The American Repertory Theater presents THE DONKEY SHOW
For Immediate Release: July 23, 2009 The American Repertory Theater WHAT: American Repertory Theater presents The Donkey Show, WHEN: August 21-October 31, 2009 WHERE: Zero Arrow, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA TICKETS: $25 - $49. Group Rates available. Can be purchased CRITICAL ACCLAIM: “For audiences who love the nightlife and got to boogie, it’s pure “The sexiest, funniest, cheekiest show you could ever hope to see” “Visceral, emotional, passionate. . . . Whether you are a wallflower “. . . a campy disco-classic extravaganza with a touch of burlesque RATING: Must be 18 to enter, 21 to drink. Cambridge, Mass — From its six-year run in New York City to a The Donkey Show kicks off the A.R.T’s Shakespeare ABOUT THE CREATORS OF THE DONKEY SHOW: Randy Weiner (Creator, co-director) is the President of the Weiner The AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER (A.R.T.) is one of the CALENDAR AND RELATED EVENTS AT A GLANCE WHEN: Fr Aug 28 8:00pm Tu Sep 1 8:00pm Th Sep 10 8:00pm We Sep 16 8:00pm We Sep 23 8:00pm Th Oct 1 8:00pm Th Oct 8 8:00pm Th Oct 15 8:00pm Th Oct 22 8:00pm Th Oct 29 8:00pm WHERE: Zero Arrow, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA MEDIA INFORMATION:
Contact: Kati Mitchell 617-496-2000x8841
kati_mitchell@harvard.edu
presents
THE DONKEY SHOW
conceived by Randy Weiner
directed by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner
August 21 — October 31
the intoxicating international sensation that takes you behind the
velvet ropes into a glittered wonderland of decadence, divas, and
disco, inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Come party on the dance floor to all the disco hits you
know by heart as The Donkey Show unfolds all around you. It’s a
show . . . it’s a party . . . it’s the ultimate disco experience.
online at www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org, by phone at 617-
547-8300, or in person at the A.R.T. box office.
“If music be the food of love, The Donkey Show is a bowl of
jalapenos. . . . Passion, sex, a rollicking cool party, this is not your
mother’s musical.” — New York Times
unadulterated fun!” — Time Out NY
— The London Times
or a dancing diva, The Donkey Show will provide your very own
Midsummer disco. — New York 1 News
. . . you can jump on the stage and people will think you’re part of
the show. This is the place for dirty dancing, no strings attached.”
— National Geographic Traveler
world tour from London to Seoul, the celebrated smash hit The
Donkey Show now takes Boston by storm, bringing the ultimate
disco experience – a crazy circus of mirror balls and feathered
divas, of roller skaters and hustle queens. The Donkey Show tells
the story of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream through
the great 70s anthems, including “We are Family,” “I Love the
Nightlife,” “Car Wash,” “Ring My Bell,” and “Last Dance.” The
enchanted forest of Shakespeare’s classic comedy becomes the
glittered world of retro disco as the lovers escape from their real
lives to experience a night of dream, abandon, and fantasy.
Exploded! Series, a festival of theatrical events inspired by three
classic plays by Shakespeare. The series also includes Sleep No
More — created by the award-winning British theater company
Punchdrunk — an immersive production inspired by
Shakespeare’s Macbeth, told through the lens of a Hitchcock
thriller; and Best of Both Worlds, a soulful Gospel and R&B reenvisioning
of The Winter’s Tale.
Diane Paulus is a director of opera and theater, recently appointed
Artistic Director of the A.R.T. She is the creator and director
of The Donkey Show, which ran for six years Off-Broadway, and
toured internationally to London, Edinburgh, Madrid, and Evian,
France. Recent theater work includes the Tony Award-winning
revival of HAIR on Broadway; Kiss Me Kate at Glimmerglass
Opera; Lost Highway, based on the David Lynch film, an ENO coproduction
with the Young Vic in London; Another Country by
James Baldwin at Riverside Church; Turandot: Rumble for the
Ring at the Bay Street Theatre; The Golden Mickeys for Disney
Creative Entertainment; Best of Both Worlds, a gospel/R&B
adaptation of A Winter’s Tale produced by Music-Theatre Group
and The Women’s Project; and The Karaoke Show, an adaptation
of “Comedy of Errors” set in a karaoke bar, produced by Jordan
Roth Productions. Also for Music-Theatre Group, she directed the
Obie award-winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist Running Man by jazz
composer Diedre Murray and poet Cornelius Eady; and Swimming
with Watermelons, created in association with Project 400, the
theater company she co-founded with her husband Randy
Weiner. Other work Off-Broadway: Brutal Imagination, and the
Obie-award winning Eli’s Comin, featuring the music and lyrics of
Laura Nyro. Opera credits include Don Giovanni, Le nozze di
Figaro, Turn Of The Screw, Cosi fan tutte; and Il ritorno d’Ulisse
in patria, L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Orfeo at the Chicago
Opera Theater. She is a frequent collaborator with British
conductor Jane Glover; in 2002, their critically acclaimed
production of Orfeo was presented as part of The Monteverdi
Cycle at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. She is
currently working on Death and the Powers, a new opera by
composer Tod Machover, librettist Robert Pinsky, with story by
Randy Weiner.
Entertainment Group, a leading New York based production
company whose most recent projects include the entertainment
for the 2008 White House Press Correspondents' Association
Dinner; SP08, a day-long festival on Randall's Island sponsored by
Bloomberg, LP, featuring over 200 performers playing for an
audience of 15,000; "The Jim Rose Circus in Stairway To Hell," in
Edinburgh, Scotland; the entertainment for Art Basel 2008 in
Miami, and a 15-city US tour of a new variety circus, "The Most
Interesting Show In The World.". He has created and produced
events for American Express, Tribeca Film Festival, CBS Radio,
and The Grammys. He is a managing partner of The Box, a
performance venue in NYC that has presented Sting, Moby, Mos
Def, Snoop Dogg, and Kid Rock, among others. Mr. Weiner is best
known as the foremost producer and creator of a hybrid form of
theater that mixes the music and energy of a nightclub with the
drama and spectacle of theater. New York Magazine calls him "the
master of the club spectacle." His shows have been presented at
venues throughout the United States and Europe. He is creative
director and co-creator of Beacher’s Madhouse, a variety show
that recently ended its four-year run at The Joint at The Hard
Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. As the Producing Director of
Project 400 Theatre Group, he and partner Diane Paulus have
produced over 40 productions. Weiner’s work has been produced
in New York by Music-Theatre Group, The Women's Project,
Vineyard Theatre, the Shubert Organization, Classical Theater of
Harlem, Coyote Theatre in Boston, Children's Theatre Company in
Minneapolis, and The Fountainhead Theatre in Los Angeles. He has
been a guest lecturer on theater at Columbia University, Barnard
College, NYU, and Yale University.
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; it was
recently named one of the top three theaters in the country
by Time magazine. Over its twenty-nine-year history the A.R.T.
has welcomed major American and international theater artists
whose singular visions generate and define the theater’s work,
presenting a varied repertoire that includes new plays, progressive
productions of classical texts, and collaborations between artists
from many disciplines. The Company has performed throughout
the US, and worldwide in twenty-one cities in sixteen countries on
four continents. Last fall the organization welcomed its new
Artistic Director, Diane Paulus, under whose helm the Company
begins its 30th Season. Under the leadership of Diane Paulus,
A.R.T. 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
audience-driven vision will completely transform the way the
company develops, programs, produces, and contextualizes its
work. This speaks directly to the A.R.T.’s core mission — “to
expand the boundaries of theater.” A.R.T. resources will give equal
importance to the social aspects of theater and the potential for a
full theater experience, including interaction and engagement with
its audience before, during, and after the production. The initiative
involves producing theater cycles that create a festival
atmosphere and allow audiences to experience productions in the
context of a larger event. By producing and promoting these
cycles as citywide events, A.R.T. will seek to attract larger
audiences from the greater Boston area and from the rest of the
country and world.
WHAT:
THE DONKEY SHOW
Conceived by Randy Weiner
Directed by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner
Set Design by Scott Pask Costume Design
by David Woolard
Lighting Design by Evan Morris Sound Design
by David Remedios
Fr Aug 21 8:00pm
Sa Aug 22 8:00pm
Sa Aug 29 8:00pm
We Sep 2 8:00pm
Th Sep 3 8:00pm
Fr Sep 4 8:00pm
Sa Sep 5 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Sep 11 8:00pm
Sa Sep 12 8:00pm & 10:30pm Press Opening
Th Sep 17 8:00pm
Fr Sep 18 8:00pm & 10:30 pm
Sa Sep 19 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Th Sep 24 8:00pm
Fr Sep 25 8:00pm & 10:30 pm
Sa Sep 26 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Oct 2 8:00pm
Sa Oct 3 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Oct 9 8:00pm
Sa Oct 10 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Oct 16 8:00pm
Sa Oct 17 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Oct 23 8:00pm
Sa Oct 24 8:00pm & 10:30pm
Fr Oct 30 8:00pm
Sa Oct 31 8:00pm & 10:30pm
TICKETS: $25, $39, 49
Tickets may be charged to American Express, Visa or Master Card
Group rates are available
Box Office Phone and A.R.T. InfoLine: (617)547-8300, tickets also
available online at www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
Email Address: press@amrep.org
Production photos of The Donkey Show will be
available on www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/media
beginning 08/22/09.
