A welcome note from Artistic Director Diane Paulus.
Welcome to Prometheus Bound!
I could not be more excited to share this production with you. When Tony and Grammy Award-winning lyricist and playwright Steven Sater first approached me with his translation of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, I immediately fell in love with it. We both heard “music” in the text, and were thrilled to find the composer of our dreams in the Grammy Award-winning System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian – an artist who has always been deeply engaged with human rights issues. This new musical casts Prometheus as the first prisoner of conscience. Our production is a tribute to the courage of those who raise their voices in the face of tyranny and injustice.
As part of our work on this production, we have nurtured a relationship between human rights activism and artistic expression. Over the past year, we have been collaborating closely with Amnesty International, and together we have created The Prometheus Project. Central to this initiative is the dedication of the performances of this production to eight “Amnesty actions” – prisoners of conscience and individuals at risk from around the world who are currently being silenced by their governments. We hope that as part of your experience of Prometheus Bound, you will learn more about these cases and how you can make a difference.
I have always envisioned this piece as a perfect fit for OBERON, our second stage of the 21st century that has allowed the A.R.T. to achieve its mission to “expand the boundaries of theater” by creating whole new kinds of relationships between performers and audiences. Prometheus Bound exemplifies how we can be touched by theater, and how can it change us.
