TIME has named American Repertory Theater’s Artistic Director Diane Paulus to the 2014 TIME 100, the venerable publication’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes appear in the May 5 issue of TIME, available on newsstands and tablets, and at time.com/time100.
The list, now in its 11th year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. As TIME has described the list in the past, “The TIME 100 is a list of the most influential people in the world. They’re scientists, thinkers, philosophers, and leaders. They’re icons, artists, and visionaries. [The TIME 100 are people] using their ideas, their visions, and their actions to transform the world.”
“I am deeply honored by this recognition,” Paulus said recently. “For me, it is a tribute to the incredible collaboration I have enjoyed over the last several years with many artists, audiences, producers, and advocates, including the extraordinary team at the American Repertory Theater and Harvard University.”
Ms. Paulus is the Artistic Director of the A.R.T. at Harvard University and is the 2013 recipient of the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical (Pippin). At the A.R.T. her productions include Witness Uganda; Pippin, now on Broadway; The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; Prometheus Bound, a new musical by Tony Award-winner Steven Sater (Spring Awakening) with music composed by Grammy Award-winner Serj Tankian; Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera, finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music; The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Best of Both Worlds; and Johnny Baseball. Ms. Paulus is currently developing the new musical Finding Neverland, which will open the A.R.T.’s 2014-15 season with music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy, book by James Graham and choreography by Mia Michaels.
The list of recent and famous collaborators and remarkable works goes on and on. Ms. Paulus has recently worked with Cirque du Soleil and New York City’s venerable The Public Theater. Her productions have appeared on Broadway as well an in London’s West End. As an opera director, her credits include The Magic Flute, Il mondo della luna, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, and the Monteverdi trilogy L’incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and Orfeo.
Now a Professor of the Practice in Theater in Harvard University’s English Department, she was selected as one of Boston Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Bostonians in 2012, received that year’s Founders award for Excellence in Directing from the Drama League, and is on Variety’s 2014 Women’s Impact List.
Diane Paulus carries on the incredible reputation and history of The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, a leading force in American theater which produces groundbreaking work in Cambridge and beyond. The A.R.T. was founded in 1980 by Robert Brustein, and was also led by Robert Woodruff. Ms. Paulus began her tenure as Artistic Director in 2008. Under her leadership, the A.R.T. seeks to expand the boundaries of theater by programming events that immerse audiences in transformative theatrical experiences.
As the professional theater on the campus of Harvard University, the A.R.T. catalyzes discourse, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative exchange, acting as a conduit between its community of artists and the university. A.R.T. artists also teach undergraduate courses in directing, dramatic literature, acting, voice, design, and dramaturgy. A partnership with the Moscow Art Theater School further offers graduate-level training in acting, dramaturgy, and voice.
Dedicated to making great theater accessible, the A.R.T. is dedicated to producing world-class performances in which the audience is central to the theatrical experience.