Suzan Lori Parks' 'FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS' Wins 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize

Columbia University and Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith announced Monday that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan Lori Parks' epic Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) is the 2015 winner of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, is proud to present this co-production with The Public Theater, now in its final week at the A.R.T. The final performance is scheduled for March 1. Limited seats remain for weekday performances and standing room tickets are available for some weekend performances. Tickets can be obtained by calling 617.547.8300 or online at www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org.

Pulitzer Prize winner and The Public Theater's Master Writer Chair Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) is a devastatingly beautiful new play set over the course of the Civil War. Directed by Jo Bonney, this moving and haunting drama comprised of three plays presented in a single performance.

In Part 1, "A Measure Of Man," Hero, a slave who is accustomed to his master's lies, must now decide whether to join him on the Confederate battlefield in exchange for a promise of freedom. Part 2, "The Battle in the Wilderness" follows Hero and the Colonel as they lead a captured Union solider toward the Confederate lines as the cannons approach. Finally, in Part 3, "The Union of My Confederate Parts," the loved ones Hero left behind question whether to escape or wait for his return - only to discover that for Hero, freedom may have come at a great spiritual cost. A masterful new work from one of our most lyrical and powerful writers, Father Comes Home is a deeply personal epic about love and hope in a world of impossible choices.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University is a leading force in the American theater, producing groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. The A.R.T. was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, who served as Artistic Director until 2002, when Robert Woodruff succeeded him. Diane Paulus began her tenure as Artistic Director in 2008. Under her leadership, the A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by programming events that immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences.

Throughout its history, the A.R.T. has been honored with many distinguished awards, including the Tony Award for Best New Play for All the Way (2014); consecutive Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin (2013) and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2012), both of which Paulus directed; a Pulitzer Prize; a Jujamcyn Prize for outstanding contribution to the development of creative talent; the Tony Award for Best Regional Theater; and numerous Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards.

As the professional theater on the campus of Harvard University, the A.R.T. catalyzes discourse, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative exchange among a wide range of academic departments, institutions, students, and faculty members, acting as a conduit between its community of artists and the university. A.R.T. artists also teach undergraduate courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy. The A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training, which is run in partnership with the Moscow Art Theater School, offers graduate-level training in acting, dramaturgy, and voice.

Dedicated to making great theater accessible, the A.R.T. actively engages more than 5,000 community members and local students annually in project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with artists, and other enrichment activities both at the theater and across the Greater Boston area. The A.R.T.'s club theater, OBERON, has become an incubator for local and emerging artists and has attracted national attention for its innovative programming and business models.

The A.R.T. stages Father Comes Home and the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin's opera, Crossing, as centerpieces of its Civil War Project, a multi-year initiative to investigate and commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. It is part of The National Civil War Project, a multi-year, multi-city collaboration among four universities and five performing arts organizations. Inspired by choreographer Liz Lerman, this collaboration led to the commissioning of original theatrical works as well as creation of new arts-integrated academic programs. The National Civil War partnerships include: Alliance Theatre and Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts at Emory University in Atlanta, GA; the American Repertory Theater and Harvard University in Cambridge, MA; Arena Stage and the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; and CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore, MD and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.

Through all of these initiatives, the A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.

The Loeb Drama Center, located at 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, is fully accessible. To learn more about A.R.T. accessibility services, go online.

For further information, call 617.547.8300 or visit AmericanRepertoryTheater.org.

Pictured: Part 1: A Measure of a Man. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva.

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