JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH to Roll Into A.R.T. This December

Following previous season's sold-out holiday hits, The Snow Queen, Hansel and Gretel, The Light Princess, and The Pirate Princess, the A.R.T. Institute presents James and the Giant Peach, adapted for the stage by David Wood from the book by Roald Dahl, directed by A.R.T. Institute alumnus Dmitry Troyanovsky, featuring actors from the A.R.T. Institute Class of 2017. Performances will be held at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, from December 17 through December 31.

Performance dates and times: December 17, 18, 21, 22, 28, 31 at 10AM; December 19, 20, 26, 27, 29, 30 at 11AM and 2PM. December 30 at 2PM is a Sensory Friendly performance for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or other sensory sensitivities. For more information, visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/sensory-friendly-james. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling 617.547.8300 or online at AmericanRepertoryTheater.org.

James Trotter, an orphan, lives with his two abominable aunts in a house by the sea. James' life is lonely and sad until, one day, he receives a mysterious gift. His aunts' old peach tree starts to creak and groan, and a peach grows bigger and bigger and bigger. James finds his way inside, where he meets a troupe of chatty (and enormous) bugs. When the peach rolls down the hill and out to sea, James and his new friends find themselves on a fantastic transatlantic adventure. A.R.T.'s annual family programming continues with this adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved tale directed by A.R.T. Institute alumnus, Dmitry Troyanovsky. Set and lighting design is by Maruti Evans (Witness Uganda, Alice vs Wonderland), puppet design by Michael Kane (The Pirate Princess, The Snow Queen), costume design by Neil Fortin (The Pirate Princess), sound design by Nathan Leigh.

Playwright David Wood is a British actor, composer, producer, director, and writer. He is the co-founder of the Whirligig Theatre, a touring company devoted entirely to bringing his plays, as well as the works of others, to children throughout England. Among these plays are those that give a new spin to old tales, including The Gingerbread Man and The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See; as well as those that bring original, new stories to audiences, such as Flibberty and the Penguin and The See-Saw Tree.

Director Dmitry Troyanovsky stages productions, teaches, leads workshops, and develops new theatrical material at national and international institutions, such as the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and Shanghai Theatre Academy (China), the Moscow Art Theatre School, Opera Idaho, Bard Music Festival, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 92 Street Y in New York, Brown University, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center. Recent productions include a Chinese language production of Sara Kane's play 4:48 Psychosis at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Opera Idaho. Upcoming projects include Marius von Mayenburg's The Ugly One at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. Dmitry has a BA from Brandeis University and an MFA from the American Repertory Theater Institute for the Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, and is on the faculty at Brandeis University since 2015.

The A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University was established in 1987 by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) as a training ground for the professional American theater. It is a two-year, five-semester training program for young theater professionals, operated in association with the Moscow Art Theater School (MXAT). The wide range of courses given by the international faculty offers students unique preparation for the multi-faceted demands of the professional theater. Each year, approximately twenty-three carefully selected students are admitted for a full-time, two-year, five-term program of study in acting, dramaturgy, or voice pedagogy. The Institute accepts inquisitive student artists, whose talent, enthusiasm, intelligence, and cultural curiosity can pioneer and lead the theater of the future. For more information visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/art-institute.

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.