Media Archive

Amidst the clutter of my grandfather’s office sits an ancient iPod connected to an ancient pair of speakers. His library of 500 or so songs can be divided into three categories: Haitian music, French chanson, and salsa and merengue…There are, however, a handful of tracks — 20, maybe — that do not fit into these three categories. They are songs of Fairuz and Oum Kalsoum, the fêted divas of Lebanon and Egypt, respectively, and arguably the two most influential singers in Arabic music. Although Haitian by nationality, Felix and Mona are ethnically Lebanese.

“If all of these stories that I’ve been learning about in college look nothing like me [or] the people that I came from,” Porkalob says, “[And] also comment on [them] in a way that I find problematic — racist, sexist, classist, not true, damaging, dehumanizing — then maybe I should write different stories.”

Sara Porkalob has been listening to her family share stories about their history all her life. The tales — by turns outrageous, harrowing, heartbreaking, and hilarious…served as the inspiration for Porkalob’s visionary “Dragon Cycle,” planned as an ambitious trilogy of plays with music, created and performed by Porkalob herself and honoring the three generations of Filipino-American women in her family.

On Thursday afternoon, Harvard University announced that it received a $100 million gift to “envision a future home” for the American Repertory Theater in Allston. The gift is the beginning of the university’s efforts to raise money for a research and performance center in the neighborhood.

With a new $100 million donation, Harvard University said Thursday that it is embarking on plans to reshape and expand its arts campus, a sweeping effort that will include a performance and research center in Allston to serve as the home of the American Repertory Theater, one of the most prominent regional theaters in the country.

The donation from David E. ’93 and Stacey L. Goel will enable Harvard to imagine a 21st-century research and performance center on Allston campus.