She also notes that formerly, relations between HRDC and the ART had more friction. ”I think there was a time when students felt they were being stepped on,” she says. According to Bersin, this came from communication problems and a mentality that each group should keep out of the other’s way. “But now we’re in a place where we can talk and [recognize that] working together actually produces better work,” she says. “There’s still work to be done, but I think we’re moving in the direction of being a more collaborative entity.”

NATIONAL FAME, LOCAL FOCUS

The role of the ART as a professional tool for students is significant not because of the ART’s reputation, but more because of the community values it teaches. For all involved, there is a sense of connectedness—not only for audience, but also among the people in the production.

According to Melvin, Paulus is the main force behind the close bonds forged between actors. “She has this magic where she can take a cast—they don’t know each other at all, and suddenly they become this great community.”

Her own experience with “Pippin” was in keeping with this: “I came in, and this was the first time this cast was meeting each other. And they are still together.… They’re like best friends now. Diane Paulus is really good at creating that community within a cast—really, you can see that on the stage.”

For her own part, Bersin agrees. “I think the ART for sure has been one of the most welcoming places where I’ve worked,” she says. “When you do good work, they recognize it and continue to give you good opportunities, which is what I’ve been so lucky to have here.” Having worked on the sets of “Marie Antoinette” and “Pippin,” she now has many connections and valuable friendships to help her advance in a dramatic career post-graduation. “To feel like everyone that I’m working for and working with knows each other is really great,” Bersin says. “You get this expanding network of people that all have worked with you…and can pass you on to other good people you would like to work with.”

For Varagur, who was not working directly with the cast and is not sure if she wants a career in drama, the theme of connection promoted by the new ART was profoundly impressive.  “Working for a really professional theater like the ART, where everyone is just on point and they bring really amazing quality artists from every field, really oriented me to their goals,” she says. “And I found it really in line with [the ART’s] goals to bring art to the wider community and make it more accessible, so I was really interested in their outreach initiatives.”

Today’s buzz around the ART’s successive Broadway shows fades to secondary significance in the minds of its workers. All interviewed ART staff and interns agreed that repeat Broadway calls are a great phenomenon and well-deserved for the ART. But Borger speaks with as much tenderness of their pieces that go to New York as she does of those that go to London or other destinations. “We’re doing a show this year with a performing arts center in Las Vegas, which probably seems a bit unlikely, but that’s what we’re doing,” Borger says. “I don’t think we rule anything out. We’re like, ‘We could do that! Oh, we could do that!’”

“I just think that if we’re trying to get it out to wider audiences—sometimes it’s on Broadway, sometimes it’s other places in New York, sometimes it’s on tour,” she says. “One of our shows went over to London. So there are many ways for us to give extended lives to our shows.”

The ART’s project to redefine itself is partly reflected by its Broadway streak in recent years. But going to New York is just one chapter in the story of the ART’s modelling of a new identity. After each show in Cambridge, what is most exciting to Borger, Russo, and all those who work with them is the simple possibility of keeping their creation alive. It matters not which afterlife shows have; what matters is that there be some life to be had at all.

—Staff writer Victoria Zhuang can be reached at victoria.zhuang@thecrimson.com.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: November 25, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the time period in which Civry P. Melvin ’14 did an internship on the set of “Pippin.” In fact, Melvin did that internship over the summer, not during January Term.