WELCOME TO LITTLE AMAL: FINDING FRIENDS IN HARVARD YARD
And welcome to the 2023/24 Season at A.R.T. I am very excited about the incredible artists who have created this year’s programming—a roster of must-see theatrical events. The season, which begins with an outdoor festival and includes the premieres of two musicals and two plays, explores themes of immigration, the American dream, and what it means to feel welcome in our country.

This event is part of Amal Walks Across America , the creation of Amir Nizar Zuabi (playwright for This Is Who I Am, which we presented virtually in our 2020/21 Season). With a name meaning “Hope” in Arabic, Little Amal is a twelve-foot tall puppet of a ten-year-old Syrian refugee girl. Since 2021, Amal has traveled across thirteen countries, meeting more than one million people in the process. She began her journey in Gaziantep, a Turkish town near the Syrian border. From there, she traveled westward—as so many other migrants have done and continue to do, in an international crisis of staggering scale—through Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and France before reaching the UK. Since then, she has also made trips to other destinations including New York City, Ukraine, and the United Nation’s COP26 Climate Conference in Scotland. Now, between September and November this year, Amal will journey 6,000 miles across the United States, visiting over 35 towns and cities, collaborating with over 1,000 US-based artists in the process.

It is an honor to welcome Amal to Boston at the beginning of this epic journey, including a special event staged in Harvard Yard on September 7. Amal’s walk through the Yard marks the start of Harvard’s ArtsThursdays this fall semester and would not have been possible without A.R.T.’s collaboration and partnership with the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA). In advance of Amal’s arrival to Boston, we have prioritized facilitating a series of intergenerational workshops designed to foster community dialogue about the refugee crisis and what it means to welcome Amal to Harvard’s campus. Guided by Project Director Brisa Areli Muñoz (Associate Director of 1776), A.R.T. teaching artists led these workshops at locations including the Harvard Ed Portal, the Boston Public Library, the Immigrant Learning Center, and the Malden Public Library with community members of all different backgrounds and connections to Amal. Some were learning about her story for the first time, while others were refugees themselves who could relate directly to Amal’s journey. The cast for the event on September 7 includes participants from these workshops, as well as the collaboration of many students from Harvard, Berklee, and MIT. The coalition of support for this event also extends to additional University partners, including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Harvard University Asia Center, and the Harvard University Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights.

Thank you for joining us in welcoming Amal to Boston and Harvard. Following Amal Walks Across America, our season begins at the Loeb Drama Center with The Half-God of Rainfall, a new play by Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles), which also speaks to themes of international migration and welcome. I hope that these experiences will invite a broader conversation about what welcome means in our communities (at Boston, Harvard, and beyond) and encourage you to engage.

Thank you for joining us!

Diane Paulus
Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director

American Repertory Theater and ArtsThursdays/HUCA
presents

LITTLE AMAL: FINDING FRIENDS IN HARVARD YARD

Produced by The Walk Productions in association with the Handspring Puppet Company. The A.R.T./Harvard event is produced in collaboration with Harvard University Committee on the Arts as part of Harvard University’s ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative sponsored by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA) that provides free public arts programming during the academic year. This event is made possible with the support of The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University; the Harvard Asia Center; and the Harvard University Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights.

Amal Walks Across America was made possible with an inaugural investment from the Doris Duke Foundation as well as leadership support from the Bezos Family Foundation. Additional generous support was provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Choose Love, The Conrad Prebys Foundation, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, the McMillan Stewart Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, The Shapiro Foundation, and Students Rebuild. U.S. Producing Partner The Office performing arts + film. Impact + Outreach The Soze Agency. Marketing Cause Lab. PR + Communications DKC.

A.R.T. Season support is provided by Harvard University, The Barr Foundation, The Bob and Alison Murchison New Work Development Fund, The Shubert Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Barton & Guestier, and Meyer Sound.

The A.R.T. 2023/24 Season is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

First performance at Harvard University on September 7, 2023.

Musicians

Oud Bahar Badieitabar
Cello Dani Beck
Piano Ian Chan
Percussion Rafael Moises Heredia Horimoto
Saxophone Veronica Leahy
Flute Jessica Shand

Sound Healing Lindsay Monal
The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College

Community Performers

Immigrant Learning Center
Sally Nobeinger (A.R.T.-ILC Coordinator)
Asmaa Elbasil
Marie Louise Laguerre
Wesly Murat
Sally Nobinger
Lais Ribeiro
Styl Saint Louis
Sabal Ziadeh

CityStep
Harvard Teachers:
Dara M. Badon
Talia Kahan
Joshua Peck
Heleah Soulati
CitySteppers:
Ramona Barrett
Sylvie Barrett
Alice Bingham
Eliza Farbkins
Hazel Farbkins
Elijah Herron
Emily Herron
Miyuki Kirby
Eila Laurens
Luisa Mostein
Daphna Normand
Eyoel Solomon

Participants
Willie Baracchi
Neelesh Batra
Valinda Chan
Michelle Coleman
Eva Frazier
Takayah Harris
Dalal Hassane
Sarah Hoffman
Karen Kirchoff
Fable Perkins
Chanuth Weeraratna
Sally Ann Williams

A.R.T. Partners

A.R.T.’s partners for Amal Walks Across America include CityStep; The Immigrant Learning Center; Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University; the Harvard University Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights; the Harvard University Asia Center; the Harvard University Office of International Education; the Harvard Graduate School of Education; and Harvard University Committee on the Arts.

A.R.T. Summer Interns

Alceo Bertarelli, Kayla Sunshine Bey*, Julia Grullon*, Destine Harrison-Williams, Ash Jackson, William Pryor*, Tahmina Raoufi, Emma Rogers*, Mireya Sanchez-Maes*

*With support from the Harvard University Office of Career Services

A.R.T. Staff

Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director: Diane Paulus
Executive Director: Kelvin Dinkins, Jr.

Managing Director: Anna Fitzloff
Director of Finance: Julia Goldmacher
Artistic Producer: Mark Lunsford
Director of Production: Krystin Matsumoto
Director of Artistic Programs & Dramaturg: Ryan McKittrick
Associate Artistic Director: Dayron J. Miles
Interim Director of Development: Scott Nichols
Director of Marketing and Communications: Jennifer Weissman