New Repertory Theatre to Stage Via Dolorosa This January
New Repertory Theatre announces VIA DOLOROSA, January 2-31, 2016 in the Black Box Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. Tickets are $25-36 and may be purchased by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visiting newrep.org. Group discounts and subscription packages that include VIA DOLOROSA are available. The press opening will be Monday, January 4 at 7:30pm.
"We begin our 3rd Annual Next Rep Black Box Festival with a remarkable one-man show from acclaimed playwright David Hare," says Artistic Director, Jim Petosa. "His astute dissection of the Israel/Palestine conflict is no less relevant now than it was during his travels in the region during the mid-1990s. This work, along with its Festival companion, The Testament of Mary, delves deeply into very personal stories that are separated in time yet are connected in place. It is our hope that New Rep audiences will be compelled and engaged by these works as they relate to one another and this season's theme of Identity."
"It is with great pleasure that we welcome actor David Bryan Jackson to New Repertory Theatre," says Managing Director, Harriet Sheets. "While his work has been well known across the US, and especially in the Washington, DC-area, we are pleased to have him here at New Rep and in the Boston area to present this illuminating work for the very first time. Mr. Jackson's relationship with playwright David Hare has given him a unique perspective on a play that was only previously performed by the author himself, and we're thrilled to present it to our audiences this winter."
In 1997, Olivier Award-winning playwright David Hare visited Israel and Palestine to better understand the complex conflicts of the region and to write a play based on his travels. VIA DOLOROSA is the illuminating result, combining interviews and conversations with artists, politicians, historians, and settlers with the author's own experiences in an extraordinary narrative that examines ideologies and issues of faith from those living in "The Holy Land."
New Repertory Theatre is the award-winning, professional theatre company in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. For over 30 years, New Rep has been a leader of self-produced theatre in greater Boston, producing contemporary and classic dramas, comedies, and musicals in both the 340-seat Charles Mosesian Theater and the 90- seat Black Box Theater. Annually, New Rep serves over 40,000 patrons, including 2,000 season subscribers. In addition to its mainstage productions, New Rep produces Next Voices, a program dedicated to developing new plays with four playwrights through three staged readings and one world premiere production. Under its Lifelong Enrichment Arts Programs (LEAP), New Rep also produces its Classic Repertory Company, Page To Stage, Insider Experiences, and Spotlight Symposium Series.
New Repertory Theatre produces plays that speak powerfully to the essential ideas of our time. Through the passion and electricity of live theater performed to the highest standards of excellence, New Rep expands and challenges the human spirit of both artists and audience. New Rep presents world premieres, contemporary and classic works in several intimate settings. We are committed to education and outreach, including special dedication to the creation of innovative in-school programming and providing access to underserved audiences. New Rep is an active advocate for the arts and a major voice in the national dialogue defining the role of theater in our culture.
DAVID BRYAN JACKSON first performed VIA DOLOROSA in Washington, DC in 2000. Since then he has performed it in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, and California. He has previously worked with Pittsburgh Irish Theatre, Classical Theatre, and Washington, DC area theatres such as Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Source Theatre, Scena Theatre, Signature Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Washington Shakespeare Company, Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, and Potomac Theatre Project. He has also directed plays at several Washington, DC area theatres, including co-directing Peter Pan with Jim Petosa at the Olney Theatre Center where he served as Literary Manager for several years. On-screen credits include the soon-to-be-released independent films Dinner with the Alchemist and Her Tango, as well as episodes of AMC's Turn: Washington's Spies. His voice can be heard in two Star Trek video games, and he played the title role in the award- winning short film Unloved. He has law degrees from both sides of the Atlantic, and he has also worked at various times as an attorney, editor, lumberjack, carpenter, Lucite embedder, stand-up comic, and troubadour. His Song for the Earth can be heard on Zoe Ravenwood's recent album The Problem Might be Me.