Written by
Christopher Durang
Directed by Dina Amin
October 2 - 14, 2007
Two singles seek love and find sanity (sort
of) in this madcap comedy by America's funniest
playwright. Prudence's therapist swears a lot
and calls her nasty names; Bruce's shrink
encourages barking as a form of self-expression.
When a personal ad brings them together, the
hapless couple must come to their senses and
overcome their zany therapists' "help" to find
romance in a whacked-out world.
Christoper Durang was born in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, on January 2, 1949.
He received a B.A. in English from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in
Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. He is the recipient of playwriting
grants from CBS, the Rockefeller and the Guggenheim Foundations; a Tony Award
nomination for A History of the American Film, Obie Awards for Sister Mary
Ignatius and The Marriage of Bette and Boo and a Drama Desk nomination for
acting.
About the Director
DINA AMIN, M.F.A., PH.D.
As assistant professor of Arab Literature & Culture and Theatre, Dina Amin is
the first Villanova University professor to be hired as an equal member of two
departments. She holds a Ph.D. in Dramatic Literature from the University of
Pennsylvania and an M.F.A. in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. She did
her graduate and undergraduate studies at the American University in Cairo in
English and Comparative Literature. She was singled out nationwide to receive an
ITT Scholarship from the Fulbright Commission in Egypt to study theater in the
U.S. At Carnegie Mellon University, Amin was the recipient of the West Coast
Drama Clan Award (in honor of William Ball) for best director. She directs in
the U.S. and Egypt, in Arabic and English. Her most recent production was al-Jabal
(The Mountain) by Naguib Mahfouz at Villanova University in 2007. Before that
her production of Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Suq al-Hamir (The Donkey Market) in 2005 was
the first ever Arab play in the Arabic language at Georgetown University. Her
staging of a one-woman show, Al-Meshwar al-Akhir (The Last Walk), received an
award of excellence in the Amman Festival for Free Theater in Jordan in 2000.
Amin has published in major academic journals and has translated a number of
Arabic plays into English; she received an award from the Association of
American Teachers of Arabic for her translation of al-Shakhs (The Person) by
Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag.
Press Release
Villanova Theatre Presents Beyond Therapy
Christopher Durang’s Hilarious Comedy Launches the 2007-2008 Season
Villanova Theatre will kick off its 2007-2008 theatre season with Beyond
Therapy, a hilariously off-kilter comedy by Christopher Durang. The production
marks theatre professor Dina Amin’s Villanova Theatre directorial debut. Beyond
Therapy runs October 2 –14 in Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus.
Performances are held at 8:00pm on Tuesday – Saturday and at 2:00pm on Saturday
and Sunday. Tickets cost $18-$24, with discounts for seniors, students, and
groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610)
519-7474. Additional information is available online at
www.theatre.villanova.edu.
In Beyond Therapy, two singles seek love and find sanity (sort of) as they
navigate the neuroses of their not-so-stable psychoanalysts. Prudence’s
therapist swears a lot and calls her nasty names; Bruce’s shrink encourages
barking as a form of self-expression. When a personal ad brings them together,
the hapless couple must come to their senses and overcome their zany therapists’
“help” to find romance in a whacked-out world.
Director Dina Amin appreciates the quick wit of the script, but also recognizes
the human emotions that bring Beyond Therapy’s characters to the brink of
insanity. “The characters in this play exist in a world where everything is
permitted,” says Amin. “That makes it very difficult for them to figure out the
best way to find happiness. They spend a lot of time wavering, trying to work
through things with their therapists, but ultimately each one has to decide
whether or not to compromise on issues that are important to them. As bizarre as
the situations are, we find ourselves reflected in the characters’ dilemmas, and
that empathy is where the comedy comes from.”
The cast of Beyond Therapy includes graduate theatre students Carl C. Granieri,
Rachel Anne Stephan, Amy Walton, Luke Moyer, Jeffrey S. Paden, and Lance Mekeel,
as well as Janet McWilliams, a Villanova sophomore. Four of the cast members
appeared at Villanova Theatre last season: Granieri in Three Sisters, Mekeel in
The Tempest, and Walton and McWilliams in The Robber Bridegroom.
Beyond Therapy runs October 2 – October 14, 2007. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday
– Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18-$24 and may be
ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610) 519-7474. Visit
www.theatre.villanova.edu for more information.
Cast of Characters
Bruce
CARL C. GRANIERI
Prudence
RACHEL ANNE STEPHAN
Dr. Stuart Framingham
JEFFREY S. PADEN
Mrs. Charlotte Wallace
AMY WALTON
Bob
LUKE MOYER
Andrew
LANCE MEKEEL
Coffee House Singer
JANET McWILLIAMS
Mother Courage and Her Children
Written by Bertolt
Brecht
Directed by Shawn Kairschner
Featuring Joanna Rotté as Mother Courage
November 13 - 18 &
November 27 - December 2, 2007
In Brecht's epic masterpiece, a war rages on while
the worldly-wise Mother Courage seeks her fortune
selling goods to the soldiers. But the war exacts a
price - as war always does - and Mother Courage's
soaring profits are tempered by searing loss. First
performed in
1941, Mother Courage remains deeply moving and
powerfully relevant.
Villanova Theatre to Challenge, Stimulate Audiences
with Mother Courage and Her Children
From November 13-18 and November 27-December 2, Villanova Theatre will entertain
and challenge audiences with Bertolt Brecht’s epic drama, Mother Courage and
Her Children. The production is directed by Assistant Professor Shawn Kairschner
and features Professor Joanna Rotté in the title role. Mother Courage, written in
the midst of World War II and set in the 1600s during the Thirty Years’ War, offers
a highly theatrical examination of the relationship between commerce and conflict.
Audiences will be invited to discuss the play’s enduring relevance during a post-show
discussion on Thursday, November 29.
Villanova Theatre is located in Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus.
Performances will be held at 8:00pm on Tuesday – Saturday and at 2:00pm on Sundays
and the second Saturday. Tickets cost $20-$24, with discounts for seniors, students,
and groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610)
519-7474. Additional information is available online at
www.theatre.villanova.edu.
In Brecht’s masterpiece, Mother Courage and Her Children, a war rages
on while the worldly-wise Mother Courage seeks her fortune selling goods to the
soldiers. But the war exacts a price – as war always does – and Mother Courage’s
soaring profits are tempered by searing loss. First performed in 1941, Mother Courage
remains deeply moving and powerfully relevant.
When Villanova Theatre’s 2007-2008 season was announced last spring, Kairschner
remarked that he hoped a change in US involvement with Iraq would have made Mother
Courage less relevant at production time. Now, he hopes the play will invite exploration
of the deeply personal impact that war has on individuals. “After a protracted war,
the characters in the play are living in a climate of absolute scarcity,” he commented.
“From our vantage point of plenty, it can be tempting to judge them according to
our own experience. We forget that the decisions these people are forced to make
are the result of the devastation of their communities and the decimation of their
families.”
The aesthetic of Villanova Theatre’s production intertwines the world
of the play with the era during which it was written. Janus Stefanowicz’ striking
costumes capture the sensibility of the 17th Century, while incorporating the flair
of the 1940s. The set, designed by Master’s student Lance Kniskern, is deceptively
simple, with artfully designed multi-purpose pieces that move gracefully across
a vast map of the countries involved in the Thirty Years’ War. John Thomas’ score,
played onstage by an acoustic trio, sets Brecht’s songs to appealing melodies that
accent the timeless quality of the play.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was a poet,
playwright, and theatre director. He was born in Augsburg, Germany. Brecht’s early
plays, marked by a revolt against bourgeois values, won him success, controversy,
and the Kleist Prize in 1922. Popularity came with Die Dreigroschenoper (1928,
The Threepenny Opera), an adaptation of Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), and from then
until 1933 his work was particularly concerned with encouraging audiences to think
rather than identify, and with experimentation in epic theatre and alienation effects.
Hitler’s rise to power forced Brecht to leave Germany, and he lived in exile for
15 years, chiefly in the U.S. During this period, he wrote some of his greatest
plays, including Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1938, Mother Courage and Her Children)
and Der Kaukasische Kreidekreis (1945, The Caucasian Chalk Circle). After his return
to East Berlin in 1948, his directorial work on these and other plays with the Berliner
Ensemble firmly established his influence as a major figure in 20th Century theatre.
In 1955, one year before his death, he received the Stalin Peace Prize.
Shawn Kairschner,
Ph.D., joined the Villanova University faculty in 2006 and directed last fall’s
production of The Tempest. He has performed and directed in numerous venues in the
United States and in England, including a three-year stint as the Artistic Director
of the Sideway Theater Company in Berkeley, C.A., for whom he directed or produced
a variety of productions from Shakespeare to original, one-person shows. Recent
directorial credits include The Caucasian Chalk Circle in Williamstown, M.A., as
well as Equus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a musical adaptation of Christina
Rossetti’s Goblin Market at Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D.
Joanna Rotté, Ph.D. is a writer, actor, and director. She is professor of theatre in Villanova
University’s Master’s program in theatre, as well as former chair of the department.
She has lately appeared on the Vasey stage as Sister Beatrice in Fred and Jane,
Hannah Hawke in Prayers of Sherkin, Claire Zachanassian in The Visit, and Catwoman
in By the Bog of Cats. . .. Her most recent directing endeavor was last season’s
The Chairs by Ionesco. Her own plays – Prajna, Death of the Father, and
Art Talk
– have been featured presentations at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. She is the
author of Scene Change (A Theatre Diary: Prague, Moscow, Leningrad) and
Acting With
Adler. She writes regularly for the Soul of the American Actor Newspaper, archived
at www.homepage.villanova.edu/joanna.rotte.
Mother Courage and Her Children runs
November 13-18 and November 27-December 2, 2007. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday –
Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $20-$24 and may be ordered
by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474. Visit
www.theatre.villanova.edu
for more information.
Baby
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Book by Sybille Pearson
Directed by Peter Reynolds
February 12 - March 2, 2008
Arlene and Alan are in their 40s when an unexpected
pregnancy upends their newly empty nest. Danny and Liz
are college students who never dreamed they'd be parents
so soon. Pam and Nick, in their 30s and hopelessly in
love, get a lot of "practice" as they try for the same
luck. A buoyant musical about three couples and their
rollercoaster rides through the nine longest months in
any family's life.
Villanova Theatre to Produce Buoyant Musical, Baby
Villanova Theatre invites audiences in out of the cold for the heartwarming
musical Baby, with a book by Sybille Pearson, music by David Shire, and lyrics
by Richard Maltby, Jr. Directed by Peter Reynolds, Baby will be onstage February
12-March 2, 2008. Villanova Theatre is located in Vasey Hall on the Villanova
University campus. Performances will be held at 8:00pm on Tuesday – Saturday and
at 2:00pm on Sundays and Saturdays (no Saturday matinee during the first week).
Tickets cost $20-$24, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups, and may
be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474.
With an
affecting story and an infectious score, Baby follows three couples and their rollercoaster
rides through the nine longest months in any family’s life. Arlene and Alan are
in their 40s when an unexpected pregnancy upends their newly empty nest. Danny and
Liz are college students who never dreamed they’d be parents so soon. Pam and Nick,
in their 30s and hopelessly in love, get a lot of “practice” as they try for the
same luck. Baby captures the joyful, stressful, thrilling experience of impending
parenthood. As the cast sings in the opening number, “What a journey! What a ride!”
Reynolds, who directed last season’s The Robber Bridegroom for Villanova Theatre,
explains his affection for Baby: “It’s difficult these days to find a good musical
that’s not based on a movie. Baby is an original musical with a lot of heart. Its
themes – love, readiness for parenthood, partnership – are universal, and deeply
moving. Most of all, Baby has terrific music and a great book, and our cast can
more than do it justice.” Reynolds points out that Villanova Theatre’s production
marks the 25th Anniversary of Baby’s 1983 Broadway debut. He and the musical’s designers
have had tremendous fun with the 1980s design of the show, which will feature neon
colors, legwarmers, and popped collars. “I think anyone who grew up during that
time will get a huge kick out of it,” says Reynolds.
Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire formed their musical partnership as students at Yale in the 1950s. Their musical version of
Cyrano de Bergerac was produced by the Yale Dramatic Association in 1958, then mounted by the prestigious Williamstown Summer Theatre. Maltby and Shire worked throughout the 1960s on musicals and revues that played off-Broadway or in regional theater, or went unproduced. Their first Broadway credit came in 1968, when their song “The Girl of the Minute” was used in the revue
New Faces of 1968. In 1977, at the behest of the Manhattan Theatre Club, Maltby directed a revue of songs he and Shire had written for a variety of projects. It opened off-Broadway as
Starting Here, Starting Now, resulting in a cast album that earned a Grammy nomination. Maltby and Shire, in collaboration with book-writer
Sybille Pearson, finally reached Broadway with their own musical with Baby, directed by Maltby, which opened in 1983. They returned to off-Broadway with the musical revues
Urban Blight and Closer Than Ever. Their second Broadway musical was Big, an adaptation of the successful film, which opened in 1996.
Director Peter Reynolds currently serves as the Director of Musical Theater for the Department of Theater at Temple University and Artistic Director of Mauckingbird Theatre Company, which recently produced Moliere’s
The Misanthrope. For Temple Theaters he has directed productions of Into the
Woods, Ragtime, Company, Pericles, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery and Beautiful Thing. He also had the pleasure of spending last year teaching and directing at Villanova University. He has directed for the Philadelphia Theatre Company in their collaborations with Philadelphia Young Playwrights and spent two seasons with the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in New Jersey where he assisted the Producing Artistic Director. Reynolds hails from the Midwest and for six years was Artistic Director of HealthWorks Theatre-Chicago, winner of the 2000 Award of Excellence in Prevention Education (presented by Mayor Daley and the Chicago Dept. of Public Health) as well as the 2001 Hall of Fame After Dark Award. Regionally he has worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, HotCity Theatre-St. Louis, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Building Chicago, Apollo Theatre-Chicago, City of Maples Repertory, Face to Face Productions, Lillian Russell Theatre, and on the stages of the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Southern Illinois University.
Baby runs February 12 – March 2, 2008. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $20-$24 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474.
Special Performances:
Student Talk-back: Tuesday, February 19
Audience members are invited to stay after the performance for a talk-back session with the cast. (Admission to this performance is free for all Villanova University students.)
Speaker’s Night: Thursday, February 21
Patrons are invited to attend a lively post-show discussion with the director, dramaturg, and guest speaker Sybille Pearson, who wrote the book for
Baby.
Charles B. Illingworth IV as Nick and Rachel Anne Stephan as Pam.
Credit: John Welsh
Cast of Characters
Sheila Egan
Arlene
Katherine Glavin
Nurse, Ensemble
Carl Granieri
Ensemble
Jennifer Huth
Ensemble
Charles B. Illingworth IV
Nick
Andy Joos
Alan
Brian Kurtas
Danny
Mary Lamb
Ensemble
Thomas J. Matousch
Ensemble
Janet McWilliams
Lizzie
Kristen O’Rourke
Ensemble
Jeffrey S. Paden
Dean Webber, Mr. Hart, Ensemble
Kate Reynolds
Ensemble
Matt Silva
Prof. Weiss, Ensemble
Rachel Anne Stephan
Pam
Heather White
Ensemble
The Illusion
By Pierre Corneille
Freely Adapted by Tony Kushner
Directed by Harriet Power
April 15 - 27, 2008
When a desperate lawyer consults
a magician to discover the whereabouts of his
estranged son, the sorcerer obliges - but the
vivid scenes he conjures are baffling. Reality
seems fluid, time is capricious, and facts are
impossible to pin down. Blurring the boundary
between truth and illusion, this witty
adaptation of a 17th Century classic is a moving
testament to the bonds of love and the
transformative power of the theatre.
The Illusion to Cast A Spell Over Villanova Theatre Audiences
Tony Kushner’s Spellbinding Adaptation Completes 2007-2008 Season
As the finale to its 2007-2008 season, Villanova Theatre will mount a magical
production of The Illusion by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner.
Barrymore Award-winning director Harriet Power leads an exceptional artistic team
including Barrymore winners Jorge Cousineau (sound) and Jerold Forsyth (lighting),
Charlotte Cloe Fox Wind (costumes), and Frank McCullough (set), who was a key member
of the 2007 Tony Award-winning set design team for Broadway’s The Coast of Utopia.
The Illusion will be on stage April 15-27, 2008.
Villanova Theatre is located in Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus.
Performances will be held at 8:00pm on Tuesday – Saturday and at 2:00pm on Sundays
and Saturdays (no Saturday matinee during the first week). Tickets cost $20-$24,
with discounts available for seniors, students, and groups, and may be ordered by
calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office at (610) 519-7474 or online at
www.theatre.villanova.edu.
Blurring the boundary between truth and fantasy, The Illusion is a moving testament
to the mysteries of love and the transformative power of the theatre. When a desperate
lawyer consults a magician to discover the whereabouts of his estranged son, the
sorcerer obliges – but the vivid scenes he conjures are baffling. Reality seems
fluid, time is capricious, and facts are impossible to pin down. Variety called
Kushner’s adaptation of The Illusion “laugh-out-loud funny, a bright and buoyant
blend of 17th century attitudes and contemporary farce.”
Power’s 1997 production
of Kushner’s Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, co-directed with James J.
Christy, garnered her the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play. She
has a special affinity for Kushner’s writing, and relishes the playfulness and accessibility
of The Illusion. Says Power: “Audiences who have previously encountered Tony Kushner’s
work are in for a wonderful surprise. His adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 17th
century comedy unfolds with humor, a richness of language that rivals Shakespeare’s,
and his usual uncanny insight into what makes us human. I must admit, I laugh and
weep every single time I read the script. I hope audiences will delight in the strange,
wonderful, and ultimately familiar journey of the play, and recognize the lengths
we’ll go to for love.”
During his long association with Parisian theatres, French
dramatist and poet Pierre Corneille (1606-84) wrote more than 30 tragedies and comedies.
In 1637, the production of his most celebrated play, the tragicomic Le Cid, marked
the beginning of a resurgence in French drama. The Illusion was originally titled
L'Illusion comique and was first performed 1636. Corneille was elected to the Académie-Française
in 1647.
Tony Kushner is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America,Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika, both of which also received
the Tony Award for best play. His works, which include Caroline or Change,
Homebody/Kabul,
and A Bright Room Called Day, have been produced throughout the country and abroad.
Harriet Power is an award-winning director and associate professor in the Villanova
University Theatre Department. Her recent directing credits include the world premiere
of Jeff Baron’s Brothers-in-Law, currently at Act II Playhouse; Chekhov’s
Three
Sisters, Michael Hollinger’s Incorruptible, and the American premiere of Sebastian
Barry’s Fred and Jane at Villanova Theatre; the world premieres of Seth Rozin’s
Reinventing Eden and Missing Link (which received the Theatre Alliance of Greater
Philadelphia’s Barrymore nomination for Outstanding New Play) at InterAct Theatre;
and Measure for Measure at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, which received a Barrymore
nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play.
The Illusion will be on stage April
15-27, 2008. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets cost $20-$24 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box Office
at (610) 519-7474 or online at www.theatre.villanova.edu .
1 (One): A Festival of Solo Performance
May 1 - 4, 2008
Part stand-up comedy, part
cabaret, part-autobiography, part-vaudeville,
part-poetry...or none of the above. Hilarious,
terrifying, provocative, ridiculous, thrilling,
touching - sometimes all at once. It's performed
in garages, on street corners, in nightclubs, on
train platforms, in theatres large and small.
The one thing that unites solo performance is
that a single artist delivers the power of a
full production. Join Villanova Theatre for 1
(One): A Festival of Solo Performance, and
experience a dynamic collection of professional
and graduate student performers going it alone.
*Ronald Rand's performance of
LET IT BE ART!, originally scheduled for Sunday,
May 4 at 2:00pm has been postponed until a later
date.
Dream and poetry, music and memory. A beautiful, haunting journey of
two cousins, daughters of a 1950s sister act, and their parallel dances with
destiny.
Friday, May 2—8:00pm
Thank You for Sharing: Stories of Recovery
Written and performed by Steve Smith
Meet the Anonymous denizens of a twelve-step group, warts and all. A
funny, compassionate, insider's look at the long, bumpy road to recovery.
PLUS: Short works written and performed by current students and recent
alumni of the Villanova University M.A. in Theatre program.
Saturday, May 3—8:00pm
Out of Sight
Written and performed by Sara Felder
Directed by David O’Connor Shadow Puppets by Morgan FitzPatrick Andrews
Sound Design by Matthew Lorenz
Circus tricks, shadow puppets, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict! Sara
Felder's profound, hysterical tour de force performance juggles God, her mother,
and some really big knives. (Visit www.sarafelder.com
for more information about Sara.)
Sunday, May 4—2:00pm **THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED
UNTIL A LATER DATE.**
LET IT BE ART! Harold Clurman’s Life of Passion
Written by and performed by Ronald
Rand
Directed by Gregory Abels
Bold, brilliant, irreverent, inspirational - Ronald Rand's startling
transformation brings legendary theatre director, teacher, and critic Harold
Clurman vividly to life.
(Visit www.ClurmanThePlay.com
for more information.)
**This event has been postponed until a later date. If you would like
to be informed about when Ronald Rand will return to Villanova Theatre, please
email theatreinfo@villanova.edu.
