media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com media contact: erica lewis-finein brightbutterfly pr brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com CUTTING BALL THEATER OPENS 11 TH SEASON WITH “THE TEMPEST” November 5 – 28, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO (November 11, 2010) – San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater tonight opened its 11 th season with a distinctive take on Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms this compelling tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption, featuring David Sinaiko, Caitlyn Louchard, and Donell Hill, who were featured in last season’s hit production of Tbe Bald Soprano. THE TEMPEST plays now through November 28 at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($15-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006. THE TEMPEST is one of Shakespeare’s most magical and romantic plays. Prospero was the Duke of Milan until his brother Antonio usurped his position. Kidnapped and left to die on a raft at sea, Prospero and his daughter, Miranda, survived. After 12 years, fortune has at last sent his enemies his way, and the exiled Duke of Milan uses sorcery to cause a storm, shipwrecking his treacherous brother, and company, on the enchanted isle he now calls home. But magic works both ways in this tale when the creatures of the island turn against Prospero and his daughter falls in love with his enemy’s son. In the tradition of Cutting Ball’s uniquely San Franciscan version of The Bard’s The Taming of the Shrew and expressionistic Macbeth, Cutting Ball’s three-person chamber version of THE TEMPEST promises to give an up close and personal look at the monsters lurking inside all of us. “Why mess with Shakespeare? Our version of The Tempest aims to illuminate the many connections between the characters and take more risks with Shakespeare’s text and words,” said Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose. “We are looking to present a contemporary interpretation of the play that is in conversation with Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and the dream-like dramaturgy pioneered by August Strindberg, now found in the films of David Lynch (Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive), Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell), and Christopher Nolan (Inception, Memento), as well as the novels of Haruki Murakame (Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle) and video installations of Bill Viola.” Continues Melrose, “For 10 years, Cutting Ball has re-envisioned classic works. Our goal is to create
Transcript
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CUTTING BALL THEATER OPENS 11TH SEASON WITH “THE TEMPEST”
November 5 – 28, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (November 11, 2010) – San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater tonight
opened its 11th season with a distinctive take on Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. Cutting Ball Artistic
Director Rob Melrose helms this compelling tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption, featuring David
Sinaiko, Caitlyn Louchard, and Donell Hill, who were featured in last season’s hit production of Tbe
Bald Soprano. THE TEMPEST plays now through November 28 at the Cutting Ball Theater in
residence at EXIT on Taylor (277 Taylor Street) in San Francisco. For tickets ($15-50) and more
information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006.
THE TEMPEST is one of Shakespeare’s most magical and romantic plays. Prospero was the Duke of
Milan until his brother Antonio usurped his position. Kidnapped and left to die on a raft at sea, Prospero
and his daughter, Miranda, survived. After 12 years, fortune has at last sent his enemies his way, and the
exiled Duke of Milan uses sorcery to cause a storm, shipwrecking his treacherous brother, and company,
on the enchanted isle he now calls home. But magic works both ways in this tale when the creatures of the
island turn against Prospero and his daughter falls in love with his enemy’s son. In the tradition of Cutting
Ball’s uniquely San Franciscan version of The Bard’s The Taming of the Shrew and expressionistic
Macbeth, Cutting Ball’s three-person chamber version of THE TEMPEST promises to give an up close
and personal look at the monsters lurking inside all of us.
“Why mess with Shakespeare? Our version of The Tempest aims to illuminate the many connections
between the characters and take more risks with Shakespeare’s text and words,” said Cutting Ball Artistic
Director Rob Melrose. “We are looking to present a contemporary interpretation of the play that is in
conversation with Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and the dream-like dramaturgy pioneered by August
Strindberg, now found in the films of David Lynch (Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive), Tarsem Singh
(The Fall, The Cell), and Christopher Nolan (Inception, Memento), as well as the novels of Haruki
Murakame (Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle) and video installations of Bill Viola.”
Continues Melrose, “For 10 years, Cutting Ball has re-envisioned classic works. Our goal is to create
CUTTING BALL THEATER PRESENTS “THE TEMPEST” 2-2-2-2-2-2-2
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productions that focus on particular themes or obsessions within a play that an audience member might
not see in a more conventional production. We feel very fortunate to have found an audience who has
been willing to go on these risky explorations with us.”
Associate Artist David Sinaiko (Prospero/Alonso/Stephano) returns to Cutting Ball Theater in THE
TEMPEST. He most recently appeared in the company’s productions of Krapp’s Last Tape, …and Jesus
Moonwalks the Mississippi, The Bald Soprano, Victims of Duty, and Endgame, as well as The Taming of
the Shrew, As You Like It, The Sandalwood Box, Ajax for Instance, Macbeth, 365 Plays/365 Days,
Woyzeck, Chain Reactions, and as part of The Hidden Classics Reading Series and Risk is This…The
Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival. Other recent credits include Golden Thread’s Jihad Jones
& the Kalashnikov Babes, Crowded Fire’s Wreckage, and SF Playhouse’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest. Additionally, Sinaiko has been seen at the Goodman Theatre, The Actor’s Gang, and in the popular
Bay Area one-man production of David Sedaris’ SantaLand Diaries. He was a founding member of
Chicago’s New Crime Productions.
Also featured in THE TEMPEST are Cutting Ball Associate Artists Caitlyn Louchard
(Miranda/Ariel/Gonzalo/Sebastian/Trinculo) and Donell Hill (Ferdinand/Caliban/Antonio), who were
featured in last season’s acclaimed production of The Bald Soprano. Louchard’s Bay Area acting credits
include A View From the Bridge with Actor’s Theatre of San Francisco, Measure for Measure with Shady
Shakespeare, and Tell It Slant with the Pear Avenue Theatre/Bootstrap Foundation; as a teaching artist,
she has worked with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks, and Peninsula Youth Theatre.
Hill was recently seen in Stanford Summer Theater’s Electra Festival; he made his professional theater
debut at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Amy Freed’s You, Nero.
In addition to THE TEMPEST, Rob Melrose, Artistic Director and co-founder of Cutting Ball Theater,
has directed several productions for the company, including Krapp’s Last Tape, The Bald Soprano,
Victims of Duty, Avant GardARAMA!, Endgame, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamletmachine,
The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, Roberto Zucco,
The Vomit Talk of Ghosts (World Premiere), The Sandalwood Box, Pickling, Ajax, for Instance, Helen of
Troy (World Premiere), and Drowning Room (World Premiere). Additionally, he has translated No Exit,
Woyzeck, Pelléas and Mélisande, and Ubu Roi. Melrose’s other directing credits include productions at
the Magic Theatre (An Accident), Guthrie Theater (Happy Days, Pen), California Shakespeare Theater
(Villains, Fools, and Lovers), and Crowded Fire (The Train Play), among others. He has assistant directed
productions at the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet, Oskar Eustis, director),
Berkeley Repertory Theatre (The Pillowman, Les Waters, director), American Conservatory Theater
CUTTING BALL THEATER PRESENTS “THE TEMPEST” 3-3-3-3-3-3-3
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(Indian Ink, Carey Perloff, director), Guthrie Theater (Othello, Joe Dowling, director), and Yale
Repertory Theatre (Twelfth Night, Mark Rucker, director). He is a recipient of the NEA / TCG Career
Development Program for Directors, and is currently the Public Theater’s artist in residence at Stanford
University. He also recently directed the World Premiere of Lydia Stryk’s An Accident at the Magic
Theatre.
Following Cutting Ball’s production of THE TEMPEST, the company presents Eugenie Chan’s retelling
of the Ariadne myth BONE TO PICK, which received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s 2007-2008
season as part of Avant GardARAMA!; this provocative play, starring Paige Rogers, will be accompanied
by a newly commissioned companion piece, DIADEM, in January. The company is also poised to
present the Bay Area Premiere of playwright Will Eno’s LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other
plays in March, followed by RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL
PLAYS FESTIVAL in May. In addition to the mainstage season, Cutting Ball Theater continues its
Hidden Classics Reading Series with five new installments. The entire 2010-11 season will be staged in
San Francisco at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor.
Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents
avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-
garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights
Foundation, the Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental
works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined
various classics. Voted “Best Theater Company” in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of The
Bay issue, Cutting Ball Theater also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly, was selected
by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007, and received the 2008 San Francisco Bay
Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts. Cutting Ball Theater was recently
featured in the February 2010 issue of American Theatre Magazine and awarded the honor of Best
Theater Company in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of the Bay Issue.
CUTTING BALL THEATER PRESENTS “THE TEMPEST” 4-4-4-4-4-4-4
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FOR CALENDAR EDITORS: WHAT: San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater opens its 11th season with THE TEMPEST, one of Shakespeare’s most magical and romantic plays. The exiled Duke of Milan uses sorcery to cause a shipwreck to take his treacherous brother to the enchanted isle he now calls home. But magic works both ways in this tale when the creatures of the island turn against the Duke and his daughter falls in love with his enemy’s son. In the tradition of Cutting Ball’s uniquely San Franciscan version of The Bard’s The Taming of the Shrew and expressionistic Macbeth, this three-person chamber version of THE TEMPEST promises to give an up close and personal look at the monsters lurking inside all of us. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms THE TEMPEST. David Sinaiko, Caitlyn Louchard, and Donell Hill, who were featured in last season’s hit production of Tbe Bald Soprano, return to the company in THE TEMPEST. WHEN: Playing now through November 28 All performances Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm No performance on Thanksgiving Day (November 25) WHERE: The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor St., San Francisco TICKETS: For tickets ($15-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006; discounts available for students, seniors and groups. PHOTOS: High-resolution photos of THE TEMPEST can be found at http://cuttingball.com/press/ or received upon request by emailing brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
The Cutting Ball Theater’s 2010 - 11 season is made possible in part by grants from The Compton Foundation, The W.A. Gerbode Foundation,
Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Magic Theatre / Z Space New Works Initiative, Mental Insight Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The San Francisco Arts
Commission, The San Francisco Foundation, Theatre Bay Area New Works Fund, United Business Media LLC, The Zellerbach Family Foundation, and by individual donors.
--30--
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CUTTING BALL THEATER OPENS 11TH SEASON WITH “THE TEMPEST”
November 5 – 28, 2010 Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor Street, San Francisco
For tickets ($15-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006
Regular performances: Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm
High-resolution digital art for THE TEMPEST can be downloaded at http://www.cuttingball.com/press or is available upon request by emailing brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
Photos: Rob Melrose
Caliban (l, Donell Hill) is confronted by Prospero (r,
David Sinakio)
Alonso (David Sinaiko) in mourning
l-r, Trinculo (Caitlyn Louchard), Stephano (David Sinaiko), and Caliban (Donell Hill) listen to
mysterious music
Ariel (l, Caitlyn Louchard) sings to Ferdinand (r, Donell Hill) as
Prospero (c, David Sinaiko) watches
Ferdinand (Donell Hill) and Miranda (Caitlyn Louchard) see a
magical vision Sebastian (Caitlyn Louchard) and
Antonio (Donell Hill) plot a murder
Miranda (Caitlyn Louchard) listens to her father Prospero
(David Sinaiko) recount the past
l-r, Alonso (David Sinaiko), Gonzalo (Caitlyn Louchard),
and Antonio (Donell Hill) see a mysterious vision
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brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
CUTTING BALL THEATER HIDDEN CLASSICS READING SERIES
“EPICOENE, OR THE SILENT WOMEN” December 5, 2010
WHAT: Cutting Ball Theater presents the second installation of this season’s Hidden Classics Reading Series, playwright Ben Johnson’s EPICOENE, OR THE SILENT WOMEN. A man with a pathological hatred of noise seeks to disinherit his nephew by marrying a quiet woman named Epicoene. Little does he know that the entire marriage was orchestrated to make him go mad in a hilarious cacophony of chaos. Michael Sexton directs this play penned by Shakespeare’s greatest literary rival. This season, Cutting Ball’s Hidden Classics Reading Series explores a variety of extraordinary works ranging from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the Elizabethans, and from 18th century France to modern experimentalism. The series offers a rare look at some of the greatest authors ever to write for the stage in a program that continues to be one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets. Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, the Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Recipient of the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts, Cutting Ball Theater earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly and was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007. Cutting Ball Theater was recently featured in the February 2010 issue of American Theatre Magazine. WHEN: Sunday, December 5, 1pm WHERE: The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor 277 Taylor St., San Francisco TICKETS: Free and open to the public. For more information, visit cuttingball.com or call (415) 419-3584
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CUTTING BALL THEATER PRESENTS “BONE TO PICK” and WORLD PREMIERE OF “DIADEM”
January 14-February 13, 2011 Back by popular demand, Cutting Ball Theater presents playwright Eugenie Chan’s BONE TO PICK. Re-imagining the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur in a postmodern exploration of love, war, and complicity, this incendiary play, nominated for the 2008 Glickman Award for Best New Play, received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s Avant GardARAMA!, becoming a stand-out of the 2007-08 season. The San Francisco Chronicle called the production “richly rewarding right down to its marrow,” noting Paige Rogers’ performance as “riveting;” Rogers will reprise her tour de force role for this re-staging. Accompanying BONE TO PICK is a newly commissioned companion piece, also by Chan, DIADEM, a classical retelling of the earlier parts of Ariadne’s myth, when she was first in love. Together, these two original works tell the complete story of Ariadne’s epic romance. Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, the Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Voted “Best Theater Company” in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of The Bay issue, Cutting Ball Theater also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly, was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007, and received the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts. Cutting Ball Theater was recently featured in the February 2010 issue of American Theatre Magazine. WHEN: Previews: January 14, 15 at 8pm, January 16 at 5pm Opens: January 20 at 8pm (Press opening: Thursday, January 20, 8pm; Gala Opening: Friday, January 21, 8pm) Closes: February 13 All performances Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm WHERE: The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor St., San Francisco TICKETS: For tickets ($15-50) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006; discounts available for students and seniors
BONE TO PICK was commissioned by Cutting Ball Theater and Magic Theatre/Z Space New Works Initiative
The Cutting Ball Theater’s 2010 - 11 season is made possible in part by grants from The Compton Foundation, The W.A. Gerbode Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Magic Theatre / Z Space New Works
Initiative, Mental Insight Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The San Francisco Foundation, Theatre Bay Area New Works Fund, United Business Media LLC, The Zellerbach Family
Foundation, and by individual donors.
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brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
CUTTING BALL THEATER ANNOUNCES 2010-2011 SEASON
Acclaimed SF theater celebrates 11th season with World Premiere Eugenie Chan commission; five new works in Risk is This…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival
SAN FRANCISCO (June 10, 2010) - San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater proudly
announces the lineup for its 11th season. The season opens in November with a distinctive take on
Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. Back by popular demand is Eugenie Chan’s retelling of the Ariadne
myth BONE TO PICK, which received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s 2007-2008 season as part of
Avant GardARAMA!; this provocative play, starring Paige Rogers, will be accompanied by a newly
commissioned companion piece, DIADEM, in January. The company is also poised to present playwright
Will Eno’s LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other plays in March. Cutting Ball Artistic Director
Rob Melrose will direct all three productions. RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW
EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL returns to round out the season in May with five exhilarating
new works for the stage, three of which were commissioned by Cutting Ball. In addition to the mainstage
season, Cutting Ball Theater continues its Hidden Classics Reading Series with five new installments.
The entire 2010-11 season will be staged in San Francisco at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at
EXIT on Taylor. For tickets and information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006.
“The Cutting Ball Theater’s mission is to create productions of experimental new plays and re-visioned
classics with an emphasis on language and images,” said Artistic Director Rob Melrose. “This season, we
live up to that mission in many ways with a re-visioned Shakespeare, works by Will Eno, a World
Premiere by resident playwright Eugenie Chan, plus our experimental new plays festival Risk is This.
With support from The Kenneth Rainin Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation, we have been
able to expand Risk is This to include three new play commissions - an exploration of a fairy tale through
movement and songs by Eugenie Chan; a documentary theater piece about the Tenderloin district by
Annie Elias; and a musical version of L. Frank Baum’s Ozma of Oz. Our 11th season indeed promises to
be one of our most exciting seasons yet.”
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 9-9-9-9-9-9-9
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In chronological order, The Cutting Ball Theater 2010-11 season is as follows:
THE TEMPEST By William Shakespeare Directed by Rob Melrose November 5 – 28, 2010 Press Opening: November 11 Gala Opening: November 12 Cutting Ball Theater opens its 11th season with THE TEMPEST, one of Shakespeare’s most magical and romantic plays. The exiled Duke of Milan uses sorcery to cause a shipwreck to take his treacherous brother to an enchanted isle. But magic works both ways in this tale when the creatures of the island turn against the Duke and his daughter falls in love with his enemy’s son. In the tradition of Cutting Ball’s uniquely San Franciscan Taming of the Shrew and expressionistic Macbeth, this three-person chamber version of THE TEMPEST promises to give an up close and personal look at the monsters lurking inside all of us. BONE TO PICK/DIADEM By Eugenie Chan Directed by Rob Melrose January 14 – February 13, 2011 Press Opening: January 20 Gala Opening: January 21 Back by popular demand, Cutting Ball Theater presents playwright Eugenie Chan’s BONE TO PICK. Re-imagining the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur in a postmodern exploration of love, war, and complicity, this incendiary play, nominated for the 2008 Glickman Award for Best New Play, received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s Avant GardARAMA!, becoming a stand-out of the 2007-08 season. The San Francisco Chronicle called the production “richly rewarding right down to its marrow,” noting Paige Rogers’ performance as “riveting;” Rogers will reprise her tour de force role for this re-staging. Accompanying BONE TO PICK is a newly commissioned companion piece, also by Chan, DIADEM, a classical retelling of the earlier parts of Ariadne’s myth, when she was first in love. Together, these two original works tell the complete story of Ariadne’s epic romance. LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other plays By Will Eno Directed by Rob Melrose March 11 – April 10, 2011 Press Opening: March 17 Gala Opening: March 18 Cutting Ball Theater welcomes the spring with LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other plays, three short plays by acclaimed contemporary playwright Will Eno, hailed by The New York Times as “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart Generation.” An intimate, hilarious, and ultimately searing confrontation of actor and audience, Lady Grey is the perfect follow-up to Cutting Ball’s 2009 hit production of Eno’s Thom Pain. In Intermission, the fourth wall is broken as the audience watches
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 10-10-10-10-10-10-10
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another audience during the intermission of another play in this meta-theatrical wonder. Finally, in his brief time on the world’s stage, Mr. Theatre lives out the seven ages of man in a playful manner that echoes Shakespeare as much as it does Beckett in Mr. Theatre Comes Home Different. RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL May 6 – June 25, 2011 Risk is This…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival is the only play festival in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage. This year’s festival features five staged readings of new plays that push the boundaries of what theater can be. TONTLAWALD Cutting Ball Commission By Eugenie Chan Directed by Paige Rogers May 6-7, 2011 Based on an ancient Estonian tale about a dark forest and an abused girl who hides there, TONTLAWALD weaves movement, a cappella singing, and storytelling together into a gorgeous spectacle for the eyes and ears. Written by Cutting Ball’s resident playwright Eugenie Chan and directed by co-founder Paige Rogers, TONTLAWALD is slated to receive its fully staged World Premiere as part of the company’s 2011-2012 season. KRISPY KRITTERS IN THE SCARLET NIGHT By Andrew Saito Directed by Rob Melrose May 20-21, 2011 Drumhead looks for Jesus as he puts dead mice into boxes of Lucky Charms. Snowflake freezes on the corner waiting for customers in her coat lined with baby blue fur. With KRISPY KRITTERS IN THE SCARLET NIGHT, playwright Andrew Saito dazzles with sublime, surreal language and imagery fit for a Dalí painting. MADAME HO By Eugenie Chan Directed by Rob Melrose May 27-28, 2011 MADAME HO tells the story of a formidable woman in the Wild West, a real-life 19th century brothel hostess, single mother, Chinese immigrant, great-great grandmother, and ghost. OZMA OF OZ Cutting Ball Commission Adapted from the novel by L .Frank Baum Rob Melrose (book and lyrics) David Levison (music) Directed by Rob Melrose June 10-11, 2011
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 11-11-11-11-11-11-11
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Cutting Ball Artistic director Rob Melrose collaborates with Dave Levison of the San Francisco-based punk/funk group Z.O.N.K. to create Cutting Ball’s first musical, a trip-hop fantasy that captures L. Frank Baum’s American breed of surrealism with just a hint of the post-modern. In OZMA OF OZ, Dorothy is transported to the land of Ev with a talking chicken named Billina. Together, they plot to overthrow the evil Nome King, but realize they cannot succeed with out the help of a mysterious princess. TENDER LOIN Cutting Ball Commission By Annie Elias Directed by Annie Elias June 24-25, 2011 Annie Elias brings her years of experience in documentary theater to the Tenderloin, creating an unforgettable piece about the people and places in Cutting Ball’s neighborhood. Hidden Classics Reading Series This season, Cutting Ball’s Hidden Classics Reading Series explores a variety of extraordinary works ranging from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the Elizabethans, and from 18th century France to modern experimentalism. The series offers a profound look at some of the greatest authors ever to write for the stage in a program that continues to be one of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets. ANDROMACHE By Euripides Directed by Amy Clare Tasker October 3, 2010 Cutting Ball opens the Hidden Classics Reading Series with Greek playwright Euripides’ rarely performed play ANDROMACHE. Long after the Trojan War ends, Hector’s dutiful wife Andromache finds herself in Sparta as the concubine of Achilles’ son Neoptolemus. When Neoptolemus’s wife, daughter of Helen of Troy, learns that Andromache has a son with her husband, she vows revenge. EPICOENE, OR THE SILENT WOMEN By Ben Johnson Directed by Michael Sexton December 5, 2010 From playwright Ben Johnson, Shakespeare’s greatest literary rival, comes EPICOENE, OR THE SILENT WOMEN. A man with a pathological hatred of noise seeks to disinherit his nephew by marrying a quiet woman named Epicoene. Little does he know that the entire marriage was orchestrated to make him go mad in a hilarious cacophony of chaos. THE BRAGGART SOLDIER By Plautus Directed by Evren Odcikin January 30, 2011
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 12-12-12-12-12-12-12
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A pompous soldier can’t help bragging about his exploits while his followers feign admiration (and secretly plot his downfall). THE BRAGGART SOLDIER witnesses the birth of the stock character used for centuries by Commedia dell’Arte in the form of Capitano, later revived in Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. THE FALSE SUITOR By Marivaux In a new translation by George and Anne Crowe Directed by Rob Melrose April 3, 2011 Master comedian Pierre Marivaux is the true heir to Molière in this comedy about class and identity. In THE FALSE SUITOR, his last play performed in a public theater, Marivaux explores social prejudice from a new angle, by digging deep into the heart of his heroine. THE INSECT PLAY By Josef and Karel Capek Directed by Bennett Fisher June 12, 2011 One of the last plays from renowned Czech dramatist Karel Capek and his brother Josef, THE INSECT PLAY constructs an impish satire of human relationships, using butterflies and beetles to explore human vices.
Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents
avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-
garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights
Foundation, the Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental
works. The company has produced a number of World Premieres, West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined
various classics. Recipient of the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent
in the performing arts, Cutting Ball Theater earned the Best of SF award in 2006 from SF Weekly and was
selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007. Cutting Ball Theater was recently
featured in the February 2010 issue of American Theatre Magazine.
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:
WHAT: San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater proudly announces the lineup for its 11th season. The season opens in November with a distinctive take on Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. Back by popular demand is Eugenie Chan’s retelling of the Ariadne myth BONE TO PICK, which received its World Premiere in Cutting Ball’s 2007-2008 season as part of Avant GardARAMA!; this provocative play, starring Paige Rogers, will be accompanied by a newly commissioned companion piece, DIADEM, in
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 13-13-13-13-13-13-13
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January. The company is also poised to present playwright Will Eno’s LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other plays in March. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose will direct all three productions. RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL returns to round out the season in May with five exhilarating new works for the stage, three of which were commissioned by Cutting Ball. In addition to the mainstage season, Cutting Ball Theater continues its Hidden Classics Reading Series with five new installments. The entire 2010-11 season will be staged in San Francisco at the Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor. SCHEDULE: THE TEMPEST By William Shakespeare Directed by Rob Melrose November 5 – 28, 2010 Press Opening: November 11 Gala Opening: November 12 BONE TO PICK/DIADEM By Eugenie Chan Directed by Rob Melrose January 14 – February 13, 2011 Press Opening: January 20 Gala Opening: January 21 LADY GREY (in ever lower light) and other plays By Will Eno Directed by Rob Melrose March 11 – April 10, 2011 Press Opening: March 17 Gala Opening: March 18 RISK IS THIS…THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL May 6 – June 25, 2011 TONTLAWALD Cutting Ball Commission By Eugenie Chan Directed by Paige Rogers May 6-7, 2011 KRISPY KRITTERS IN THE SCARLET NIGHT By Andrew Saito Directed by Rob Melrose May 20-21, 2011 MADAME HO By Eugenie Chan Directed by Rob Melrose May 27-28, 2011
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 14-14-14-14-14-14-14
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OZMA OF OZ Cutting Ball Commission Adapted from L .Frank Baum Rob Melrose (book and lyrics) David Levison (music) Directed by Rob Melrose June 10-11, 2011 TENDER LOIN Cutting Ball Commission By Annie Elias Directed by Annie Elias June 24-25, 2011 Hidden Classics Reading Series ANDROMACHE By Euripides Directed by Amy Clare Tasker October 3, 2010 EPICOENE, OR THE SILENT WOMEN By Ben Johnson Directed by Michael Sexton December 5, 2010 THE BRAGGART SOLDIER By Plautus Directed by Evren Odcikin January 30, 2011 THE FALSE SUITOR By Marivaux In a new translation by George and Anne Crowe Directed by Rob Melrose April 3, 2011 THE INSECT PLAY By Josef and Karel Capek Directed by Bennett Fisher June 12, 2011 All main stage performances Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm All Hidden Classics readings are Sundays at 1pm WHERE: The Cutting Ball Theater in residence at EXIT on Taylor 277 Taylor St., San Francisco
CUTTING BALL ANNOUNCES 10-11 SEASON 15-15-15-15-15-15-15
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TICKETS: For tickets or more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006; discounts available for students, seniors, and groups
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Risk is This…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival is funded by The Kenneth Rainin Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation
The Cutting Ball Theater’s productions are made possible in part by grants from The Compton Foundation, The Creative Work
Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The San Francisco Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, and the Zellerbach Foundation.
media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
media contact: erica lewis-finein · brightbutterfly pr · brightbutterfly[at]hotmail.com
Shakespeare's The Tempest A Jungian Interpretation by Barry Beck Shakespeare's Tempest lends itself to many different levels of meaning and interpretation. The play can be seen on a realistic plane as a tale of political power and social responsibility. It can be seen as allegory examining the growth of the human spirit. The Tempest investigates marriage, love, culture. It is symbolic of man's rational higher instincts verses his animal natural tendencies. This is a play of repentance, power, revenge and fate that can also be seen as fantasy, dream, imagination, metaphor or magic. The Tempest should be allowed to represent many points of view, even those that the author was not consciously or unconsciously aware when he wrote it. One outlook does not invalidate the others. I propose to illustrate The Tempest as a play about what is occurring in the protagonist's mind. To be more specific, it is the growth, maturing and individuation of Prospero. Shakespeare, in a sense of which he could not be conscious, was anticipating Freud and Jung. His servants, Ariel and Caliban, are the agents of synchronicity. By synchronicity, I mean meaningful coincidence; an acausal principle relating inner mind to the external world; a vehicle whereby the ego, if it is open, can glimpse the Self. In Jung's terms, it is strongest when an emotional attachment exists and when there is an element of risk or death. When the subject is ready to learn, the unconscious mind can affect physical reality. By individuation, I mean, "becoming a single homogenous being. Becoming one's own self. Coming into selfhood." 1 To begin showing how this process takes place in Prospero, I would like to take issue with some traditional views of the character. Many critics see Prospero as completely in control of everything that takes place on his island. He is seen as all-knowing, having a perfect plan in place, often seen as calm, as good, as the main force of reason and logic and Man's highest qualities. I do not dispute all of this. Prospero is an amazingly talented, wise, mature man in control of himself and his environment, but he is not perfect. This is a play showing growth and education in its characters, but most of all, the growth and education of Prospero himself. At the outset, he is a man in struggle, an embittered man, a vengeful tyrannical man; not God, unless it is the cruel anthropomorphic God of the early Old Testament. He is not in total control. His plan might not work; it's dependent on timing: 'The time twixt six and now must by us be spent most preciously.' He is not a man of perfect judgment. He has lost his position of political authority by failing to attend to his duties. Now he has this one chance to revise that mistake or it will never be corrected. This chance comes not entirely through Prospero but, 'by accident most strange' and 'a most auspicious star.' Let's look at the tempest, the island and Prospero's agents of effecting the changes on the island. Water symbolizes the spirit. The tempest is a disarrangement of that spirit. It is Prospero's wrath, his temper, anger. The island represents an enchanted locality where things do not work by the normal rules of time, space and physical action and reaction. It depicts the new unknown 'undiscovered country'; lands of Shakespeare's time. The rules of the known world may or may not apply. Prospero's agents of control: Ariel, of the air, the intelligent; Ariel is consciously directed; he is civilized and ordered. Time and space are not obstacles for him, but he is the rational and logical means by which Prospero effects changes in the outer world. When Ariel causes the tempest, becomes the tempest, he's Prospero's conscious vengeance; his upset and his anger. Prospero seems to be calm, but his intentions are not causing calm.
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Caliban, the cannibal represents Man's basest primitive instincts and his physical sensations. Caliban is forever causing upset and acting rebellious and uncontrollable, but playful and creative. Caliban does not obey Prospero's will. If Prospero is omniscient, omnipotent and entirely in control on the island, how could Caliban exist as he does? (As Jung and most of us have wondered: How can evil exist if God is all-powerful and good? You'll be relieved to know I won't try to answer that in this paper, but) I propose a somewhat controversial answer as to why Caliban can cause so much mischief and rebellion and danger in Prospero's perfectly controlled environment. He is Prospero's id. He is part of Prospero. Prospero has taken possession of him, but he takes no responsibility for Caliban's actions. Caliban is Prospero's unconscious control of the island. His unconscious synchronistic control of the outer world affects (and effects) synchronistic change as does Ariel's conscious control. We all need an Ariel and Caliban inside our Psyche. "Caliban is a sort of creature of the earth, as Ariel is a sort of creature of the air. He partakes in the qualities of the brute. Still Caliban is in some respects a noble being. He is a man in the sense of imagination: all the images he uses are drawn from nature and are highly poetical." 2 His 'Be not afeard' speech in Act III reveals him to be poetic, sensual, in tune with nature and naturally creative. He is also the physical strength of the island. We and Prospero need those creative, imaginative, brutish qualities as well as our intellectual, social, logical, conscious, ordered aspects. However, Prospero has denied responsibility for Caliban. Prospero does not know he has an unconscious, potentially barbaric side. And when that side goes ignored and unacknowledged, it can become ever more dangerous and unruly and affect a person's outer world (synchronistically) and return to haunt him in ever more unexpected and dangerous ways. Caliban is the shadow of the island and of Prospero's mind. "Dr. Jung has pointed out that the shadow cast by the conscious mind of the individual contains the hidden, repressed and unfavorable (or nefarious) aspects of the personality. The shadow has good qualities - normal instincts and creative impulses. Ego and shadow, indeed although separate, are inextricably linked together in much the same way that thought and feeling are related to each other." 3 Jung further states in Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, "The shadow personifies everything the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself and yet is always thrusting itself upon him directly or indirectly." In other words, any part of ourselves that we do not accept unconditionally, splits off and becomes more and more primitive and can be projected outward. The Self must integrate or individuate the abyss, the horror, the unpleasantness in order to be complete. If this balancing does not transpire, negative attributes will seem to attack from the outside. Projection will occur. So as with synchronicity: External events take place in space and time which are representations of the thoughts and feelings of Prospero. Some are conscious (Ariel). Some are unconscious (Caliban). The unconscious deals as easily in fantasy as in reality, just as on Prospero's island. It is his dream, his imagery, his psyche working on some serious conflicts and failures for which he blames others. In Prospero's perfect ordered world, why are anarchy, conspiracy and rebellion so prevalent? Why is there a constant struggle to keep disorder at bay and murder from occurring? Caliban, Antonio, Trinculo, Stephano and Sebastian are all permitted to busily plot murder and betrayal. Only late in the play does Prospero seem to remember or become aware that mischief is proceeding too far. Why is the all-knowing protagonist so unaware of what is taking place in his world? This is often explained as dramatic effect or theatrical device, but I think Prospero can only deal with a problem when he is aware of it and he is not always cognizant of what is happening on his island: 'I had forgot that foul conspiracy of that beast Caliban.' And what of one of the more denied, repressed, unmentionable taboos today and throughout human history, only safely dealt with through myth and symbol? Incest; the molestation and rape
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of one's own daughter. Miranda has reached womanhood with herself and her father as the only two humans in their world. 'In mine own cell till thou didst seek to violate the honor of my child.' Prospero has controlled and stopped this impulse in time, but again the dark side was possibly expressed through Caliban with Prospero trying to bury him even deeper in a cave. Speaking of Miranda and Ferdinand and the other human visitors on the island, I think it is significant that they are drawn so thinly as characters while Caliban and Ariel (other than Prospero himself) are the most richly drawn out. Within our psyches, our Ariels and Calibans are only symbolic representations or archetypes. Yet on this island of imagination, we are inside Prospero's mind. Ariel, Caliban and other assorted goddesses, nymphs, fairies and spirits are the real ones and the human beings are thinly drawn cardboard cut-outs; mere portraitures of types. Inside Prospero's mind, the human beings are the archetypes. Ferdinand is 'hero', but such an obvious characature. Miranda is 'wise and innocent child', but a little too innocent for reality. Indeed, she does not even seem to function or exist when she is out of sight and mind of Prospero. He simply puts her to sleep. How convenient. There is growth and education taking place as part of some of the human beings' development, but not as deep and unscripted as the growth and education of Prospero himself. (By the way, another archetype: Trinculo the jester is, what else? 'jester', though it might be argued he lacks the wisdom in folly.) As for Prospero's growth and education, his individuation, on the surface he has learned to become a more responsible ruler, and has learned to forgive his enemies, but two more significant things have happened to him. First, he has delved into and accepted all parts of himself. A very important line which Prospero speaks near the end of the play is, 'These three have robbed me, and this demi-devil (for he's a bastard one) had plotted with him to take my life. Two of these fellows you must know and own; this thing of darkness I acknowledge mine.' Prospero is saying Trinculo and Stephano are the responsibility of Alonso 's court, but more importantly, Prospero is finally fully owning, acknowledging and taking responsibility for Caliban, his shadow, his unconscious. In his growth and individuation, he has taken a big step toward integrating his shadow within himself. The second deeper indication of growth within Prospero is his completion of the entire process; his willingness to give up his magic and the world of imagination and his return to the real world as a mortal human being. In one of his final speeches, he says, 'Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I fortold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air . We are such stuff as dreams are made on.' In a sense, he is coming out of his head and returning to the outside world. He's giving up his ideal utopia where he could define the rules and he will now rule others (and himself) as a mature human being. In his concluding speech, he declares, 'Now my charms are all o'erthrown, And what strength I have's my own. Let your indulgence set me free.' He is releasing Ariel and the spirits; he is leaving Caliban alone with the island. He no longer needs the imaginary representations. He has taken all the necessary archetypes and integrated them within himself. We have seen the unconscious played out as fantasy and then a return to reality. The island was a place of transformation, reconciliation, education, regeneration and repentance. Prospero has not only learned how to rule and forgive. He's learned to live with others and to know, recognize and accept himself. He's reconciled his two halves. He's overcome his impulse to destroy and to punish. He's learned mercy and to do without revenge. He no longer has to be a tyrant or force others to his will. He's won the struggle with himself. His human and virtuous impulses won out over his animal and pernicious urges once all the parts were known and accepted. 'The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.'
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