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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.

Endlings Playwright Celine Song and Director Sammi Cannold share their journeys to this underwater world premiere.

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.

A look into the wetsuits seen on stage in Endlings.

Endlings is the first play that I wrote without any thought toward how it would be produced or what it would do for my career. It is the play that taught me not to care about what the artistic directors and literary managers would say.

“Every casting director would tell you — even the amazing ones who are very good at casting people of color — that it’d be a difficult group to cast,” Song said.

The key to writing what Song considers her “impossible” play was finding her own multifaceted voice…while striving to excel in a form defined largely by European-American men.