Media Archive

The first time that director Taibi Magar read Inua Ellams’s “The Half-God of Rainfall,” she was “astonished at the creative act of writing a new mythology [in which] Zeus is the stand-in for the patriarchy and white supremacy and really oppressive ways of thinking.”

Read a poem featured in the September 7 event, written by Creative Advisor & Performer Sarah Hunaidi.

The Half-God of Rainfall marks director Taibi Magar’s fourth A.R.T. production in five years. Each told by an ensemble, her recent A.R.T. works all center questions of justice—a theme that she connects directly to the ancient foundations of storytelling and performance.

Little Amal, a 12-foot-tall puppet a Syrian refugee, arrives in Boston Thursday to begin a two-month walk across the United States.

Artistic Director Amir Nizar Zubai of “The Walk Productions” stopped by the Morning Mix to talk about how Little Amal will be walking across America carrying a message of hope to marginalized people everywhere.

In anticipation of Amal’s arrival in Boston, we look back at other puppet artists’ work in A.R.T. history, from 1984’s The King Stag to last season’s Life of Pi.

This glossary offers additional information about the Greek and Yoruba deities at the heart of the story, as well as context for some of the other legends—both on and off the court—referenced in the play.

Brisa Areli Muñoz, the commissioned artist and director for Little Amal’s Harvard campus event, said this historical connection serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of preserving and sharing people’s stories.

In “The Half-God of Rainfall,” Ellams synthesizes his own experiences on the court and his youth in Nigeria, England and Ireland with a story about Demi — half Greek god, half Nigerian mortal — who grabs the attention of two pantheons with this journey from Nigeria to the NBA playoffs. Along the way, it explores colonialism and masculinity, sexual assault and female empowerment.