"There is a time for roses
A time for laughter
And a time for silence."

The above are the words that followed the letter from Dario Fo and wife Franca Rame to American Repertory Theatre artistic director Robert Brustein. The letter explains that, in the wake of the recent events, they have decided to cancel their trip to A.R.T.'s Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they were to perform their trademark works Mistero Buffo and Sex? Thanks, Don't Mind if I Do! through Sept. 29.

A.R.T. honored the 1997 Nobel Prize winner Fo with the Dario Fo Festival. The event included the American premiere of Fo's Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas and the two other works previously mentioned.

Rame and Fo also stated in the letter, "'The show must go on' and 'the clown who cries behind his mask' are stereotypes that we do not wish to follow. In the past we have performed in dramatic situations and even at times of mourning — after dreadful massacres, bombs on trains and in public places; but our shows were born from these events, and told their stories."

For more information on the A.R.T. season, visit their website at www.amrep.org or call their InfoLine at (617) 547-8300. A.R.T. is located in Harvard Square at 64 Brattle Street in Cambridge, MA. — by Ernio Hernandez