Ségolène Royal Pays a Visit to Julius Caesar

Ségolène Royal, runner-up in France’s most recent presidential election, dropped by dress rehearsal on Thursday night. Royal came onstage to have her picture taken. She then talked at length with director Arthur Nauzyciel. I wish I could report what they discussed, but alas they were speaking in French. Royal then sat down to enjoy Antony’s “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech.

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So Much Tech. So Little Time.

I’ve spent huge chunks of my life in darkened theaters, and I’d like to think of myself as a tech-savvy turg. But this weekend’s set and lighting changeover from Copenhagen to Julius Caesar absolutely blows my mind. Switching the Loeb between these two gorgeous shows seems like the process of two months, not two days. Yet somehow, the crew calls are totally free of hysterics. It’s just another day at the office for this amazing staff.

Welcome to the World Series of Dramaturgy

Working on Caesar feels like the World Series of Dramaturgy. A dramaturg’s job shifts with every show, but our work on this production focuses on historical research. Somehow, each of the four (yes, four) of us “turging” Caesar are kept busy. On a typical show, the research centers on one time period. But Arthur Nauzcyiel’s staging of Caesar takes place simultaneously in Caesar’s Rome, Shakespeare’s England, Kennedy’s America, and the Loeb Stage of 2008. There’s a never-ending supply of books, images, and audio to inform our work.

Production Meetings

Arthur Nauzyciel took this photo of our production staff during a meeting!

Introducing Julius Caesar

I’m writing this on the train from New York, where I spent the weekend with Arthur Nauzyciel, the French director who will be staging Julius Caesar for us. We were meeting with set, costume and lighting designers, and I think we’ve landed on a wonderful team. Details to follow.

Introducing the 07/08 Season

As I hope you’ve seen, we’ve now announced the A.R.T.’s 2007-08 season. I’m incredibly excited about these eight projects, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain some of the choices I made in putting it together.

The key factor for me was to bring you as wide a range of theatrical experiences as possible, from classics to world premieres, from shows built from scratch at the A.R.T. to guest productions of international renown, from opera and drama to comedy and political satire.