Tucson: The Rogue Theatre Presents 3 One-Acts by Beckett

 

From: The Rogue Theatre [mailto:rogue@theroguetheatre.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:40 PM
Subject: The Rogue Theatre Presents 3 One-Acts by Beckett

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

February 3, 2010

 

For Immediate Release

Contact: Cynthia Meier
520-250-9608
www.TheRogueTheatre.org

 

 

 

 

 
The Rogue Theatre
presents three one-act plays by
Samuel Beckett
 
KRAPP'S LAST TAPE,
 
NOT I
 
and
 
ACT WITHOUT WORDS

 

 

An old man listening to his life spool past on reel-to-reel tapes, a mouth unable to stop speaking or grasp reality, a clown struggling against an unseen benefactor (or tormentor) in the desert.  These scenarios represent three of Samuel Beckett's most haunting and fascinating one-act plays.  Both lyrical and jarring, Beckett's works offer us the chance to step away from time and the outside world, and to experience the poetry of the human condition in all its rugged glory.  Holding his mirror up to the most minute and mundane of situations, Samuel Beckett allows a whole world of possibility to spring to life. From the seed of a moment comes deep insight and understanding. This evening of one-acts offers three unique journeys into the poetic and ironic world of one of Ireland's greatest writers.

 

In 1953, Samuel Beckett turned the theatre world on its head when his masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, first appeared onstage.  Unlike anything that had gone before, Beckett offered up an evening with four fascinating characters caught in a moment of time who, instead of expounding on their lives and history, merely existed in the present moment.  Beckett's subsequent works gave the world a wonderful variety of oddball characters, each stuck (sometimes literally) in a time or place, each struggling with the reality of everyday existence turned upside down. 

 

Director David Morden notes that, "The power of Beckett is that he doesn't tell us stories in any conventional way.  We experience his characters and their dilemmas in a manner that is so different from almost any other theatre piece.  It is thrilling to listen to his words as they enter our ears from a new direction and stimulate us in unfamiliar ways.  Beckett is not so much about logic and reason as he is about music and sensation."

 

Krapp's Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words preview on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 7:30 P.M.  Opening Night is on Friday, February 26, 2010.  Regular performances of Krapp's Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words continue on Saturday, February 27 through Sunday, March 14, 2010.  Curtain times are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 P.M.  and Sundays at 2:00 P.M.  Tickets are $24 and can be purchased online at TheRogueTheatre.org or by calling our box office at 520-551-2053.  Thursday, March 4 and March 11  are pay-what-you-will performances.  Reservations are encouraged.

 

The production sponsors for Krapp's Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words are Norma and David Lewis.

 

Krapp's Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words will be directed by David Morden, who has directed The Rogue Theatre's productions of A Delicate Balance, The Goat (2008 Arizona Daily Star Mac Award) and Six Characters in Search of an Author. David has appeared with The Rogue Theatre as Mr. Webb in Our Town, in the ensembles of Animal Farm and Orlando, as Madame Pace in Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Pope in Red Noses, Yephikhov in The Cherry Orchard, The Man in the Silver Dress in the preshow to The Maids and Glaucus in Endymion. He has acted locally with Arizona Onstage Productions (Assassins), Arizona Opera (The Threepenny Opera), Actors Theatre (The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)) and Green Thursday Theatre Project (Anger Box, Rain), of which he was a co-founder. David has directed productions with Green Thursday (Shakespeare's R&J, White Garden), Oasis Chamber Opera (Sing to Love), DreamerGirl Productions (The Dreamer Examines His Pillow) and Arts For All (The Apple Tree). 

 

The performers in Krapp's Last Tape, Not I and Act Without Words includes:

• Cynthia Meier (Mouth/Not I) is the Managing and Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre for which she has  performed in Our Town, A Delicate Balance, Immortal Longings, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Red Noses, The Goat (Best Actress, Arizona Daily Star 2008 Mac Award), The Maids, Endymion and The Balcony.  For The Rogue, she  adapted and directed James Joyce's The Dead, and directed Animal Farm, Orlando, Happy Days, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Fever and The Cherry Orchard.  A co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, Cynthia has also performed in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Arizona Repertory Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Arizona Theatre Company), Blithe Spirit and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Michigan Repertory Theatre), Romeo & Juliet and Chicago Milagro (Borderlands Theater), A Namib Spring (1999 National Play Award winner), and Smirnova's Birthday, The Midnight Caller, and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Tucson Art Theatre). Cynthia is a Faculty member in Speech at Pima Community College and holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. In 2000, Cynthia was awarded the Tucson YWCA Woman on the Move Award.
• Joseph McGrath (Krapp/Krapp's Last Tape) is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama and the Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre. For The Rogue, he has performed in The Fever, The Dead, Endymion, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Cherry Orchard, The Goat, Happy Days (which he recently reprised in Bangalore, India), Red Noses, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Orlando, Animal Farm and A Delicate Balance (winner of the Arizona Daily Star 2009 Mac Award for Best Actor) and has directed The Balcony, Endymion, The Maids, Red Noses, Immortal Longings (which he also authored) and Our Town. Joe has toured with John Houseman's Acting Company and performed with the Utah Shakespearean Festival. In Tucson, he is a frequent performer with Ballet Tucson appearing in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dracula and The Nutcracker. He has also performed with Arizona Theatre Company, Arizona Opera, Tucson Art Theatre, Arizona OnStage, Green Thursday, Damesrocket Theatre, and Old Pueblo Playwrights in such plays as The Seagull, Assassins, Oleanna, The Threepenny Opera, and Anger Box. Joe is also a scenic designer and owns Sonora Theatre Works with his wife Regina Gagliano, producing theatrical scenery and draperies.
•  Patty Gallagher (Player/Act Without Words) is Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at University of California Santa Cruz where she directs courses in physical theatre, mask, Balinese dance, and clown traditions. She is Director in Residence for the Clown Conservatory, San Francisco School of Circus Arts. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has performed clown and buffoon with Teatro Cronopio and studied in Laboratorio Grupo Malayerba. She has worked with the New Pickle Circus, Fool Time Circus, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Ripe Time, San Francisco Circus and the Weird Sisters Ensemble. She has performed and directed workshops in Asia, South America, Europe, and the U.S., and was a Fulbright Scholar in Quito, Ecuador. With The Rogue Theatre, she has performed the roles of Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Winnie in Happy Days (which she recently reprised in Bangalore, India), Sonnerie and Scarron in Red Noses, and Orlando in Orlando. Most recently, Patty delighted San Francisco audiences with Winnie in Happy Days and Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, both at California Shakespeare Festival.

• Harlan Hokin (Musical Director) has performed extensively as a singer in Europe and the United States, including a stint with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He earned a doctorate in historical performance practice from Stanford, and has taught at Stanford and UC Santa Cruz. Harlan is an active workshop teacher and writer on topics of interest to singers and early music performers. Recent theatrical involvement has been with The Rogue Theatre as Musical Director for Our Town, A Delicate Balance, Animal Farm, Immortal Longings, Orlando, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Red Noses, The Goat, The Cherry Orchard, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Maids, Endymion, The Dead and The Balcony, and Arizona Onstage Productions as Vocal Director for their production of Assassins. Harlan has also served as music director for Arizona Theatre Company's Summer On Stage program. He is currently serving as Artistic Director for the Arizona Early Music Society and is the father of two nearly perfect children.

• Nic Adams (Stage Manager) has appeared with The Rogue Theatre in Orlando and Six Characters in Search of an Author and with the Now Theatre in This Property is Condemned and Cigarettes & Chocolate, both 'Rogue After Curfew' productions. A theatre student at the University of Arizona, Nic performed in the Arizona Repertory Theatre's productions of Urinetown (Robbie the Stockfish), Titus Andronicus (Martius), and Candide (Ensemble).

 

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