September 23 – October
5, 2008
Written by Eugene O’Neill
Directed by Robert Hedley
Featuring Joanna Rotté as Mary Tyrone
Widely acknowledged as O’Neill’s masterpiece,
Long Day’s Journey into Night is the playwright’s
searing exorcism of his own family demons. As the
sun rises on a seemingly placid summer day, a tightly-wound
Irish-American family begins to unravel. The bullish
James doggedly deflects his sons’ criticisms; Jamie
and Edmund struggle to communicate with the parents
who love them to the point of blindness; and frail
Mary retreats steadily into a dream world. Awarded
the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Long Day’s Journey
is a gripping, poetic experience of family that
is both exceptionally intimate and universally profound.
About the Playwright
CHRISTOPHER DURANG (Playwright)
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
Le Dindon (An Absolute Turkey)
November 11 – 23, 2008
Written by Georges Feydeau
Translated and adapted by Nicki Frei and Peter Hall
Directed by Harriet Power
Complete with slamming doors and mistaken identity,
Le Dindon is a lightning-paced symphony of intrigues,
betrayals and misunderstandings by the supreme master of
farce. A lecherous lout lusts after his friend’s wife, who
hatches a mischievous revenge plot. Liaisons are arranged
and bungled in a shady hotel, couples re-couple, and bedtime
leads to bedlam. The delicious confusion leads to a climax
that the New York Times called, simply, “Glorious!”
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.
Metamorphoses
February 3 – 15, 2009
Based on David R. Slavitt’s translation of The Metamorphoses
of Ovid
Written by Mary Zimmerman
Directed by Shawn Kairschner
A pair of lovers lift from the ocean, transformed into
gulls; a daughter morphs into gold and back to human form;
a beautiful man becomes a poolside flower; a steadfast couple
sprout roots and leaves, their limbs intertwining forever.
In Mary Zimmerman’s lyrical update of Ovid’s classical myths,
humans who sink into a pool of water emerge divine, and
love serves as alchemist in a series of gorgeous, fluid
transformations.
Cabaret
March 24 –
April 5 &
April 14 – 19, 2009
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Joe Masteroff
Directed by Valerie Joyce
Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Outside the
Kit Kat Klub, life in Berlin is becoming strained
as the Nazis rise to power. But inside … ah, inside!
Our Emcee instructs guests to leave their troubles
at the door, while musicians and dancers sizzle
and decadence prevails. Cabaret’s captivating
story pulls together an American novelist, a British
nightclub singer, a Jewish fruit vendor, and a German
businesswoman in an intricate dance of politics
and passion.
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 .
