escape from the chaos of their lives. As night falls, however, reality slowly creeps into their refuge — through the voice on the other end of a telephone, in the plans for tomorrow’s flight home, and through their own troubled consciences. Even with a stranger, in a distant and protected room, A Guide for the Homesick illustrates how we can never outrun our own histories. In the apparent safety from the outside storm, the two men begin to let down their guards and reveal traces of who they are. Teddy, born and raised in Roxbury, is visiting Amsterdam with his best friend Ed. Jeremy, a recent Harvard grad, is returning home from his stint as an aid worker in Uganda, where he met Nicholas. As the intimacy between Jeremy and Teddy deepens, these carefully spun stories unravel and expose inconsistencies that both are afraid to explain. Where is Teddy’s friend Ed? What happened to Jeremy’s friend Nicholas? What is the history that each man is running from?

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Jeremy’s personal history echoes the real life hysteria that surrounded the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda. Ken Urban grounds A Guide for the Homesick in the political moment of 2011, as details of Jeremy’s life evoke the complicated history that helped form the human rights crisis in Uganda. As an American health worker, Jeremy belongs to a long tradition of US medical intervention. During the 1980s, when AIDS wreaked havoc on a global stage, the United States helped fund a sexual education program in Uganda that asked citizens to, “Abstain, Be Faithful, and Use a Condom.” The rate of new HIV diagnoses dropped significantly by the early 2000s, and Uganda was internationally hailed as a success story. Though the push towards personal responsibility encouraged Ugandans to take their health into their own hands, it also laid the ground for believing in the culpability of those who became sick. In 2004, Massachusetts celebrated the legalization of gay marriage, as LGBTQ groups around the world raised their voices against the laws and injustices of their countries. The increased visibility spurred anti-gay groups in Uganda to rally in opposition. Scott Lively, a Massachusetts Evangelical minister, attended a conference in Uganda in 2009 to help strength the anti-gay messaging of the Church. The subsequent appearance of signs reading “No 2 Sodomy, Yes 2 Family” on taxis and motorbikes in the city of Kampala encouraged MP David Bahati to introduce a bill that proposed death sentences for “serial offenders” of homosexuality and prison sentences for those “aiding and abating homosexuality.” Playwright Ken Urban writes in the wake of these political changes. Six thousand miles away from Uganda, in a hotel room with another man, Jeremy cannot outrun the memories of the friend he left behind. In A Guide for the Homesick, the room — sought as a haven from the past — transforms into a place where the two men must reckon with their own history. Haunted by personal and historical events, A Guide for the Homesick also offers the possibility of a different future, both for the characters and, in turn, for the audience. “It’s not too late,” Teddy tells Jeremy, “To change. To face the truth.” – SARAH SCHNEBLY

Anit-gay protesters rally in Uganda

Masked LGBTQ supporters at a protest against Uganda’s anti-gay bill

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Devious Tartuffe charms his way into Orgon’s household and schemes to marry his daughter, seduce his wife, and run off with the family’s fortune. Orgon remains entranced despite the appalling evidence of Tartuffe’s behavior — will he see through this con man before it’s too late? Molière spins religious piety and hypocrisy into high comedy in this hilarious and biting satire, one of the world’s great plays.

“This production of Tartuffe is going to be everything you expect from Molière, complete with costume design elements of the period and our own spin on the brilliantly comic possibilities of period staging. Boston audiences are going to see 2017 alive onstage within the framework of a 17th century farce, and the result will be satirical, smart, and a gut-buster.” – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PETER DuBOIS Playwright Molière

Translator Ranjit Bolt

Director Peter DuBois

MOLIÈRE,TARTUFFE, AND THE SCANDAL THAT CREATED MODERN COMEDY It is a rare comedy that can survive its own times; tastes in humor can change vastly across time and culture whereas tragic events are nearly universal. Molière’s Tartuffe, a 17th century French comedy about a religious hypocrite (Tartuffe) and his credulous follower (Orgon), has stood the test of time because of the way Molière combines wit, slapstick, psychological acumen, and elegant dramaturgy into a fast-paced package. The story of Tartuffe and its author is one of foolish provocation and bold determination. Early in the play, Orgon explains that Tartuffe has given him a new outlook on life: “…now I can see it’s all illusion, even love / That’s one disease he’s cured me of: Yes, I could see my family die / And not so much as blink an eye.” Molière specialized in writing and playing bourgeois obsessives who teeter on the edge of tragedy while giving the audience laughs. But Molière has a lot in common with Orgon in that he too was willing to throw everything away in pursuit of his own obsession: the stage. Time and again he would court scandal and conflict because of his own convictions. Ultimately saved by his talent, work ethic, and family connections, his story could just as easily ended up as tragedy instead of triumph. Molière, né Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, was born in Paris in January 1622 to a wealthy family. He attended the Collège de Clermont, a Jesuit school whose curriculum included drama for training in speech and Latin. By 1641 he had completed a law degree and was sent to the south of France to serve as a royal bedmaker, a ceremonial position. His staid bourgeois life didn’t last very long; around 1643, young Jean-Baptiste co-founded I’Illustre Théâtre with his lover, actress Madeleine Béjart, and three of her siblings. He funded this endeavor by selling his position as valet de chambre back to his father and then rechristening himself Molière. The

theatre quickly went bankrupt and young Molière was hauled off to jail. Bailed out the next day by his father, Molière and Madeleine left Paris, joined a provincial troupe, and spent the next 13 years barnstorming around the country. In the provinces, Molière learned all about the Italian comedies, specifically the improvisational style of the commedia dell’arte. Commedia takes a few stock figures — the old man, the pedant, the wily servant, the young lover, etc. — and places them in a few stock situations. The dialogue is largely improvised by the actors and the comedy is highly physical. While working in the provinces Molière began to write and perform in a series of short farces. He became an expert physical comedian who created some of the greatest slapstick performances ever. But he changed the direction of modern theatre when he synthesized the popular comic stock forms of commedia dell’arte with contemporary situations and psychologically recognizable characters. In 1658, Molière and his company performed for King Louis XIV and from that point on they became a fixture in the cultural life of the court and Paris. In 1662, at the age of 40, Molière married Madeleine’s daughter, Armande, resulting in a noisy scandal and accusations of incest. Thumbing his nose at his critics, Molière capitalized on the scandal with his play The School for Wives, in which he played a bourgeois obsessed with marital fidelity who wanted to marry the young ward he had raised. The play was wildly successful and the following year Louis XIV awarded Molière with a pension. His next play, Tartuffe, tells the story of Orgon, a bourgeois gentleman, the father and absolute ruler of his house, who has become spiritually enraptured with Tartuffe, a religious adviser continued on page 14

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NAME Gabriel Brown ROLE Valere HOMETOWN Durham, North Carolina DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY IN A MOLIÈRE STYLE VERSE. I like to have a fun time / so much fun that people say it should be a crime! HOW DO YOU RELATE TO YOUR CHARACTER? I feel like any young man including myself can relate to Valere. I’m not perfect, and can say I’ve tried to make my ex jealous in the past, but with the sole purpose of trying to get them back. Valere is willing to say anything to make her feel that HE is the one for her; I’ve definitely been there. NAME Steven Barkhimer ROLE Monsieur Loyal HOMETOWN Silver Spring, Maryland HOW DO YOU THINK THIS PLAY WILL RESONATE WITH AUDIENCES? A story of a poseur and a hypocrite who swindles people by affecting an air of righteousness. That should resonate with anyone who is not a zombie. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE ORGON? A paraphrase of a verse in Proverbs: it is better to hear the reprimand of the wise than the flattery of fools. NAME Paula Plum ROLE Madame Pernelle, Orgon’s mother HOMETOWN Lynn, Massachusetts WHAT SCENE OR MOMENT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO PLAYING? I love Mme. Pernelle’s ranting at the opening of the play. She is on FIRE! She almost implodes! That should be fun to explore in rehearsal exactly how this rage is shaped. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE ORGON? Denial is not just a river in Egypt! NAME Frank Wood ROLE Orgon, head of the household HOMETOWN Lincoln, Massachusetts HOW DO YOU THINK THIS PLAY WILL RESONATE WITH AUDIENCES? Self-righteousness plagues us all. But we are duped every time we put our faith in someone else to do our smiting. I think audiences will have a hard time not seeing themselves in Orgon. I hope so, because he’s the one who learns the most. HOW WOULD YOU INTERACT WITH TARTUFFE IN REAL LIFE? Oh, I would give him all my money, but I don’t think I would let him live in my house.

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who is an obvious fraud to almost all the other members of the household and to the audience as well. Over the course of the play, Orgon completely destroys his family only to be saved at the last minute by the king. Along the way, Molière treats the audience to every manner of comic delight — the clownish servant Dorine who serves up truth to her masters in a bold fashion, foolish lovers, and of course, many overheard conversations. While there were religious objections to the portrayal of a holy man as a fraud, more radical still is the portrait of Orgon’s obsession, which suggests the still controversial idea that the measure of good comes from an action’s effect on others, not abstract ideals. Even before its premiere in 1664, the first version of Tartuffe was already a subject of great concern in the court. The church and the state were intertwined and France was still in a state of recovery from violent religious conflicts. Powerful religious factions were disrupting society under the pretext of moral reform. Fanaticism had cost Molière his first patron, the Prince de Conti, who experienced a religious awakening that lead him to condemn the theatre and foster an enmity toward Molière that continued through the Tartuffe scandal. Though the king approved the play for performance at court, he heeded protests of devout members of the court and clergy and forbade any further public performance. Molière’s company depended on public performances for their income so he quickly wrote another play, Dom Juan, which ridiculed religious hypocrisy among the nobility. That play, too, was quickly suppressed and never performed again in Molière’s lifetime. Next, he wrote The Misanthrope which, mercifully, was a hit. During this time, Molière appealed to the king on behalf of his banned play Tartuffe, famously writing in his first appeal, “the purpose of the comedy is to correct the faults of men,” and arguing for the moral necessity of the play. Determined to get it back on the boards, he rewrote and retitled it The Imposter. That version played in 1667 and was immediately censored by the Paris authorities. Finally, the king intervened and on February 5, 1669, Tartuffe opened at the Palais-Royal with Molière in the role of Orgon. It was the most profitable of all of his plays, and it is still considered the best written. Molière continued to write, perform, and innovate until his death in 1673. While performing in The Imaginary Invalid, Molière began coughing blood and died of tubercular hemorrhage several hours later. Molière was denied burial by his parish priest because he was an actor. Once again, the king intervened to help his friend. Molière was buried at night with no ceremony. – LISA TIMMEL

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR & EVENT LISTINGS

PLAYING WITH VERSE:

RANJIT BOLT’S DELIGHTFUL NEW TRANSLATION OF TARTUFFE “Ranjit Bolt is the deftest, most dexterous of wordsmiths, able to make Alexandrine dance and anapests do handstands,” says British actor Simon Callow, regarding the witty poet and translator Ranjit Bolt. Bolt’s translation of Tartuffe premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2002 and later by the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival for their 2007 revival, and will be the version performed at the Huntington. When Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois considered which translation to use for his staging of Moliere’s classic 17th century French comedy Tartuffe, or the Imposter, he chose the Bolt translation because he thought it was the version that captured the energy he wanted: free and loose while still clever and sophisticated. “I knew I wanted a translation that sang in the mouths of actors — that had rhythm and speed,” DuBois says. “Bolt’s translation reads well, but it sounds even better. He captures everything that is joyful and fun about rhyming verse across languages, never becoming rigid or stuffy.” The challenge of being a translator is being able to capture both the intent and spirit of the original text. While the original French text is written in rhyming couplets, many modern English translations discard the rhyme, because so many fewer words rhyme in English than French. Bolt, however, can thread the intricate challenges of rhyming verse. A great translation can feel almost athletic in its sense of wonder. Suddenly, an unexpected rhyme appears, leaving audience members to wonder, “How did he do that?” Bolt succeeds in translating the challenging text by being an impeccable textual scholar; his translation is considered relatively faithful in spirit to Molière’s text by classical scholars, but works onstage because Bolt is not afraid to depart from the original in phrasing if he can create new linguistic delights. “If you try to be too accurate, you actually don’t do the text any service because you end up with something stilted and dull,” Bolt says. “The point about Molière is that he’s a very good dramatist but line for line he’s not what you call a funny writer.” In one couplet of dialogue, Elmire — the lady of the house and one of the few to see through Tartuffe’s charade — tells Tartuffe: Et l’on ne peut aller jusqu’à vous satisfaire, Qu’aux dernières faveurs on ne pousse l’affaire? Bolt says a literal translation of that into English would be “Can one not satisfy you except by going to the limit of (i.e. sexual) favors?” But Bolt translates it to English as “And now you’re rushing to the sweet / before we’ve had the soup and meat,” a poetic exploration of the same intended meaning. Bolt says, “What you try and do is

Tartuffe set rendering by designer Alexander Dodge

combine Molière’s brilliance in making clear, moral points in a very funny way, with the English language’s propensity for producing rhyming couplets.” Bolt has translated other classic French writers — Racine, Corneille, Feydeau, and Anoiulh — in addition to other world dramatists such as Bertolt Brecht and Seneca. Bolt has also created original poetry, writing novels in verse and also applying his wit to the form of the limerick. He began experimenting with limericks after accumulating personal debt from a gambling addiction. “I needed extra money, so had the idea of making homemade booklets of the poems, purchasing a pedlar’s license, and selling them on the streets of my home town of Cambridge at £1.99 a go,” Bolt says. “The poems were entirely innocent in content, as I had no wish to be arrested! I noticed that parents were going away already reading the poems out loud to their children, and chuckling.” A publisher saw a copy, and created a collection of the charming verses. The title poem, A Lion was Learning to Ski, combines Bolt’s inventive use of verse with his delight in surprising the reader: A lion was learning to ski In the Alps just outside Chamonix. But he ruined his hopes Of mastering the slopes When he had his instructor for tea. For Bolt, verse provides a vehicle for examining the ridiculous; his imaginative use of language contrasts with the formal structure of the verse to create a unique artistic experience. Audiences can use verse to “escape through anarchy into a surreal world,” Bolt says. “The joy of the verse is the contrast between the discipline of the form and the ludicrous nature of what’s being described.” – CHARLES HAUGLAND HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

BY BY

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MELINDA LOPEZ ON LOVE, LOSS & FAMILY:

paul marotta

EXCERPTS FROM MALA

During the epic Boston winter of 2015, Huntington Playwright-in-Residence Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew, Becoming Cuba) started writing notes to herself on her iPhone; the short dispatches captured glimpses of Melinda’s life while she took care of her aging, frail, and feisty mother. At the time, the notes were the only writing that Melinda could do. Yet later, she found herself returning to them, seeing in those frantically typed messages a moving and generous portrait of the way taking care of family tests, deepens, and changes our bonds to the ones we love. The notes grew into a play, one that she performs herself called Mala. Premiering at ArtsEmerson in October 2016, Mala recently won the Norton Award for Best New Play and the ArtsImpulse Award for Best Solo Performance. This winter, Melinda returns to perform the piece at the Huntington. Below are excerpts from the script,

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a series of glimpses into the funny, brutally honest, and ultimately cathartic experience that Melinda creates in this unforgettable play, one that grows out of the unsentimental poetry of everyday life. So this is the part where you turn off your phones. But don’t turn them off because you might have someone who you are supposed to be taking care of, like a kid or an old person, or maybe your dog has diabetes, and every time you have to turn the phone off you panic a little bit and spend the whole time wondering if they fell or died while you were at the theatre. So let’s not turn them off. And if your phone rings, don’t be embarrassed, I’ll just stop and wait, and you can see if it’s an emergency. And if it isn’t, then just, you know, give me a thumbs up and I’ll keep going. And if it is an emergency, then, I don’t know, I guess we’ll just figure it out. ...

THE BEGINNING What I wrote on the iphone note-taking app, afternoon, February 23: She won’t rest until I am dead.

paul marotta

Scenes from Mala, written and performed by Huntington Playwright-in-Residence Melinda Lopez

FAMILY My sister has an important job. A very important job. She is a scientist. She cuts up proteins and rearranges them to make cures for terrible illnesses. I always imagine her in a lab coat and chef’s hat, carving up a block of cheese. But of course, that’s not it at all. Her research saves people’s lives. She told me about an experiment they did at Stanford. And she is really excited about this. She actually called to tell me about it. And she doesn’t call for like — regular stuff. We don’t do like regular sister stuff. But she told me about the mouse blood. They take old mice, and they can’t learn the maze, like no matter how long they try, they can’t learn the maze. But then they take mouse blood from young mice — and they transfuse it into the old mice — just the blood of a younger mouse, — and the old mice are like — boom — they learn the maze in seconds. They are dancing. They are happy mice. They have the attitude and brain function of young mice. It also works the other way. Inject young mice with the blood of an old mouse, and weird things happen. Brain function decreases. Healing slows. Velour pantsuits suddenly appear in the closet. ...

DENIAL My mom isn’t actually dying, and no one can find anything wrong with her — I mean, she has cancer? But that’s not going to kill her. The oncologist says people with her kind of cancer can live ten years. And her heart is bad. But the cardiologist says that people with weak hearts can live another ten years. And she’s 92, so if she lives another 10 years, she’ll still die younger than her mother who died at 106. That makes me so tired, I may have to go lie down.

Oh Denial. Really? Seriously, I am not in denial. I know my mother has health issues. I am not in denial. Do you know what denial is? mountain air my husbands hands lightning one perfect clementine ...

CLEMENTINES I can’t be in a room without cleaning it. I make the bed in hotels. Dishes belong in the sink, and if they are in the sink they belong on the drying rack, and if they’re on the drying rack? Put them away. Some things are obvious. I can’t be at my mom’s without doing something. This is what I can do: make lists, shop, sweep, balance a checkbook, go to the CVS, arrange flowers, rearrange flowers, change the water in the flowers, throw away dead flowers, go back to the CVS, make soup, brush her teeth, sweep the floor. Go back to the CVS. What I can’t do: When did my heart get so small? ... Fresh mint the grand canyon my daughter’s breath one perfect clementine I would like to do this with some grace and some confidence — But how could they have prepared me? Why would we have talked about dying when there were so many other things to do?

SEE PAGE 23 FOR SHOW PERFORMANCE CALENDAR & EVENT LISTINGS HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

HELP HUNTINGTON ARTISANS BEGIN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THEIR CREATIVE LEGACY THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY THEATRE LOVERS LIKE YOU DURING THE PAST YEAR HAS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE IN SECURING A NEW HOME FOR OUR TALENTED STAFF WHO BRING THE HUNTINGTON’S PHYSICAL PRODUCTIONS TO LIFE. On July 1, 2017, the Huntington Theatre Company Production Center officially began operations in Everett, Massachusetts — and our artisans began the next chapter of their creative legacy. “We’re delighted to call Everett our new home,” says Huntington Production Manager Todd Williams. “While this transition will have its challenges, the production team is looking forward to a workspace where an entire stage floor can be built and painted at one time — with no columns in the way! — and with room to paint both full-size backdrops and set pieces simultaneously. The new production facility will allow our artisans the space they need to create their best work in the most efficient workspace possible.”

Properties Artisan Ian Thorsell paints the dressing table in Sunday in the Park with George (top) used by Dot, played by Elliot Norton Award winner Jenni Barber (bottom).

t. charles erickson

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Scenic artist Hannah Joy Smith pains the beautiful backdrop of Sunday in the Park with George (left) for the breathtaking moment with the cast recreates the Seurat painting (right).

The scene shop in the new Huntington Production Center, located in Everett.

THE 2017 HUNTINGTON PLAYWRITING FELLOWS The Huntington Playwriting Fellows program now includes two new local writers: MJ Halberstadt and Brenda Withers. The fellows program invites playwrights from the Greater Boston region to participate in a two year fellowship and to begin a long-term artistic relationship with the theatre. The fellowship carries a small honorarium, access to developmental resources including readings and workshops, and participation in a writers group. MJ HALBERSTADT uses his playwriting, screenwriting, and teaching to amplify empathy and Antarctic values through comedic dialogue-driven media. In addition to stage plays, he is a proud recipient of the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script (for The Launch Prize), and his work has been acknowledged and supported by Assets 4 Artists, BCA/Company One PlayLab, Boston University Creative Writing Global Fellowship, KCACTF Region 1, and Last Frontier Theatre Conference. He is a founding member of Bridge Repertory Theater, member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and affiliated faculty at Emerson College.

We look forward to welcoming you on a future tour of the new Huntington Production Center in Everett!

The new production center includes 25,000 square feet of production space; 18,000 square feet of storage space; and 4,000 square feet of office space, housing the company’s prop, paint, and scenery shops. It features open and flexible work areas and onsite prop, costume, and scenery storage.

BRENDA WITHERS is a writer, actor, and founding member of the Harbor Stage Company, an artist-run ensemble on Cape Cod. Her plays include The Kritik, Northside Hollow, The Ding Dongs, and Matt & Ben and have been developed and presented at places such as Amphibian Stage Productions, PS122, Portland Stage, HERE, and Dreamcatcher Rep. She was an Audrey Resident with New Georges, a playwriting fellow at the Camargo Foundation, and the winner of the 2015 Clauder Prize for her play String Around My Finger. She studied drama and religion at Dartmouth College.

While the process of building out the space to our specifications continues, the new center gives our staff the ability to produce more complex design work in a more efficient workspace. It will also allow the Huntington to build upon its mission of supporting the local arts community by expanding production services to other nonprofit arts organizations in the Boston area. To support to the Huntington Production Center initiative and to discover other ways you can help the Huntington, visit huntingtontheatre.org/support/more. Your gift will provide the vital funds required to complete construction in Everett and ensure the dazzling production quality you’ve come to enjoy at the Huntington.

WELCOME NEW OVERSEERS Under the leadership of Governance and Nominating Committee Chair Sandy Moose, seven talented individuals have been elected to serve on the Huntington’s Council of Overseers: Steven M. Bauer, Camilla Bennett, Eilene Davidson Grayken, Valerie Shey, Ben Taylor, Kate Taylor, and Stephen Trehu. Overseers play a vital role in the Huntington, giving their time and lending their expertise and judgment on a wide array of topics, including finance, development, investment, and community building. We welcome our new Overseers and appreciate the commitment that each of them is making to the Huntington. t. charles erickson

We extend our deepest gratitude to all of the members of the Huntington’s Board community for their continuing energy and dedication. The Huntington is made stronger and better because of your involvement.

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

mike ritter

ANNOUNCING THE 2017-2018 STUDENT MATINEE SEASON MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

TARTUFFE

NOVEMBER 17, 2017

MALA

JANUARY 18, 2018 JANUARY 25, 2018

SKELETON CREW MARCH 15, 2018

TOP GIRLS MAY 3, 2018

A student matinee performance of Tiger Style!

STUDENT MATINEE TICKETS ARE JUST $15! Performances start at 10am and are followed by lively Actors Forums with members of the cast. Student groups are also welcome at regularly scheduled performances. Our online curriculum guides are available for use in the classroom and include historical information, interesting facts about the production, lesson plans, and more. SEATS FILL QUICKLY, RESERVE TODAY!

ACCESSIBLE PROGRAMMING AT THE HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY The Huntington Theatre Company has long been committed to providing accessible programming for our patrons who are Deaf/deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and/or low-vision. The 2017-2018 season continues our expansion of this programming and will include ASL Interpretation and Audio Description for five of the eight productions. Listed are the productions, dates, and times of our accessible performances. Tickets are $20 for each patron and one additional guest.

ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES

AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCES

Merrily We Roll Along • September 28, 10am • September 29, 8pm

Merrily We Roll Along • September 28, 10am • September 30, 2pm

Tartuffe • November 17, 10am • November 18, 2pm

Bad Dates • February 10, 2pm • February 17, 2pm

Mala • January 18, 10am • January 19, 8pm

Skeleton Crew • March 15, 10am • March 17, 2pm

Bad Dates • February 20, 7:30pm • February 23, 8pm

Top Girls • May 3, 10am • May 5, 2pm

Top Girls • May 3, 10am • May 4, 8pm

Fall • June 2, 2pm • June 9, 2pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO RESERVE TICKETS FOR STUDENT MATINEES / ACCESSIBLE PROGRAMMING: Contact Meg O’Brien, Interim Co-Director of Education at mobrien@huntingtontheatre.org or 617 273 1558

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YOUR SCHOOL CAN CONNECT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS THROUGH TWO MORE GREAT PROGRAMS POETRY OUT LOUD Join us in the poetry recitation program that is taking the country by storm. Now in its 13th year, Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest run by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Open to all high schools, we encourage your school to be a part of the Massachusetts program. For more information, or to register your school, visit huntingtontheatre.org/pol

AUGUST WILSON MONOLOGUE COMPETITION Join us as we bring the life and work of August Wilson to the students of Massachusetts. Your high school can join and participate in the Boston Regional Chapter of this national competition, run by Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre in Atlanta, GA. photos: david marshall

For more information, or to register your school, visit huntingtontheatre.org/awmc.

Top left, 2017 Poetry Out Loud champions Janae Beaver, Rose-Darla Pascal, and Brianna Bennett. Bottom left, 2017 August Wilson Monologue Competition finalists Fanta Kiakite, Laury Teneus, and Medgene Joseph.

EDUCATION SAYS FAREWELL After a remarkable 27 seasons as the Director of Education, Donna J. Glick left her position at the end of last season. Donna, along with her staff, helped expand accessible programming and ensured our student matinee programming would remain affordable for our schools and students. Donna also led the education department in the launch of three of our largest programs: Donna J. Glick our partnership with Codman Academy Charter Public School, facilitating the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest for the state of Massachusetts, and bringing Kenny Leon’s August Wilson Monologue Competition to the students of Greater Boston. david marshall

With the launch of our newest program in 2015, Not Waiting on the World to Change, Donna continued the department’s commitment to programming that addressed current issues facing our students. Not Waiting is a writing and acting program that allows students to use both creative outlets as a tool for sparking conversation and social awareness in their communities.

Members of the Huntington’s Department of Education, past and present.

The work continues in these programs as the Education Staff continues to think ahead. For more information on our programming, and to get to know the staff in the Department of Education and Community Programs, please visit huntingtontheatre.org/education. HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

UPCOMING EVENTS

STAGE & SCREEN AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE Stage & Screen is a collaboration between the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Huntington and explores the depictions of shared themes in Huntington productions and acclaimed films. This year’s lineup includes:

BARTON FINK

MILDRED PIERCE

Join us for a conversation after the film with a special guest from the Huntington’s production of Merrily We Roll Along.

Join us for a conversation after the film with a special guest from the Huntington’s production of Bad Dates.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 AT 7PM

New York playwright Barton Fink (John Turturro) comes to Hollywood to write a wrestling picture. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer’s block when his neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows tries to help, but a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further. This 1991 comedy/film noir/mystery/horror/drama mash-up by the Coen Brothers is often considered one of their best films and earned three awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 7PM Join us for a conversation after the film with a special guest from the Huntington’s production of Tartuffe. When thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) meets his true love in pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins), they embark on a scam to rob lovely perfume company executive Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). But when Gaston becomes romantically entangled with Mme. Colet, their larcenous ruse is jeopardized and Gaston is forced to choose between two beautiful women. Legendary director Ernst Lubitsch’s masterful touch is in full flower in Trouble in Paradise, a pinnacle of the sophisticated romantic comedy, loaded with sparkling dialogue, witty innuendo, and elegant comic invention.

MONDAY, JANUARY 29 AT 7PM

In this noir classic and Academy Award-winning film, Mildred (Joan Crawford) is being interrogated by police over the death of her second husband, Monte Beragon. Throughout the film, flashbacks reveal the events leading up to his death as well as Mildred’s relationship with her spoiled and social climbing daughter, Veda (Ann Blyth). An examination of successful and ambitious women, and how they survive, Mildred Pierce is still as relevant as ever.

WORKING GIRL

MONDAY, APRIL 23 AT 7PM Join us for a conversation after the film with a special guest from the Huntington’s production of Top Girls.

Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is a secretary from Long Island who wants to climb the corporate ladder. When assigned to a new boss Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver), Tess learns that not all women in corporate America are supportive of each other. After a misunderstanding with another executive Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford), Tess must navigate her ambition and a possibility for love. Working Girl is an 1980s classic about self-discovery, determination, feminism, love, and a whole lot of hairspray.

TICKETS: $12 ($9 for Huntington subscribers) and may be purchased online at coolidge.org or at the Coolidge Corner Theatre box office, located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline.

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PERFORMANCE CALENDARS: SEPT. 2017 – JAN. 2018 S M T

AVENUE OF THE ARTS / HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE 10 17

•f7PM

7PM

7:30PM

•2PM •2PM

7:30PM

COLUMBUS DAY

d2PM 7:30PM

7:30PM

4 7:30PM

*6:30PM

h2PM

11 7:30PM

•2PM 7:30PM 2PM 7:30PM

14 21

c7:30PM ROSH HASHANAH

2PM

TARTUFFE

S M T

•2PM

16 ROSH HASHANAH

YOM KIPPUR

@8PM

13 q7:30PM

8PM

SOUTH END / CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BCA

•2PM

•f7PM

COLUMBUS DAY

10 17

h2PM

8PM

•2PM

8PM

29 6 7:30PM

•2PM 7:30PM

8PM

d2PM 7:30PM

•f8PM @•2PM

8PM

•2PM

9 8PM

f2PM f7PM

14 21

•2PM

MLK, JR. DAY

•f8PM

•2PM 8PM

8PM

20 7:30PM

•2PM 8PM

8PM

27 d7:30PM

8PM

3 7:30PM

28 •2PM •2PM 8PM

8PM

h2PM

f8PM

*6:30PM

2PM

7:30PM

S 6

17 7:30PM

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2017

CALENDAR KEY

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15 2PM

•2PM 8PM

7:30PM

SOUTH END / CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BCA

8PM

7:30PM

S M T

8PM

d7:30PM

17@ds10AM 18

THANKSGIVING DAY

7:30PM

h2PM

7:30PM

*6:30PM

•f8PM

MALA

d2PM 7:30PM

•f8PM

OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2017

14 •2PM

VETERAN’S DAY

*6:30PM 7:30PM

7:30PM

F 13

25 •2PM 26

7PM

8PM

12 7:30PM

7:30PM

22 •2PM 23

YOM KIPPUR

T 6

11 f7:30PM

30 ~•2PM

•f8PM

8PM

d7:30PM

S M T

8PM

10 15

7PM

2PM

7:30PM

8PM

28~@ds10AM 29

f7:30PM

26 •2PM 27

7:30PM

AVENUE OF THE ARTS / HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE •f7PM

•f8PM

A GUIDE FOR THE HOMESICK

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2017

F 8

f7:30PM

•2PM 18

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MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

2PM 7:30PM

c7:30PM

8PM

18@ds10AM 19 7:30PM

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20 @8PM

26 8PM

2PM 8PM 2PM 8PM 2PM 8PM

JANUARY 2018

TICKETS

(O) 35 Below Wrap Party

(f) First Look

PRICES Start at $25

(@) ASL-Interpreted

(h) Humanities Forum

35 BELOW $30 for those 35 and under at every performance

(~) Audio-Described

(q) LGBTQ Night

(d) Actors Forum

(•) Post-Show Conversations

STUDENTS (25 AND UNDER) & MILITARY $20

( * ) Press Opening Night (s) Student Matinee

GROUPS (10+) Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, plus groups have access to backstage tours, talks with artists, and space for receptions. Contact 617 273 1657 or groupsales@ huntingtontheatre.org.

SUBSCRIBERS Receive $10 off any additional tickets purchased. Prices include a $3 per ticket Capital Enhancement fee.

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG 617 266 0800 HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG

YOU’RE INVITED:

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG SEASON OPENING CELEBRATION SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE, STUDIO 210 264 HUNTINGTON AVENUE, BOSTON

KICK OFF OUR 36TH SEASON IN STYLE!

Walk the red carpet, enjoy a glass of champagne, and experience this critically acclaimed production of Merrily We Roll Along. Join director Maria Friedman for a special pre-show dinner and party with the cast following the show. 6:30PM | VIP Dinner 8PM | Merrily We Roll Along Curtain Following the Performance | After Party Black tie attire optional. For more information, please contact Sam Buntich at 617 273 1513 or events@huntingtontheatre.org.

SATURDAY

HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG/CELEBRATION

ONE-NIGHT ONLY CONCERT EVENT

LENNY & STEVE: THE MUSIC OF BERNSTEIN & SONDHEIM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 • 7:30PM

“Maria Friedman has long been Britain’s most celebrated Sondheim exponent.” – THE GUARDIAN

CREATED & PERFORMED BY MARIA FRIEDMAN MUSIC DIRECTED BY JASON CARR AVENUE OF THE ARTS / HUNTINGTON AVENUE THEATRE West End and Broadway star (and director of Merrily We Roll Along) Maria Friedman brings her critically acclaimed solo show Lenny & Steve to the Huntington for a one-night-only concert event. Exploring the genius of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, three-time Olivier Award winner Ms. Friedman will compare and contrast songs from their separate catalogs, as well as their joint masterpiece West Side Story. This beguiling evening of songs and anecdotes includes “New York, New York,” “I Can Cook, Too,” “Losing My Mind,” and “Send in the Clowns.”

TICKETS: $25 – $75 / SUBSCRIBERS SAVE $10 HUNTINGTONTHEATRE.ORG/LENNYANDSTEVE