August 1, 2012 | Theatre,

The Start of the “Stay Tuned” Season

By Rob Orchard

We just announced the first four additional productions in our “Stay Tuned” season joining the original eight productions unveiled in the spring. ArtsEmerson Members had first crack at the best seats for the past week and now everyone can join in. Remember, if you’re interested in attending any productions at ArtsEmerson it makes sense to become a Member because it only costs $60 and comes with a free ticket plus a load of other benefits. Trust me. It makes sense.

The four new productions pretty well map our identity: new work, legendary artists, pioneers, and projects the whole family can enjoy. On the family side, all four are recommended for audiences 12 and up. The key here is that these works APPEAL to ALL ages – not primarily to adults and tolerable for the kids, or the reverse. But, truly to ALL ages. And each of them will spark valuable discussion. Here they are:

Whistler in the Dark is a wonderful, ambitious company based in Boston. They want to revisit a production they first did a few years ago based on vivid stories from Ovid. It’s lovely and lyrical with beautiful images coming from the skillful silk aerial work in the staging. It’s called Tales from Ovid, adapted from Ted Hughes’ award-winning book.

You may have heard of the Kindertransport during the second world war. Children were selected to board a train for England to escape the horrors of the Nazi regime. Mona Golabek’s mother Lisa Jura, a celebrated concert pianist, benefited, and Mona (also an acclaimed pianist) tells her family story interspersed with glorious live music. As we navigate the excesses and emerge from the grit of this election season, this production, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, will lift your spirits, move your heart, and make you cheer.

In Russian culture, theatre is important – perhaps the most important of the live arts, and I’m thrilled we will be hosting one of the great Russian directors of the last half century, Piotr Fomenko, and his production of Family Happiness based on the novel by Tolstoy. It will be performed in Russian with English sub-titles, but the skills of Russian actors will be on full display and the simple story will come through in gesture and word with powerful effect.

Finally, we have the great opportunity to work with one of the true renaissance figures in American culture: the actor, singer, writer and composer, Daniel Beaty. Daniel’s signature work is his solo piece Emergency, examining through humor, slam poetry and multi-character transformation the tumult that results from the discovery of a slave ship moored in front of the Statue of Liberty. Daniel will be in residence at ArtsEmerson throughout the season developing other works and engaging with Boston’s rich cultural networks in advance of his performance.

That’s it for now. More to come so “stay tuned.” I miss all of you as we spend these hot days of summer out of public view developing various projects for the future. But I so much look forward to having you back in our midst when we open year three in September on the last day of summer.