An Evening of Very Strange Plays
The Actor’s Nightmare | The Bald Soprano | The Swimmer |
by Christopher Durang | by Eugene Ionesco | by F. Xavier Hogan |
Post-season show
Performed
September 15-17, 2005
at
The Boal Barn Playhouse
Production Staff
Director | Caitlin Osborne |
Costumer | Emily Romanczyk |
Technical Director | Oz Osborne |
Stage Manager | Debbie Meder |
About the Show
What makes a nightmare? In my dream world, scary things don’t take the shape of monsters under the bed. I dream that my teeth are crumbling, falling out. I blink my eyes and can’t get them open. I try to lead a class that gets larger, noisier, and more out of control. I must pack my bags to go on an important trip, but the piles of stuff are enormous, and I’m already late. And occasionally I find myself about to go onstage in a play that I can’t remember rehearsing. Situations familiar, spinning out of control.
Tonight we present to you three nightmares in the absurdist vein. Three familiar situations, where the events unfold as in a dream.
An empty theater, a living room, a park bench.
An unprepared actor, a nonsensical dinner party, a drowning man.
And just as in our dreams, each situation grows increasingly irrational, disturbing, and tense. And, naturally, humorous – after all, we can be sure that we are going to wake up.
If you have performed on stage, Durang’s Actor’s Nightmare may seem familiar. Can our hero perform Shakespeare, Noel Coward, and Samuel Beckett without rehearsal? Could you?
The Bald Soprano is Ionesco’s nightmare of miscommunication. What happens when the words we know just stop making sense? Can we ignore them, hoping that the meaning will be clear? Or must we become alive to the possibility that no one has been listening or understanding us for a very long time?
Hogan’s Swimmer gives us a window on a stranger’s enigmatic nightmare. Accept the absurd premise, and then try to arrive at a solution: If a man is drowning in no water at all, what could possibly save him? Love, a good swat on the head, a stiff drink? Therapy? A swimming lesson?
Enjoy the shows, and sweet dreams.
Caitlin Osborne, Director
The Actor’s Nightmare | The Bald Soprano | The Swimmer |
George Spelvin | J. Thomas Pogue | Mr. Smith | Mercer Bristow | The Swimmer | Kael Janson Weis |
Meg, Stage Manager | Laura Waldhier | Mrs. Smith | Bonny Farmer | Woman | Pat Hazelton |
Sara Siddons | Susanna Ritti | Mr. Martin | Rob Arnold | Policeman | Bob Lillie |
Dame Ellen Terry | Elaine Meder-Wilgus | Mrs. Martin | Amber Daughtry | Kid on Scooter | Ben Correll |
Henry Irving | Michael Waldhier | Mary, the Maid | Katie Brown | Young Woman | Amanda Memoli |
The Fire Cheif | Mark Schroeder | Tap Dancer | Jeff Bleam | ||
The Clock | Adam Swartz | Businessman | Rob Arnold | ||
Drunk | Os Osborne | ||||
Young Man | Adam Swartz |
Produced by permission of Dramatists Play Service Inc. | Produced by permission of Samuel French Inc. | Produced by permission of Pioneer Drama Service, |
440 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 | 45 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010-2751 | PO Box 4267, Englewood, CO 80155-4267 |