American Repertory Theatre Presents THE BLUE FLOWER 12/1-1/8

American Repertory Theater will present THE BLUE FLOWER by Jim and Ruth Bauer at the Loeb Drama Center December 1, 2010 - January 8, 2011. The production will be directed by Will Pomerantz, with movement by Tom Nelis, and music direction by Mark Rubenstein.

Performances run Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. The press opening is Wendesday, December 8 at 7 p.m.

Loeb Drama Center is located at 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Tickets begin at $25 and student rush is $15. Single tickets go on sale to A.R.T. Members on October 19 and to the general public on November 2. Tickets can be purchased on line at http://www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org, by phone at 617-547-8300, or in person at the A.R.T. Box Office, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. For more information on Memberships go to http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/membership

The Blue Flower rides the twisted rails of history and the tangled love interests of three artists and a scientist, from Paris during the Belle Epoque, through the battlefields of the Great War and beyond. The title of the piece is a reference to the symbol used by German romantic poets of the 18th and 19th centuries to signify the ongoing search for artistic perfection. Over time, it evolved into an emblem of hope and was adopted by other artists as a symbol for the simultaneous end and the beginning of all things, for reinvention and reincarnation.

Set in Germany at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Weimar Republic, The Blue Flower is inspired by the lives of historical figures Max Beckmann, Franz Marc, Hannah Höch, and Marie Curie. Influenced by the art movements - particularly Dada and Surrealism - and the political tenor of the day, Max, Hannah, Maria, and Franz try to make sense of the world in which they struggle to create, relate, and survive. Their story is told through a narrative song cycle performed by seven singer/actors that blends the jagged contours of 1920's Berlin cabaret music with the lyricism of American country and western, accompanied by an 8-piece band onstage (bassoon, pedal steel guitar, cello, accordion, piano, guitar/ drums/percussion). Projections and silent film reels punctuate the narrative, moving the story forward and enveloping the audience in an environment that invokes the Dada cathedral of Weimar Germany, the Cabaret Voltaire.

The cast includes Daniel Jenkins as Max, Meghan McGeary as Hannah, Tom Nelis as Fairytale Man, Bryce Ryness as Franz, Teal Wicks as Maria, Connor Christiansen and Paul Shafer as Dada men. Set design is by Marsha Ginsberg, Costume Design by Carol Bailey, Lighting Design by Justin Townsend, and Sound Design by Clive Goodwin. Produced by special arrangement with Stephen Schwartz, Andrew Levine, and Steve Tate.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Jim Bauer (writer/composer/lyricist) started piano lessons at age 6, taught himself guitar as a teenager, and earned a bachelors degree in music composition and theory at Haverford College. He has since spent a good deal of time composing and producing music scores for film and television while performing as singer/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist in a variety of bands he periodically assembles. With DAGMAR, his current project with singing partner Meghan McGeary, he performs in the New York City subways under the Music Under New York (MUNY) banner and on the streets of Boston and Cambridge. DAGMAR's third CD, "Door No. 3", completed a trilogy of albums that tell the fractured story of a guy who can't get out of bed in the morning and an insect goddess who plunges through the ether to rescue him. He has received numerous songwriting and performance awards, including the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award in 2004 with his wife Ruth Bauer for their work on The Blue Flower.

Ruth Bauer (artist/writer/videographer) is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her oil paintings, watercolors, collages and monotypes have been shown in group exhibits in museums including The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Hudson River Museum, The Tucson Museum of Art, The DeCordova Museum, The Brockton Museum, and the Rose Art Museum, and in solo exhibitions in galleries across the United States. Her work is included in notable private and public collections, and has been reviewed in a number of articles in art journals and newspapers, including ArtNews and The Boston Globe. As an illustrator she has created book jacket covers for Houghton-Mifflin, Viking, Harvard University Press and Orchard Books. She is a faculty member and Chair of the Arts Department at Shore Country Day School in Beverly, MA and is a 2004 recipient of a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award. She is currently writing and illustrating a fictional journal of an amateur woman naturalist from the nineteenth century who has traveled to the mythical isle of Kokovoko (the home of the charismatic cannibal Queequeg in Herman Melville's Moby Dick) and is documenting the flora and fauna there.

Will Pomerantz has directed and developed new plays, music theatre and opera with such theatres as Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theatre, Hartford Stage, New York Theater Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theater, Soho Rep, Culture Project, The Signature Theatre, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Studio Theatre, Bard Summerscape, and The Guthrie. He has directed world premieres by John Guare, David Auburn, Neil LaBute, Craig Lucas, Kia Corthron, David Lindsay-Abaire, Stephen Belber, Noah Haidle, and Linda Cho. His production of The Shape of Things was voted Outstanding Production of the Year in Washington, DC by Metro Weekly and received a Helen Hayes Award for outstanding performance, as well as being cited as among the year's best by The Washington Post and The Washington Times. His production Dai (starring Iris Bahr) received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance 2006-2007 and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Performance. He received an OOBR Award for Outstanding Production (for A Tale of Two Cities) and his work has been a Critic's Pick in Time Out NY and The Village Voice. Pomerantz is Associate Director for Artistic Development for Epic Theatre Ensemble, where he directed the New York premiere of Howard Barker's A Hard Heart (starring Kathleen Chalfant), and Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven. Pomerantz is the first American director ever invited to direct for the National Theatre of Poland, where his production of Cinders, by Janusz Glowacki, was performed as part of the repertory for four years. In addition, he has been the Boris Sagal Fellow in Directing for Williamstown Theatre Festival, Staff Repertory Director for The Acting Company, Director-In-Residence for Culture Project, and is an alumnus of the Directors Lab at Lincoln Center, a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, and a member of Ensemble Studio Theater.

ABOUT THE A.R.T.

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 numerous local 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 theaters in the country by Time magazine.

Founded by Robert Brustein in 1980, the A.R.T. during its 30-year history has welcomed 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. The A.R.T. has performed throughout the U.S. and worldwide in 21 cities in 16 countries on four continents. It has presented over 200 productions, over half of which were premieres of new plays, translations and adaptations.

The A.R.T. is also a training ground for young artists. The theater's artistic staff teaches undergraduate classes in acting, directing, dramatic literature, dramaturgy, design and playwriting at Harvard University, and in 1987 the A.R.T. founded the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. In conjunction with the Moscow Art Theater School, the Institute provides world-class graduate level training in acting, dramaturgy and voice.

In 2009, the A.R.T. welcomed its new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus. Under her leadership, the Theater has developed a new initiative, EXPERIENCE THE A.R.T., which seeks to revolutionize the theater experience through a sustained commitment to empowering the audience. This initiative recognizes that theater is not just a play on the stage, but also a social occasion for people to come together and experience community. This audience-driven vision speaks directly to the A.R.T.'s core mission - "to expand the boundaries of theater." By expanding its focus to include the audience's total theater experience, the A.R.T. seeks to give audiences a voice, a sense of ownership and a feeling of importance in the theatrical event.

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

Public transportation and discount parking are available nearby.