A.R.T. Presents ASL and Audio Described Performances of Porgy and Bess

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) has scheduled two American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performances and two audio described performances of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess during the month of September.

Dates are as follows:
ASL performances: Tuesday, September 6 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, September 11 at 2:00 pm, with interpreters Elbert Joseph and Christopher Robinson.
Audio described performances: Tuesday, September 20 at 7:30 pm and Wednesday, September 21at 7:30 pm, with audio describers Jan Stankus and Alice Austin. The audio described performances will be preceded by a touch tour of the production set model. Attendees for the audio described performances are encouraged to arrive one hour prior to curtain.Tickets can be purchased for ASL interpreted and for Audio Described performances by calling the A.R.T. box office at 617.547.8300 or by emailing the box office at boxoffice@amrep.org and requesting designated seats for the nights of the ASL interpreted or audio described performances.
Large format programs, hearing loops, and assistive listening devices are available for use at every performance.

ASL Team Biographies
Elbert Joseph, ASL interpreter, returns to the American Repertory Theater where he made his A.R.T. debut as Yefirm in Uncle Vanya (2002) and also appeared in the A.R.T. production of Three Sisters (2005). Elbert has been a featured actor, writer, ASL interpreter, and ASL coach locally in Boston for numerous productions. Most recently, he was the ASL consultant for West Side Story at Colonial Theatre, an interpreter for Diane Paulus's Tony Award winning production of Hair, and an interpreter for Aladdin at Wheelock Family Theatre.
Michael Krajnak, CDI and ASL coach, makes his American Repertory Theater debut. He has been seen in and acted in numerous productions in NYC including Off-Off Broadway at the New York Deaf Theatre, Ltd. in The Mystery of Irma Vep. He has consulted for many theatre productions in the New England area over the past 13 years including at Providence Performing Arts Center, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Perishable Theatre, Foothills Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Boston University Theatre, The Opera House, and the Colonial Theatre. Among the productions he has interpreted are Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Christopher S. Robinson is the full time Staff Interpreter at Boston University, a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, and a full member of the National Alliance of Black Interpreters. As one of a small core of Stagesource members who are ASL Interpreters for the Performing Arts, he coordinates ASL Interpretation for Boston University School of Theatre productions and touring Broadway productions in Boston. When not interpreting, he has been seen on stage and as a television actor for PBS programming and the Museum of African American History-Boston as historical re-enactor. Much of his work as an interpreter has been influenced by his proximity to the late August Wilson. Christopher has worked as an interpreter for productions of August Wilson's Fences, King Hedley ll, Radio Golf, Jitney and Gem of the Ocean. His ASL interpreted musical productions have included: A Year with Frog and Toad, Seussical, Grease, The Lion King, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q, Rock of Ages, and Godspell.

Audio Describer Team Biographies

Alice Austin has been describing visual media for people who are blind and visually impaired for eleven years. Beginning at WGBH's Descriptive Video Service, she described countless hours of film and television programming, including The Sixth Sense, You've got Mail, Dracula, The Cider House Rules, and PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, NOVA, and Mystery. Alice also provided live description for PBS's coverage of the 2000 Presidential Inauguration. As a freelance audio describer, Alice has described museum exhibits, works of art, presentations, and educational videos, and provided live description of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Her extensive work describing theatre has been heard at such venues as The Weston Playhouse, The Huntington Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, The Wang Center, The Colonial Theatre, The Opera House, and New Repertory Theatre.

For more than a dozen years, Jan Stankus has provided description for television shows and feature films. Among her many TV and film credits are Frontline, NOVA, PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, Simply Ming, CSI, Covert Affairs, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Arthur, Dora the Explorer, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Shrek, and Tarzan. She also provides description for art exhibits, theme parks, national parks, museums, self-guided tours, and more. Her clients include Disney World and Disneyland, Patriot's Place Museum, Acadia National Park, the Capitol Visitor Center, and Florida's Peninsula Project sculpture exhibit. In addition, she has presented live description for theatre productions at The Wang Center, Shakespeare on The Common, The Huntington Theatre Company, and on board cruise ships. She is currently employed as a Describer by Descriptive Video Service, Media Access Group, WGBH.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin, adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and Obie Award-winning composer Diedre L. Murray, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus, with choreography by Ronald K. Brown, began previews on August 17 and opens for the reviewing press on August 31 at 7pm. Performances are at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge.
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess began its life as DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy, which he and his wife Dorothy Heyward adapted into a play. George Gershwin wanted to write an American opera - a piece that would infuse classical musical tradition with what he considered the vigor of blues and jazz, two distinctly American musical forms. He found in Porgy the perfect vehicle, and with Heyward as librettist and Ira Gershwin as lyricist, Gershwin's new opera had its premiere in Boston's Colonial Theater on September 30, 1935. Broadway performances followed featuring a cast of classically trained African-American singers - a daring and visionary artistic choice at the time.
This classic American tale tells the story of the beautiful and troubled Bess, who turns to Porgy, the crippled beggar, in search of safety after her possessive lover Crown commits murder. As Porgy and Bess's love grows, their future is threatened by Crown and the conniving Sportin' Life. The heartbreaking love story is set in the late 1930s in Catfish Row, a neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina and boasts some of the most famous and beloved works from the Great American Songbook including "Summertime," "Bess, You Is My Woman Now," "It Ain't Necessarily So," and "I Loves You, Porgy."
Creating a new version of Gershwin's renowned Porgy and Bess is a privilege bestowed upon Diane Paulus and the A.R.T by the estates of George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward in their desire to take the work from the opera house to the musical stage and its popular roots. The new production maintains the original setting and includes all of the great and beloved songs.
Led by Audra McDonald as Bess and Norm Lewis as Porgy, the Company includes David Alan Grier as Sporting Life, Joshua Henry as Jake, Phillip Boykin as Crown, Nikki Renée Daniels as Clara, Bryonha Marie Parham as Serena, NaTasha Yvette Williams as Maria, Cedric Neal as Frazier, J.D. Webster as Mingo, Heather Hill as Lily, Phumzile Sojola as Peter, Nathaniel Stampley as Robbins, Joseph Dellger as the Coroner, and Christopher Innvar as the Detective. The ensemble also includes Allison Blackwell, Roosevelt André Credit, Trevon Davis, Joseph Dellger, Wilkie Ferguson, Alicia Hall Moran, Andrea Jones-Sojola, and Lisa Nicole Wilkerson. Set design is by Riccardo Hernandez (Il Postino at LA Opera, Washington Opera, and Le Chatelet, Paris; numerous productions at A.R.T.), costume design by Project Runway finalist ESosa, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind (Tony Award for The Light in the Piazza; The Seagull, Britannicus and others at A.R.T.), sound by ACME Sound Partners, and casting by Telsey + Company. Orchestration is by William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, the Music Supervisor is David Loud, and the conductor is Sheilah Walker.
This production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is being presented in association with Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is one of the country's most celebrated resident theaters and the winner of numerous awards - including the Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize and regional Elliot Norton and I.R.N.E. Awards. In 2002 the A.R.T. was the recipient of The National Theatre Conference's Outstanding Achievement Award, and in May of 2003 it was named one of the top three regional theaters in the country by Time magazine. Founded by Robert Brustein in 1980, the A.R.T. during its 30-year history has performed throughout the U.S. and worldwide, and has welcomed many major American and international theater artists, presenting a diverse repertoire that includes new American plays, bold reinterpretations of classical texts and provocative new music Theater Productions. In 2009, the A.R.T. welcomed its new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus. Armed with the A.R.T.'s mission to expand the boundaries of theater, Paulus and her team have engaged thousands of new theatergoers. Critics and audiences have embraced the immersive environments that have become hallmarks of A.R.T. productions. The Theater has broadened its focus to include the audience's total experience, providing them with a sense of ownership in the theatrical event. Initiatives like the A.R.T.'s new club theater OBERON, which Paulus calls a "Second Stage for the 21st century," is an example of one initiative that has not only become an incubator for local artists but also has attracted national attention as a groundbreaking model for programming. Through all of its work, the A.R.T. is committed to building a community of artists, technicians, educators, staff and audience, all of who are integral to the A.R.T.'s core mission of expanding the boundaries of theater.
The balance of the 2011-12 A.R.T. season includes THREE PIANOS by Rick Burkhardt, Alec Duffy and Dave Malloy, with music from Franz Schubert's Winterreise, Op. 89, D911 (1828), directed by Rachel Chavkin (Loeb Drama Center • December 7 - January 8, 2012); AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare, featuring members of The A.R.T. /MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training Class of 2012 (Loeb Drama Center • January 13 - January 28); the world premiere of WILD SWANS by Jung Chang, adapted by Alexandra Wood, directed by Sacha Wares (Loeb Drama Center • February 11 - March 11); and the world premiere of FUTURITY: A Musical by The Lisps, with music and lyrics by César Alvarez with The Lisps; book by Molly Rice and César Alvarez; directed by Sarah Benson (Oberon • March 16 - April 15); and WOODY SEZ, with words and music by Woody Guthrie, devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley (Loeb Drama Center • May 5 - May 26).
The Loeb Drama Center, located at 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, is accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating or first-floor restrooms. Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons can also reach the theater by calling the toll-free N.E. Telephone Relay Center at 1-800-439-2370.

For further information call 617-547-8300 or visit http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org