A lovely, intimate, quiet, comfortable, well-equipped theatre—all of us dream of it. How wonderful it would be to have a space of one’s own, so of course, we continue to investigate possible options for a permanent location—existing, remodeled, or newly built. The most vital criteria, among many that are important, is that the Theatre is able to continue, without compromise, to produce quality productions of classic/classically-influenced works. Therefore, a location/building/building project whose expense necessitates that Brigit Saint Brigit divert its mission/choice of material to more “marketable” productions is a dealbreaker. Our priority could be said to be from the inside to the out. Funding and energy will always go first to the production and the artists.
Beyond
Brigit is currently involved in various negotiations and a continuing search for a new permanent home in which to begin our twentieth season (2012-2013). We are proceeding carefully in our search for a space that is both affordable and that will once again enable us to engage in all aspects of our programming.
Please note:
The Theatre’s phone number—(402) 502-4910--and website
address—bsbtheatre.com--will remain the same.
As we reached the end of April, the challenge of overcoming actor-scheduling
conflicts during May/early June for the large-cast
Canterbury
Tales was becoming greater.
(Our seasons have always been completed by early to mid-May.)
Artistic Director Cathy Kurz had been in touch with Colorado-based actor
Tammy Meneghini months before about the possibility of scheduling one Equity
Guest-Artist special performance of the
The Great Goddess Bazaar for BSB
at some point in the future. It
was a lucky turn of kismet when
Kurz learned that the actor planned to be in
Brigit is looking at including
Brigit
Saint Brigit is pleased to announce that the location for the rest of the
Theatre’s productions this season will be at 1002 Dodge, in the ground floor
corner space of the Capitol District’s 1000
Situated
on the northwest corner of Dodge and
We are
creating a 70-seat theatre, with a spacious lobby that we think you will
find comfortable and friendly.
The rest
of the season includes the works of three Irish authors and Geoffrey
Chaucer—Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer
(opening on February 17th), Samuel Beckett’s one-act
Krapp’s Last Tape played on the
same bill with J. M. Synge’s one-act
The Tinker’s Wedding (April)—and Geoffrey Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales (May).
So says the holy
houseguest to the Mrs. of the manor. Thus
patriarch Orgon and his entire family begin to be “Tar-TOOF-fi-fied”!
In his satire of
religious hypocrisy, Moliere boldly and hilariously exposes the type of
powerful “holy man” in the upper echelons of the Catholic France of his day
whose pursuits were all-too-worldly. Tartuffe’s
devout disguise soon gains him live-in status—as Orgon’s spiritual
advisor--and unlimited access to the family legacy.
His base of operations established,
he hangs up his hair shirt and turns his attention to another kind of
seduction.
Dazzling
characterizations and wickedly sparkling dialogue, performed by such BSB
veterans as Eric Salonis, Laura Leininger, MaryBeth Adams, and, in the title
role, Equity Guest Artist John Durbin, propel this lightning-paced and
brazenly funny expose of moral double-dealing and the gullibility that makes
it possible.
For this opening holiday production, Brigit has chosen to partner with the
Joslyn Castle Trust (JCT), enhancing the period play by staging it in the
Castle’s lusciously historic environment. Each
performance will commence at 7 p.m. and be followed by a wine/crudite
reception sponsored by the JCT, providing an opportunity for audience
members to mingle, meet the actors, and wander through the exquisite castle
that is among Sarah Joslyn’s incredible legacies.
Join us for a uniquely festive evening that combines a crisp and lively
satire with a warm and lovely encounter afterwards.
Because Brigit is in transit in a transitional season, please note that the schedule for Tartuffe is somewhat unusual. The play will be offered for nine performances, and seating is limited, so you will want to book your prepaid reservations early. The Theatre will begin taking reservations on October 10th. Reserve by calling (402) 502-4910 or selecting the BOX OFFFICE page here at BSBtheatre.com. Check the CALENDAR page for performance dates. See you soon!
09/07/2011...
Walkin' the World: McPherson, Beckett and Synge
A Triple Tribute to Brigit's Ireland
As Brigit “walks the
world” between permanent homes this season, what better company than the
spiritual vagabonds and their tinker ancestors given voice by three of
Ireland’s best storytellers?
“Succinct, startling and eerie, and
the funniest McPherson play to date.”
(
“…enthralling fable… tingles with
the sense of what is knowable and unknowable . . . not that you think in
such lofty terms while you’re listening to the liveliest, funniest
dialogue yet… McPherson is quite possibly the finest playwright of his
generation.”
(New York Times).
(NYT).
McPherson spins
what begins as a seemingly simple story anchored in the lives of a
handful of unremarkable (albeit messy) people, but quickly becomes both
an intense and hilarious struggle for survival--in this life and the
next. With an acute sensibility
of the Irish tradition--hilarity in the face of obliteration, the
haunting power of myth, and a turn of phrase that makes even profanity
lyrical, McPherson creates a theatrical wonder that touches us on every
level.
Since Brigit’s
first celebrated run of this play, the Theatre has received many
requests to bring it back. What
better season to mount an encore—with the original cast—than one in
which BSB will triple its annual tribute to the playwrights of Ireland,
offering not one, but three highly-acclaimed Irish dramas?
“Tears and
laughter, they are so much Gaelic to me” (S. Beckett).
Lights up.
Sitting before a tape recorder,
facing front, a “wearish” old man: Krapp.
It is his 69th birthday, and between bottles of wine, bites of
banana, and Vaudevillian business with the banana peels, he readies
himself for the annual ritual of recording his views of the past year,
“separating the grain from the husks.”
But first he fits
the tape (
What is recorded
memory? Is life a unified whole or are we different chapters of
once-upon-a-time?
“Poetry, drama, humor, horror, and
even a hint of redemption—it’s all to be found in the 50 minutes of
Krapp’s Last Tape”
(Frank Rich, 1986, NYT)
“…a tragic clown; just as Krapp is
addicted to bananas, it’s not in his nature to avoid slipping on the
peel he tosses to the floor… [yet there’s] an affecting dignity.
He is both wise man and fool, an
old gent trapped, like the rest of us, in his own story”
(Peter Marks, 1998, NYT)
“a feat of great precision and
tense economy… (BAM).
Beautiful, poignant, and heartbreakingly funny, it explores the light
and the dark of the journey that is a man’s life”
(Signal Ensemble Theatre in
(April-second half of double bill with Beckett production)
What’s not to love
about Sarah Casey, the Beauty of Ballinacree? “A great sight surely”
thinks tinker-companion Michael Byrne, even though since the changin’of
the moon, she’s proclaimed her ultimatum: a wedding ring made over their
tinkers’ fire and the priest to proclaim the vows.
All that’s left is to bribe the
tippling priest with 10 shillings and a milk can, and keep Michael’s
mother, the “oul flagrant heathen” Mary Byrne from stealing the goods to
“keep Mary Byrne in her full pint.”
“Rollicking,
joyful, aggressive characters—a burst of freedom in earthy comedy led by
females old and young, both being the likely descendants of the randy
and imperious Maeve.”
The
If you think the Middle Ages is only about morality plays and the Spanish Inquisition (which no one expects), meet Geoffrey Chaucer. Better still, meet some of his Canterbury pilgrims—the relic-selling monk, the prissy Abbess and her well-fed lapdog, the randy Miller, and best of all, the gap-toothed, many-husbanded Wife of Bath. These and other unlikely compatriots animate this boisterous masterpiece of the kind of real-life “sinners” we can all relate to.
The pilgrimage
takes place in spring, so Brigit will present it then and looks to mount
it in the authentic style of the period: outdoors, with each scene
played on adjoining platforms or flatbed wagons—vital, fast-paced,
delightfully funny.
