ArtsEmerson Boston MA Archives - Capital Critics' Circle / Le cercle des critiques de la capitale

ArtsEmerson, A Boston Version of the Festsival TransAmérique. Interview with Director Rob Orchard.

By Jane Baldwin | November 3, 2010

ArtsEmerson, the most exciting and creative theatre project Boston has seen in years, opened in the fall of 2010 under the leadership of executive director Robert Orchard. Orchard met with me to discuss its development. Years in the making, the venture grew out of a partnership between Emerson College – a school of communication and the arts – and the city. Emerson needed to expand;

Boston wanted to rehabilitate a decaying downtown area. That the area included two run-down theatres – candidates for demolition, but architectural landmarks in their day – was a windfall for Emerson. A deal was struck whereby Emerson would sell off its buildings, scattered through a high end residential section, and buy real estate in or near the infamous Combat Zone, Boston’s “adult entertainment” district.

…

The Laramie Project Ten Years Later. A long process that gained the admiration of the whole community.

By Jane Baldwin | October 18, 2010

ArtsEmerson, a new and exciting theatre project has come to Boston. Emerson College, a school of the arts and communication, which has acquired and renovated four downtown theatre spaces, inaugurated an annual season of American and international productions – seventeen in all for 2010-2011. The series began in September with the Tectonic Theater’s The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.

…