ARTicles vol. 3 i.3a: Destination Zero

The new year brought a new theatre to the A.R.T. The building at the intersection of Arrow Street and Massachusetts Avenue comes to Cambridge courtesy of the Carr Foundation, led by local philanthropist Greg Carr. “He is a man with great vision, an interest in human rights and a love of theatre,” says Robert Orchard, Executive Director of the A.R.T. In addition to having founded the Market Theater in Cambridge, which closed a few years ago, Carr also serves on the A.R.T.’s Advisory Board. Plans for his new building were already underway when he invited A.R.T. to participate. “We quickly worked out an arrangement,” says Orchard, “whereby we were able to create our own space in the building, access a loan through a non–profit bond, and purchase the space from the Carr Foundation. It’s a condo, essentially. Now we have to raise the funds to pay back the loan. We were able to fit out the space, less the base building cost of $5.7 million dollars we still have to raise. A 300- seat theatre designed to our specifications in a new building in Harvard Square for under $8 million dollars was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.” The theatre–condo couldn’t have come at a better time. The A.R.T. always needed a second space because for six weeks in the middle of each semester the Harvard undergraduates take over the Loeb Drama Center mainstage. Second, a smaller, more intimate space allows the company to take risks on new plays and younger artists. Third, good rehearsal space in Harvard Square is hard to find. Finally, the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training has never had a space of its own. “Ironically, the Institute, a partnership with the Moscow Art Theatre School, had more sustainable public performance opportunities in Russia than in Cambridge,” says Orchard. The A.R.T. had begun scouting for a location, hoping to renovate an old space, when Carr offered them the opportunity to create a theatre from scratch in his new building. “A new building in Harvard Square,” says Jonathan Miller, A.R.T.’s General Manager, “is an unusual occurrence.” A.R.T.’s portion of the building includes the lobby and theatre on the ground floor and a modest dressing room and office in the second. The third and fourth floors are occupied by the Carr Foundation and the Noble prize-winning human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights, which facilitated dialogues for Children of Heraklesin the 2002–2003 season and, more recently, two of the Monday panel discussions in the South African Festival. “I expect we will continue to do projects together over time, and I imagine the Carr Foundation will come to us from time to time with a play and ask if we would join in partnership to produce it,” says Orchard. The A.R.T. has also developed a partnership with World Music, a local organization for international music and dance. Already plans are in the works for collaborating with the organization on original work beginning as early as next season. In addition to music and dance, the theatre will also spotlight contemporary art. “The lobby can function as more than a place to get your tickets,” says Burt Sun, a visual artist and consultant for A.R.T. He has transformed the entryways of the Loeb and Zero Arrow into small galleries, showcasing local and international artists. “We want to use these spaces to give local artists and students exposure they wouldn’t get otherwise. In Zero Arrow or the Loeb anywhere from 200–500 people blow through here in a night, and it doesn’t matter if they spend five minutes or thirty seconds in the lobby. Art can be seen. Zero Arrow can become a real destination.” Sun was also instrumental in consulting on the look of the new theatre. “We stuck with simplicity, something raw, industrial, contemporary. So, instead of laying a new floor we actually kept the concrete floor and treated it with textures and color and polish.” The lobby stretches long and narrow, with expansive windows on one side, leading to the doors of the theatre, which are framed in mirrors. “Inside reflects outside,” says Sun. “It extends the illusion of the lobby, making it bigger. Once you pass that point you are in the land of make–believe, the end of the rabbit hole.” The rabbit hole ends in a black box, a room painted black. The primary advantage of a black box is flexibility; audience and performance areas can change for every show, and the intimacy of the space creates a close connection between the two. The first show in the space, Pieter–Dirk Uys’ Foreign Aids, capitalized on the proximity of the audience through direct audience address; Pieter would often reference specific individuals throughout the house. However, Foreign Aidswas a touring show, designed to be performed almost anywhere. Artistic Director Robert Woodruff will direct the first A.R.T.-produced show in Zero Arrow, Edward Bond’s Olly’s Prison. Woodruff and designer David Zinn will also use the intimacy of the space to their advantage, but in a different way. The design for the show condenses the already compact Zero Arrow by surrounding both the audience and the stage with high walls, creating a room within a room. “We wanted to create a singular world which included the play and the audience,” says Woodruff. Olly’s Prison examines the forces of repression and the struggle for freedom by following one man’s incarceration and search for redemption. “Bond is giving voice to a part of society that usually doesn’t have a voice on our stages,” says Woodruff, “an eloquent and poetically powerful voice.” As David Davis writes in Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child, to be published this spring, Bond “is the most gentle of people who hates violence. But because the world is dominated by violence and injustice he insists it must be dealt with in his plays.” Both Woodruff and Zinn strive to capture Bond’s intentions through design by resisting the temptation to over–decorate. “We want something raw, not anesthetized by aesthetics,” says Woodruff. Where better, then, to set this set than Destination Zero? Amy Nora Long is a second–year Dramaturgy student at the A.R.T./MXAT Institute for Advanced Theatre Training.