Lear (Spring 2015)
One of the things that makes The Tragedy of King Lear stand out from the rest of the Shakespeare tragedy canon is that it isn't set in some removed or exotic location, but in England for Shakespeare's original audience, home. There's a distance that comes with telling a tragic tale about foreigners: “This would never happen here, of course,” many tragedies seem to say, “we would never act so barbarically at home.” Not this time. Parents with deteriorating health, siblings with conflicting coping strategies, carrying the burden of your parent's insecurity and embarrassment, punishing someone weaker because the person who hurt you is out of reach, being thrust into something so outside your experience that it changes your identity forever everyone you'll ever meet has been through, or is living with, at least one of these and possibly all of them. Lear hits us where we live. Here in our diverse, modern, civilized home (where women might run the country while their husbands take care of the house), where we are all good people just trying cope with grief, or hold onto our principles, or catch a goddamn break for once in our lives... here we may not fight our family wars with real armies but fight them we do. We may not destroy relationships with real forged documents and swords and poison, but destroy them we do. Leader or follower, spouse or sibling, once the storm is over, the bodies have been carried away, and home as we knew it is broken beyond repair... if we're lucky, we get a choice. Rebuild, or move on. That choice each person has to make themself, and if Lear can teach us one thing, it's that sometimes there's no right answer. Enjoy the show. Cast and Crew: Elizabeth Kelly As Queen Lear Sandra Marshall Howard As Queen Gloucester Meredith Ernst As Edmund The Bastard Tina M.P. As Edgar/Ensemble Jesse Hutson As Reagan/Ensemble Gabriel Howard As Cordelia/Ensemble Ian McLeland As Goneril/Ensemble Helen Young As Kent/Ensemble Madhura Jugade As Albany/Ensemble Kyra Jones As Cornwall/Ensemble Stephanie Mattos As France/Ensemble Charlie Baker As Oswald/Ensemble Taylor Raye As Curan/Ensemble Producer/Director: Gwen Kelly-Masterton Stage Manager: Margaret Morton Assistant Stage Manager: Kaitlyn Stephens Violence Design: Gabriel Howard Assistant Violence Design: Kate Booth Costume Design: Katie Cravens Set Design: Zoë Mikel-Stites Mural Design: Elena Amesbury Lighting Design: Zoë Mikel-Stites Master Carpenter: Zach Wziontka |
Sudden Vanishings: A Night of One acts (fall 2015)Three one-acts by female playwrights and female directors explored themes of absence and disorientation:
"Eight Buffalo" by Shannon Singley When a woman arrives home to find a buffalo in her apartment, they must navigate personal boundaries and the fragile beginnings of friendship. Directed by Emily Bates Woman: Rachel Flanigan Man: Andy Berlien Buffalo: Jessica Goforth "Votive" by Lauren Davenport A young woman on the run from the law and the ghost of a WWII soldier struggle with loneliness, loss, and the difference between war and murder. Directed by Gwen Kelly-Masterton Caty: Amanda Martinez Leary: Stephen McClure "A Learning Experience" by Molly Harris Four college students try to keep their heads when unexpectedly thrust into a dangerous (and eerily familiar) scenario. Directed by Margaret Morton Chuck: Jonathan Koller Stacy: Courtney Lynn Harold: Harold Jaffe Chimamanda: Elizabeth Kubis Crew: Zoe Mikel-Stites, Kaitlyn Stephens |
The Land of Never-Lack (spring 2016)Live a short life and suffer, or live forever and never know desire? Combining W. B. Yeats’ The Land of Heart’s Desire with a new story by Chicago playwright Harold Jaffe and Artistic Director Gwen Kelly-Masterton, The Land of Never-Lack asks what it means to be human-- and what happens when we’re offered the chance to give it up.
"We’re the Fair Folk, the Golden Ones, the Good People.We haven’t a penny to spend or a care in the world. We’ve been young since before your ancestors first set plow to earth. Are you sad? Do you feel trapped and helpless? Come away with us! You’ll never suffer or want again, your heart will never break. You’ll never die. It’ll be dancing and joy for you, forever. Will you come? All you have to do is lose the rebellious, dissatisfied spirit that brought you here in the first place, forget your family and loved ones, and leave everything you’ve ever known, even yourself, behind forever. Don’t worry! We’ll show you how. It’s very, very easy. Do we have a bargain?" Cast and Crew: Therin Miller as Maire/The Sprite Gabriela Fernandez as The Child/Siobhan Stephen McClure as Shawn/Padraic Sandra Howard as Bridget/Faery Queen Michael Dwiggens as Maurteen/Faery King Gabriel Faith Howard as Father Hart/The Stag Producer/Director: Gwen Kelly-Masterton Stage Manager: Margaret Morton Asst. Stage Manager: Johnathan Koller Production Manager: Zoe Mikel-Stites Costume Designer: Kristen Ahern Lighting Design: Rebecca Bartle Set: Rebecca Carney, Christina Hubbard Technical Director: Margaret McCarthy |
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