On Tuesday, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre will stage “Pride and Prejudice,” its first major production since the 2022-2023 season ended with “Clyde’s” in June 2023. The Jane Austen adaptation — which runs from June 18-30 — signals the arrival of a new, shorter show schedule that situates The Rep’s season in the summer months, rather than throughout the school year.
Ahead of the new season, we spoke with Interim Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin — a Little Rock native and Parkview graduate who interned at The Rep when he was a high school student — about what to expect and how the theater company is adapting to its newfound transformation.
From June to September, The Rep is putting on five productions. Walk me through the process of selecting those shows.
Season planning — I’ve done it a lot. Between Goodman [Theatre], Williamstown [Theatre Festival], Baltimore Center Stage and Victory Gardens [Theater], this is my fifth or sixth senior leadership position that I’ve had at a major regional theater in the country. [Martin also helmed Pyramid Theatre Company]. The fun of this one is like, “Oh, I’m home. I get to pick plays now that are going to speak to the city that raised me, the city that I’m so proud to be from, that I take with me everywhere I go.” And I’m doing that with Will [Trice], who had been the solo artistic director. This is new for The Rep to embrace what we call in our business a “two CEO model.” We’re equal leaders that both report to the board.
In piecing the season together, what we were really excited about was two things. One, we were looking for opportunities for collaboration. … Co-productions are a key and integral part of how the theater ecosystem is surviving right now. … Our production of “Pride and Prejudice” after its run here in Little Rock will be in Baltimore in the fall at Baltimore Center Stage, which is really exciting to say that we’re creating work here that we get to then export and send out to other major theaters in the country. Another example of that at the tail end of the season is “Responders,” which is a co-production with our friends up at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville.
For the other shows in the middle, we knew we wanted to do a big musical, and one dream that Will always had and I always wanted to do was a partnership with the symphony and getting to do something at Robinson Center. … I won’t say which titles we went through before we landed on “Hello, Dolly!” because hopefully some of them will come back in the future.
A change from what we initially announced is “Jitney” — [The show replaced “Into the Side of a Hill”] — which for me is really exciting because my whole career started because I saw an August Wilson play at The Rep when I was on a field trip when I was a middle school student at Horace Mann [Arts and Science Magnet Middle School]. It’s kind of a beautiful, full circle moment of all these things coming together. There’s a few of those across the season for me … I did a show with Alanna Hamill Newton when I was 16 at The Rep and now I’m getting to direct her in “Pride and Prejudice.” I worked the followspots for “Hello, Dolly!” when they last produced it at The Rep and now I’m getting to direct it in concert form.
The first production is a recent adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” by Kate Hamill, who’s adapted several classic books for the stage, including two other Jane Austen novels. What’s special about this show?
Kate’s adaptation is very, very funny. It’s farcical high comedy in a way that I think audiences will appreciate. … The fun of it is that in those moments where the love really needs to be the thing that comes to the forefront … all of the comedy lulls people in and you don’t see it coming. When they get to the parts of falling in love, you’re like, “Oh, wow. Wait a minute. I’m actually moved.”
It’s a really lovely surprise. … And this cast is incredible. I still don’t know how I got all of these beautiful, wonderful people to say yes, but they did.
The final show of the season, “Responders” — which is currently running at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville — was written by Little Rock native Joseph Scott Ford. How did that come together?
Well, full credit to Will. This was a show that was already in process [before I joined the staff].
Joe is here — he lives here and is based here. It’s really, really exciting and a rarity to get to do a new play by a writer who is from and lives within the city, unless you’re in one of those big major cities like Chicago or New York or places like that where playwrights tend to live. I’m really excited for Joe’s world premiere to be at the biggest professional theater in the state. … He’s fully engaged and fully involved. … It is my hope and it is my ambition and my goal that even in my interim capacity we can facilitate more opportunities like that for writers from here in Arkansas, even if they’ve moved away but are from here originally. Being able to bring people back home is another big thing that we’re focused on.
Now that The Rep has shifted to summertime programming, the turnaround time between shows is a lot quicker. How are y’all able to make it work?
This is my third theater that I’ve run that’s a summer theater specifically, so it’s very old hat to me, which is why I was uniquely suited to come in and do it here at home. We have a beautiful seasonal staff that’s with us all summer. Many of them are grad students or college students that wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to work at The Rep because we were programming things during the academic year. So we’re actually getting to work with and create opportunities for students who have gone elsewhere and are coming home in some cases. Or for students who are in some of the best programs around the country that are now finding Arkansas as a destination place to come and spend a summer to make great theater and get to work with great artists.
This is not a model that’s abnormal. There are many summer theaters around the country. It’s just new for The Rep to be operating this way. … By sharing the cost [of co-productions] — I was literally … just on a call with my colleagues up in Baltimore about some of the stuff they’re putting on a truck to send down to us. We’re not having to build every single thing. We’re not having to make every costume ourselves.
In addition to that, we hired a group of designers to be our resident designers across the season. … [Shows] have been designed to make it possible for each one to turn over easily. There’s elements of things that get repainted or repurposed. You wouldn’t recognize them unless you’ve got a really sharp eye.
Does it look like the summertime shift is going to be permanent?
I can’t fully speak to that. It would be not fair for me to do so because it’s a larger question for the institution as a whole, and as the interim I’m here just to make sure that this current iteration goes well and does what it’s meant to do.
It’s my understanding and my hope that we can return to programming things in a more spread out fashion, but the realities for us as they are for every theater — for our entire industry right now — is that a lot of places are producing less. And we said, “Well, we don’t want to produce less, but we want to ensure that we can produce in a way that makes sense for us economically.”
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Here’s a bit more about The Rep’s whole season:
Pride & Prejudice
By Kate Hamill, Based on the novel by Jane Austen
June 18-30, 2024A fresh, comedic take on the beloved classic novel, this new adaptation is fast-paced, and filled with surprises, laughs, and romance. Lizzy Bennet does not believe in marriage, or even love. That is, until the handsome, amusing, and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy starts popping up at every turn, causing her to question her resolve. This timely theatrical retelling of literature’s greatest tale of latent love explores the insanity and exhilaration of finding your perfect (or imperfect) match in life.
Footloose
Stage Adaptation by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie
Based on the Original Screenplay by Dean Pitchford
Music by Tom Snow
Lyrics by Dean Pitchford
Additional Music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman
July 9-28, 2024Toes will be tapping and spirits will be soaring when this explosive movie musical bursts onto the live stage! With dynamic new songs, coupled with the powerhouse hits from its bestselling Oscar-nominated score, this musical celebrates the exhilaration of youth, the wisdom of listening to one another, and the power of forgiveness.
Jitney
By August Wilson
August 6-18Set in 1970s Pittsburgh, this richly textured, humor-filled drama follows a group of men trying to eke out a living by driving unlicensed taxis. When the city threatens to board up the business and the boss’ son returns from prison, tempers flare, potent secrets are revealed and the fragile threads binding these people together may come undone at last.
Hello, Dolly!
Book by Michael Stewart
Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman
Based on the play The Matchmaker by Thorton Wilder
August 22-24, 2024This Broadway blockbuster is a golden-age musical theatre at its finest. Follow the romantic and comedic exploits of Dolly Gallagher-Levi, a turn-of-the-century matchmaker forging her own path in a world that constantly underestimates her. Boisterous and charming from start to finish, “put on your Sunday clothes” for The Rep’s concert production, performed at Robinson Center with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra!
Responders
By Joseph Scott Ford
September 3-15, 2024Things go from bad to ridiculous in this genre-bending dark comedy, written by Little Rock-native, Joseph Scott Ford. When two small-town paramedics and an ambitious reporter arrive at the roadside scene of an expected suicide, we join them on a journey of trying one’s best to do the right thing. This world-premiere production by an Arkansas artist is produced in partnership with TheatreSquared.