April 15, 2009 Artistic director breathes new life into A.R.T. Play video

(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Cambridge, Mass.) - "86 years of losing to the Yankees, 86 years cold hard truth, 86 years crying in our hankies, 86 years since we sold Babe Ruth."

It's theater, with a Boston twist. The American Repertory Theater in Cambridge has taken on a whole new life - with a young, new artistic director, Diane Paulus.

Diane Paulus said, "I was interested in programming next year in a way that felt you must see these shows."

With a bold line up of productions and a festival-like atmosphere, Paulus is inspired to bring to Beantown a Globe Theatre of the 21st century.

"I'm very interested in the arts experience becoming more than just the play on the stage," said Paulus, "but really looking at the occasion of people coming together, theater as a ritual, as a social gathering."

And this is a homecoming of sorts for Paulus. Having grown up immersed in the theater and dance world of New York City, the ambitious daughter of an actor and television executive, set her sights on Boston in the 1980's - specifically Harvard University.

"I was spending every waking minute in the theatre, acting in plays, I directed my first play," said Paulus.

And she fell in love with the A-R-T.

"The A.R.T. was for me the absolute pinnacle of great American theatre," said Paulus, "and I was ushering at the shows, I was second night crashing, I was pocketing posters from boxes in the hallway and putting them on my dorm room."

Her

career has taken her around the world - most recently back to her hometown, where she has won critical acclaim for her revival of the musical "hair." This past year, she hooked up with longtime friend and Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director Peter DuBois to bring "Hair" to Broadway.

Paulus said, "that is truly a dream come true and it's my broadway debut, which is magical... you grow up - I went to all those Broadway shows as a kid thinking someday I want to be here."

Now she's bringing that magic to Cambridge - and alongside DuBois - pioneering a young, hip revival of theatre right here in Massachusetts.

Paulus unveiled her line up Wednesday for the 2009-2010 theater season. It kicks off with a festival called "Shakespeare Exploded!" And by the looks of these characters it's not your typical Macbeth or Hamlet.

The second festival is "America: Boom, Bust and Baseball." It speaks to the economic times we're in - and what we do to escape.

"I'm just a great proponent of the theatre being something that's communal, that's part of the audience," said Paulus.

Alysha Palumbo said, "the actors say Paulus is breathing new life into the American Repertory Theater."

Lucille Duncan, who plays Vinnie in "The Donkey Show" said, "there's a whole different way she approaches things, she's very intense, it's going to be a different kind of theater."

Anna Wilson, who plays Tytania in "The Donkey Show" said, "she's the goddess of the live experience. She's like what every actor wishes for in a director."

Paulus said, "I'm really interested in the A.R.T. being a pioneer of new ways of thinking about theatre and theatre experience :04 and ways of producing theatre :06 and I'm really eager for the A.R.T. to be looked at nationally as a leader in the field."

With Paulus' help, many say the A.R.T. is well on its way. "86 years that's an awful lot of moping, 86 years, boy do we suck!"