<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000><STRONG>For Immediate Release</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>Theater</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>March 2009 [for early April 2009 performances in Cambridge]</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">Media Contact: John Bell: 617 599 3250, </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50; FONT-FAMILY: ArialMT"><A href="http://us.mc541.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=john.bell.puppeteer@gmail.com" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:john.bell.puppeteer@gmail.com"><SPAN style="COLOR: #355eae; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-DECORATION: none">john.bell.puppeteer @gmail.com</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>Dramashop Contact: Clinton L. Scroggins: <SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ArialMT"><A href="mailto:clscrog@mit.edu" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:clscrog@mit.edu"><SPAN style="COLOR: #355eae; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-DECORATION: none">clscrog@mit.edu</SPAN></A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>[high res digital images available]</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT color=#000000><B>MIT’S DRAMASHOP PRESENTS</B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B> </B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B>ANTIRETROVIRALS AND WATER REFUGEES:</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B><FONT color=#000000>A LIVING NEWSPAPER ON HAITI</FONT></B></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B> </B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B>PERFORMANCES AND POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B>ON HAITI, POLITICAL THEATER, AND GLOBAL HEALTHCARE</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>Kresge Little Theater</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>at MIT</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>April 9-11 and 15-17, 8 p.m.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000> </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> (Cambridge, MA) A new puppet, object, and music spectacle about the politics of global healthcare in Haiti premieres at MIT’s Kresge Little Theater for a two-week run from April 9 to 17. <B>"Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti"</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> looks at the past, present, and future of Haiti in terms of the politics of global healthcare, as refracted through the work of Paul Farmer's Partners in Health organization and its fight against AIDS. An updating of the 1930s activist docudramas called Living Newspapers, this show combines bunraku-style puppets, shadow theater, giant puppets, toy theater, video and audio sampling, and live brass music to consider the compelling global nexus of culture and history that is Haiti. The production will also feature a
series of post-show discussions about Haiti, healthcare, and the history of American political theater.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000> Directed by MIT guest artist and puppeteer John Bell, <B>“Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees”</B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> is produced by MIT’s Dramashop, and features puppets designed by Boston puppeteer Sara Peattie of the acclaimed Puppeteers Cooperative. The production’s wide-ranging collective of designers and performers includes MIT theater and visual arts students and staff, as well as musicians, artists, and performers from the Boston area.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> Just as the 1930s Living Newspapers were an innovative American theater technique that allowed performers and audiences to consider the serious challenges of the Depression in a thoughtful and highly entertaining manner, <B>“Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees” </B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">will examine the story of AIDS in Haiti in terms of the larger contexts of Haitian history and international politics, from the stunning complexities of the Haitian Revolution (the only successful slave rebellion in history) to the development of post-plantation agriculture, the United States invasion of 1915 (and its celebrated anti-hero, Smedley Butler), the accession of “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and the violent upheavals of the 1980s—all of which, as Paul Farmer has pointed out, have had an effect on healthcare. The success of
Partners in Health’s antiretroviral program in helping Haitians with AIDS survive emerges as a positive sign for the future possibilities of global healthcare; but the persistence of the Haitian spirit, as evidenced in the stories of a Haitian family from the Central Plateau region, is the true hero of the play.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> A special feature of the <B>“Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees”</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> performances will be post-show discussions about Haiti, global healthcare, and the 1930s Federal Theater Project. These include:</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">1. Thursday, April 9: <B>Dr. Sonya Shin</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">, physician volunteer at <B>Partners in Health</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"> since 1996, including work in Haiti, Peru and Russia.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">2. Friday, April 10: <B>Hanna Shell</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">, director (with Vanessa Bertozzi) of <B>“Secondhand (Pepe)”: </B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">a 24-minute tri-lingual film about the materiality of recycled clothes that flow from the United States to Haiti. The film will be shown in its entirety.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">3. Wednesday, April 15: <B>Kate Greene</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">, Haiti Finance Manager, <B>Partners in Health</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">4. Thursday, April 16: <B>Susan Quinn</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">, author of <B>Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000> John Bell is a member of the Obie-Award-winning Brooklyn-based theater company Great Small Works, and a Fellow at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Sara Peattie’s designs for Puppeteers’ Cooperative puppet spectacles large and small have been a feature of Boston’s First Night Parades for many years, and a central element in the creation of community-based spectacles across the United States from Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival to the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><B>Detailed listings information:</B></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><I>“Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti”</I></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>Thursday through Saturday, April 9 – 11; and Wednesday through Friday, April 15 -17</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>General Admission: $8, Students $6.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>All shows at 8 p.m. Post-show discussions April 9, 10, 15, and 16 at 9:30 p.m.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>Kresge Little Theater, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"><FONT color=#000000>Tickets will be available 45 minutes before showtime at the Kresge Little Theater boxoffice.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">For advance tickets: </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50; FONT-FAMILY: ArialMT"><A href="http://dramashop.mit.edu/tickets/" target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN style="COLOR: #355eae; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-DECORATION: none">http://dramashop.mit.edu/tickets/</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50"></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">Further ticket information email </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50; FONT-FAMILY: ArialMT"><A href="http://us.mc541.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ds_tickets@mit.edu" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:ds_tickets@mit.edu"><SPAN style="COLOR: #355eae; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-DECORATION: none">ds_tickets@mit. edu</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #460d50">.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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