A.R.T. to Include BOB, BECKETT SHORTS, et al. in 2011-12 Season

The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training begins the 2011-2012 Season with Oni Faida Lampley's Tough Titty, directed by Benny Sato Ambush, and performed by the Institute Class of 2012. The production runs October 2, 21, 22, and 27 at 7:30pm at the A.R.T.'s Zero Church Street Performance Space, corner of Church Street and Mass. Ave, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

When a vibrant young Brooklynite is struck with breast cancer, she learns her illness alone may not be the toughest battle she has to fight. In this sensitive and humorous take on her own experience, playwright Oni Faida Lampley explores questions of family, race, religion, and identity.

Director Benny Sato Ambush is Distinguished Producing Director-In-Residence at Emerson Stage and Acting/Directing Faculty at the Department of Performing Arts at Emerson College. His extensive credits as Producer/Artistic Director include Producing Director at Oakland Ensemble Theater, Associate Artistic Director at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and he was Associate Artistic Director of Anna Deavere Smith's Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue at Harvard in 2000. His directing credits include the Old Globe Theatre; Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland; South Coast Rep; Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company; Magic Theatre; Geva Theatre; Playwrights Horizon; Ford's Theatre; Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays; among many others.

In addition to Tough Titty the A.R.T. Institute's 2011-12 season will also include:

BOB: A Life in Five Acts
by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Directed by Shira Milikowsky
February 29th-March 2nd at 7:30
OBERON
This rags-to-riches-to-fame-to-fall-to-legacy-to-the-love-of-living-life tale follows Bob on an epic journey in just five acts. Written by the author of boom, the most produced play in America last season, BOB is the hilarious and poignant story of one man's dream. Bob: A Life in Five Acts is a winner of the 2010 Barrie and Bernice Stavis Award from The National Theatre Conference.

Beckett Shorts
by Samuel Beckett
directed by Marcus Stern
March 30th-31st and April 4th-7th at 7:30
Zero Church Street
In the silences and sounds of Samuel Beckett, worlds are revealed. Through such classic shorts as "Not I," "Act Without Words," and "Rough for Radio I," director Marcus Stern (Endgame, Donnie Darko, The Onion Cellar) finds the beautiful in the stark, the freedom in the confines, and the human in the absurd.

Nutcracker Turbo (and Other Love Stories)
by Brendan Shea
directed by János Szász
May 23rd-26th at 7:30
Loeb Drama Center Experimental Theater
Nathaniel and Clara's relationship is cracking at its seams. When Nathaniel travels across the ocean to seek relief from his chronic nightmares, Clara loses herself in an online fantasy world of Nutcrackers and Mouse Kings. In this thrilling mash-up of two famous tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann - "The Sandman" and "The Nutcracker & the King of Mice" - two lovers in trouble must battle childhood demons and videogame villains to find their way back to reality . . .and to each other.

The Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard was established in 1987 by the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) as a training ground for the professional American theater. Its programs are fully integrated with the activities of the A.R.T. In the summer of 1998, the Institute commenced a historic joint program with the Moscow Art Theater (MXAT) School. Students engage with two invaluable resources: the work of the A.R.T. and that of the MXAT, as well as their affiliated schools. Together, this exclusive partnership offers students opportunities for training and growth unmatched by any program in the country. The core program features a rigorous two-year, five-semester period of training in acting, dramaturgy, or voice pedagogy, during which students work closely with the professionals at the A.R.T. and the MXAT as well as with the best master teachers from the United States and Russia. At the end of the program, students receive a Certificate of Achievement from the faculty of the American Repertory Theater and an M.F.A. Degree from the faculty of the Moscow Art Theater School. Further information about this program can be obtained by calling the Institute at (617) 495-2668 or online at http://www.harvardtheatertraining.org.

Ticket prices for these productions are $15 for the general public; $5 for students, A.R.T. Subscribers and Members. Tickets can be purchased at the Loeb Drama Center, by calling the A.R.T. Box Office at (617) 547-8300; and online at http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org