But when we shift the gaze, even just a little bit, the picture changes. Often, these paintings feature only one face-or a collection of very similar faces. Think, for example, of the portraits of the so-called founding fathers. Working on 1776, however, I’ve been reminded that there is an innate flexibility in our understanding of the past: the words and symbols of our cultural memory take on very different meanings through the act of reframing. We often think of words, and of history, as finite and immovable things. staff who have persevered through this difficult time, and to you, our audience and our community, who have endured this long journey with us.

As we finally welcome you to 1776, I am overwhelmed with gratitude-to all the artists and A.R.T.

We have been waiting for two years to bring this production to our stage. Lastly, I encourage you to visit the We the People mural just off of our lobby, created through a collaboration with Artists for Humanity. The educational mission of this production has been at the core of our journey, and has extended to our programs Declaration Reclamation and We Declare Boston, which invites local students to connect their own lives to the long sweep of history, grapple with its inherent contradictions, and advocate for the society in which they wish to live. You can also learn how our show includes, for the first time, the text of a letter written by Abigail Adams in March 1776, in which she urged her husband, John, to “Remember the Ladies” in the creation of a new American government. I urge you to explore this digital program, which highlights our interactions with Harvard faculty, including Annette Gordon-Reed, whose remarkable scholarship on the Hemings family of Monticello influenced this production. has the unique opportunity to collaborate with scholars and students as part of our research and development. In this process, we hope that you will see the events that took place in Independence Hall in new ways.Īs the professional theater company at Harvard University, the A.R.T. We invite you, the audience, to hold multiple realities at the same time: both this historical narrative and the identities of this company of artists alive in 2022. With the support of the estates of Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, this production features an extraordinary cast of performers who reflect multiple representations of race, ethnicity, and gender, and who identify as female, trans, and non-binary. Page and Associate Director Brisa Areli Muñoz. This project has centered collaboration with Co-Director and Choreographer Jeffrey L. These questions also resonate deeply with Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery, the landmark report which the university recently released to the public. In our creative process, we asked: How can we hold history as a predicament versus an affirming myth? How does an honest reckoning with our past help us move forward together? I hope these questions will be alive for you as you experience our production. One of A.R.T.’s core values is inquiry, and working on this production has catalyzed a journey of learning and growth. The reason why I do theater is to ask big questions. In dramatizing the events surrounding the writing of the Declaration of Independence, 1776 points to the contradictions built into our nation’s founding-the ideals of equality and liberty celebrated and heralded in a document that achieved unanimous endorsement only after the anti-slavery clause in Jefferson’s original draft was edited out. But as soon as I read the script, I understood that this musical could speak powerfully and directly to our lives today. When 1776 was first suggested to me, I only knew it as the show that beat out HAIR at the 1969 Tony Awards for Best Musical. Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director

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