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April 11, 2023 | General,
Congratulations to Robert Orchard, Winner of the Coigney-Arnoult Global Theatre Award!
We are thrilled to share that ArtsEmerson’s founder, Robert J. Orchard, has received the inaugural Coigney-Arnoult Global Theatre Award! Congratulations, Rob!
This award, organized by the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD) and the Trust for Mutual Understanding, was presented on March 29th at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. CITD founder Philip Arnoult honored Orchard, along with fellow recipients James C. Nicola and Molly Smith, for their lifetime achievements in global theatre collaboration and ongoing commitment to international arts. Poignantly, the award was given to Orchard preceding a performance of Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches directed by János Szász – a Hungarian director Orchard first brought to the United States in 2001.
Click below to watch Rob’s remarks before receiving the honorary recognition.
This global recognition has been aptly awarded to Orchard, who lead ArtsEmerson through the first seasons and shepherded our “World On Stage” mission. During his time at ArtsEmerson, Orchard brought numerous global productions to Boston that would almost certainly not have visited the city otherwise — at the end of his tenure with the organization, he had brought over 84 productions from 16 different countries to Boston. In planning every new season, ArtsEmerson works hard to honor Orchard’s global zeitgeist; we have now had over 30 countries represented on our stages.
While receiving the award, Orchard spoke on the importance of the global theatre community having opportunities to interact with one another, remarking that “there’s something about the collaboration that comes about with an artist coming from one culture moving into another culture and the adaptation that has to go on…that results in an embrace of differences and breaks through comfort zones and the conventional barriers of theatre aesthetics and structures, allowing us to move to another level.”
Click below to watch Rob receive the Coigney-Arnoult Global Theatre Award.
Congratulations Rob!
You spoke so eloquently of the importance of collaboration, the struggles and challenges of coming together – so real and when blessed with a thoughtful leader – what wonderful things can happen!