Theatrical productions from South Africa, Russia, Chile, and Poland — some presented in their native language — are among ArtsEmerson’s 2015-16 season lineup, announced Thursday. However, artistic director David Dower says traveling the globe to find theatrical experiences that he hopes will dazzle audiences is only one part of the story.
“We’re committed to showing the diversity of the world on stage,” he says, “but we are also committed to inviting the diversity of Boston into the audience.”
The wide-ranging season begins with “Ernest Shackleton Loves Me” (Sept. 20-Oct. 4, Paramount Center Mainstage), a blend of concert and musical theater featuring actress and electric violinist Valerie Vigoda and actor and composer Wade McCollum, written by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro (“Memphis”). ArtsEmerson artist-in-residence Daniel Beaty (“Breath & Imagination,” “Emergency”) follows with “Mr. Joy” (Sept. 22-Oct. 18, Jackie Liebergott Black Box), about a Harlem community’s transformation following an attack on a Chinese-American resident. “Mr. Joy” is written by Beaty and will be directed by Dower.
Newly appointed Globe Theatre artistic director Emma Rice, known for her work with Kneehigh (“Tristan & Yseult”), will direct “An Audience With Meow Meow” (Oct. 8-24, Cutler Majestic Theatre), a theatrical cabaret featuring a comic diva who is trying to create her own fame.
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“This show is a metaphor for how we’re trying to be a civic partner,” says Polly Carl, creative director of ArtsEmerson. “ ‘Meow Meow’ talks about the idea that our success or failure depends on the community participation.”
After “Meow Meow,” the ArtsEmerson schedule — with some dates still to be decided — bounces from Europe to South Africa and back again for productions that include “Chopin Without Piano” (November, Paramount), a piece that features a 40-piece orchestra from Boston Conservatory but removes Chopin’s piano piece, replacing it instead with narration created in the same rhythms as the piano music. “The idea,” says Carl, “is to reclaim the Chopin who has become a clichéd national figure and remind audiences that he was a polarizing and interesting individual.” This piece will be performed in Polish with supertitles.
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“Carmen/A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Nov. 10-22, Cutler) marks the return of Cape Town’s Isango Ensemble, who wowed Boston audiences last year with their “Magic Flute” and this year will reimagine two Western operatic classics.
The season resumes after the holidays with the Boston debut of London-based Filter Theatre’s production of “Twelfth Night” (Jan. 20-30, Paramount), described as a “fresh, fast remix.”
In February, ArtsEmerson will continue its collaborations with local theater groups when it presents Company One Theatre’s production of Obie winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s “An Octoroon” (Jackie Liebergott Black Box), to be directed by Summer Williams. The schedule turns to family fun with “The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go!” (Feb. 19-March 6, Paramount), presented by the Ma-Yi Theater Company, which Carl describes as a coming-of-age adventure comedy made for children, but with enough humor to appeal to adults.
“What I loved about this show,” Carl says, “is what became a kind of theme for the season, which is that being different isn’t just OK, it’s better.”
In March, the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg brings to the Cutler its production of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” which will be presented in Russian with supertitles, to be followed by Lisa Dwan’s one-woman performance of the Samuel Beckett trilogy “Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby” (March 16-20, Paramount).
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In a second solo show, “Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary” (April 20-24, Jackie Liebergott Black Box), Marissa Chibas tells the forgotten stories of the Cuban Revolution. Also in April will be “Historia de Amor” (Cutler), an adaptation of Chilean author Regis Jauffret’s graphic novel, presented by the Chilean company Teatrocinema.
The season finishes with “Premeditation” (May 4-15, Paramount), the Latino Theater Company’s presentation of Evelina Fernandez’s comic tale of “marriage, murder and mayhem.”
Established five years ago, ArtsEmerson is now being led by the triumvirate of Dower, Carl, and managing director David Howse following the retirement of founder Rob Orchard as executive director at the beginning of the year.
Carl said the team’s approach to the new season reflects “a curatorial listening process with the community” that involved 12 partners over the past three years, including representatives from Roxbury Community College, Future Boston, the Asian American Resource Workshop, Hyde Park Task Force, and Discover Roxbury, among others.
“It’s really about building a relationship,” says Dower, “so that we are answering different questions about audience participation and overcoming barriers people feel to coming to our theaters.”
Ticket packages are available on May 8. Single tickets go on sale June 8. For more information, call 617-824-8400 or go to www.artsemerson.org
Terry Byrne can be reached at trbyrne@aol.com.