Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater
Thesis Title: The Living Theatre: A Case Study Analysis of the Interplay of Art and Politics in a Postwar Revolutionary Theatre Group
I treasured my time at Harvard as a Social Studies concentrator — I still have the books from Social Studies 10 on my bookshelf! I deeply appreciated that the curriculum taught me how to wrestle with big ideas; we were constantly challenged to clearly articulate complex thoughts, both in tutorial discussions and in our writing. I especially valued the way that Social Studies allowed students to develop their own path within the concentration. I was particularly interested in charismatic leaders and group dynamics. I ended up writing my thesis on the political theater of Judith Malina and Julian Beck’s Living Theater, incorporating my passion for social anthropology, theater, and politics into research that continues to feed my vision at the A.R.T. today.