Let’s put on a show
As a Harvard undergraduate, Diane Paulus haunted the halls of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), trying to absorb every ounce of its energy and ethos. She dreamed of being cast in an A.R.T. production, a rare but real option for a gifted College actor if a director saw fit. She worked as an usher and attended every show she could, but it wasn’t until after she left Harvard that she got a close look at a professional theater rehearsal. “I wasn’t inside a rehearsal hall until graduate school — that opportunity to just be in a high-level process. I remember thinking when I was a young director, ‘How do you direct? … Maybe one day I will get to see it.’” Since Paulus ’89 took the helm of the A.R.T. as its artistic director in 2009, she has made sure that undergraduates interested in the business of professional theater can have a...