A.R.T. & Nat'l Civil War Project to Present THE PROCLAMATION PROJECT at Oberon, 7/12-13

As part of the National Civil War Project, the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents The Proclamation Project, directed by Shira Milikowsky, on Friday, July 12 at 7 p.m. at the historic Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Dorchester, MA and Saturday, July 13 at 2 p.m. at OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge.

The Proclamation Project is an original theater piece created by eleven local high school students, inspired by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. Under the guidance of playwright Brendan Shea and director Shira Milikowsky, the ensemble has explored themes of freedom, social justice and civil rights, in both historical and modern contexts. Through writing exercises, physical theater improvisations, music, dance and storytelling, the ensemble has transformed research and dialogue into a unique performance piece.

The project's inclusion in the National Civil War Project has provided the A.R.T. ensemble an opportunity to collaborate across cities, with a group of teens at the ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, GA, engaged in a similar process. The two ensembles have shared Northern and Southern perspectives on the Civil War, while each ensemble has devised its own performance.

The Proclamation Project ensemble includes students from Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, Boston Arts Academy, Reading Memorial High School, Plymouth North High School, Boston Collegiate Charter School, Waltham High School, Boston College High School, and Boston Latin School.

Shira Milikowsky is the director of last season's production of The Lily's Revenge, and the Artistic Director Fellow at the A.R.T.; was the assistant director on Brittanicus, the associate director on Johnny Baseball, and director on BOB: A Life in Five Acts for the A.R.T. Institute. Her work has been seen at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (Big Money), The New York International Fringe Festival (Mourn The Living Hector, winner of a Fringe Excellence Award for overall production), and extensively at New York's Ars Nova, where she was the organization's first Director-in-Residence. She has been awarded a Drama League Fellowship and the Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship. In 2010, she received a scholarship from the Henry Luce Foundation to live in Seoul, South Korea where she was a visiting artist at the Seoul Metropolitan Theater and a visiting Professor at Kookmin University, created and directed a Korean adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle, which toured to China. She was also the assistant director on Diane Paulus's Tony Award-winning revival of Hair. She holds a BA in Theater Studies from Yale and an MFA in directing from Columbia.

Brendan Shea coordinates A.R.T. Education and Community Programs.

He was the A.R.T.'s Dramaturgy/Artistic Fellow during the 2010/11 Season,

and a 2010 graduate of the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theater Training (Dramaturgy). His plays include Alice vs. Wonderland and Nutcracker Turbo (and Other Love Stories) and I Speak Therefore I Am. He served as Assistant Director on János Szász's production of The Seagull, and was Dramaturg on the A.R.T.'s production of Johnny Baseball and The Skin of Our Teeth and Aloha Say the Pretty Girls at the A.R.T. Institute.

Admission is free. Reserve tickets via http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/proclamation-project

For more information about the Proclamation Project, visit http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/proclamation