A.R.T.’s season features avant-garde veterans

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) has announced its first season under the joint leadership of artistic director Robert Woodruff, associate artistic director Gideon Lester, and executive director Robert J. Orchard.

“Each production of the A.R.T.’s 2002-03 season unites a group of gifted collaborators — directors and actors, writers and composers, musicians and designers,” the team commented in a statement. “Their work will define the A.R.T. more completely than any advertising slogan or artistic manifesto can, for their work is the A.R.T.”

The new season will include the following six productions:

• Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” adapted and directed by János Szász. Tragicomedy set on a provincial Russian estate, where little disturbs the inhabitants’ quiet lives, until the head of the family brings home his beautiful new wife. Performances begin Nov. 30. 
• Euripides’ “The Children of Herakles” by Peter Sellars. After their father’s death, the children of Herakles are exiled from their home by a hostile regime. They flee from country to country in search of sanctuary, finding every border closed to them. As an investigation of the plight of refugees, “The Children of Herakles” is as relevant today as when it was written over 2,400 years ago. Performances begin Jan. 4, 2003. 
• Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s “The Visit,” directed by Anne Bogart in association with the SITI Company. A fabulously wealthy woman and her bizarre retinue return to the town of her youth in this black comedy of temptation, love, and revenge. Performances begin Feb. 1, 2003. 
• World premiere of “Highway Ulysses,” directed by Robert Woodruff featuring the Empty House Cooperative. Music and text by Rinde Eckert. Homer’s “Odyssey” is transplanted to the American heartland in this musical written for the A.R.T. acting company. Performances begin March 1, 2003. 
• Shakespeare’s “Pericles,” directed by Andrei Serban. An exiled prince travels through a series of fantastical kingdoms in search of a home, and finds his lost family on the way. Performances begin May 10, 2003. 
• World premiere of “Hotel of Dreams,” directed by Robert Woodruff. Music by Philip Glass and text by David Henry Hwang. Glass applies Asian and Western instrumentation to stories by Hwang, in which the dreams and fantasies of a Japanese writer and an aging warrior are laid bare. Performances begin May 24, 2003.To learn more about the A.R.T. season directly from the actors, directors, writers, and designers, visit the A.R.T. Web site at http://www.amrep.org.