[percy-l] A Confederacy of Dunces Stage Performance/Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta ( August 11-Sept. 5, 2010)
Henry Mills
hpmills3 at austin.rr.com
Fri Jul 2 21:11:30 EDT 2010
Percy-L members,
This PSA may be of interest to some of you. A few years ago Theatrical
Outfit did a rendition of Lost in the Cosmos, information about which is
contained in the Percy-L archives.
Best,
Henry Mills
__________
June 28, 2010
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Ruthie Ervin
ruthieervin at embarqmail.com
919.630.0103
THEATRICAL OUTFIT PRESENTS AUGUST 2010 WORLD PREMIERE OF
A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES BY JOHN KENNEDY TOOLE,
ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE BY TOM KEY
(Atlanta, GA) From August 11-Sept. 5, 2010, Theatrical Outfit will present
a world premiere of Tom Key's stage adaptation of A Confederacy of Dunces by
John Kennedy Toole. Ever since becoming a 1980 publishing phenomenon and
winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Toole's grand farce, set in
1960s New Orleans, has enticed playwrights and filmmakers alike, but
securing the rights to adapt the work has been a rare, much-coveted
occurrence.
In the fall of 2008, Atlantan Tom Key received an unexpected
phone call from the book's agent, who offered him the rights for a limited
time. No stranger to adapting literary works to the stage, Key has enjoyed
a successful string of adaptations, including Walker Percy's Lost in the
Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Seminar and The Moviegoer, John Bunyan's classic
allegory Pilgrim's Progress, a Reader's Theater extraction of C.S. Lewis'
Chronicles of Narnia, and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory. Of the
initial conversation Key recalls, "I was ecstatic. My antennae are always up
for rich dialogue, which is the best soil for translating a piece to the
stage, and A Confederacy of Dunces is so full of truth and brilliance and
hilaritythere's almost a comic button at the end of every scene."
Taking its title from a work by Irish satirist Jonathan Swift
("When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign,
that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."), A Confederacy of
Dunces chronicles the extravagantly colorful, eccentric world of one
Ignatius J. Reilly, perhaps one of literature's most enduringly rendered
anti-heroes. A lumbering, loutish mountain of a man, Ignatius carries a
volcanic vitriol for the modern era and is ever at the eruption point; with
abandon, he spouts and spews his disdain of the social, racial, economic and
religious states of contemporary America. Clad in his trademark green
hunting cap with earflaps, voluminous pleated tweed trousers, plaid flannel
shirt and muffler (which to Ignatius' mind suggests "a rich, inner life") he
spends the bulk of his time in his long-suffering mother's house, feverishly
scribbling his lengthy indictment of the last four centuries in Big Chief
notebooks. When Ignatius does venture past Constantinople Street, he is
forced to function in a culture he loathes, much like his oft-quoted idol,
Roman philosopher Boethius.
The story, in both the novel and Key's stage adaptation, opens
at the foot of Canal Street, under the famed D. H. Holmes Department Store
clock, with the sun visibly setting on the Mississippi River. From the
get-go, Ignatius is embroiled in a madcap misadventure that involves a lute
string, a near-riot, and a rickety but lucky escape from the cops. Soon the
seductive, seedy side of New Orleans itself joins a carnival cast of
characters ranging from hapless Keystonian police officer Mancuso and
cool-jive street-smart Jones to porno-peddling barkeep Lana Lee and
muscatel-swilling, bowling addict Santa Battaglia. When his tipsy mother
Irene must anti-up for wrecking a French Quarter façade with her car,
Ignatius, "soldier of ideas," must risk "crumbling his psyche" by entering
the working man's world to help pay the damages. The ensuing string of jobs
and outlandish events create a masterful portrait of a modern-day prophet
bellowing in the wilderness.
While the work is marked by inspired humor and biting satire, it
also contains a pathos and profundity that keep its characters from becoming
caricatures. Of Ignatius, Tom Key says, "He is genius with his verbiage,
but he's also disconnected from reality. Ignatius is presented in such a
way that he's almost impossible to like, but he so exposes the chronic
hypocrisy that exists in the country that we have to pull for himWe want
our geniuses to be corporate and well-adapted, so if we cast off the Rileys
from our livesour sometimes off-putting, unchecked natural human
impulseswe're the poorer for it as a society."
Theatrical Outfit's production of A Confederacy of Dunces will
be directed by Richard Garner, Co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of
the acclaimed theater Georgia Shakespeare. Because of his long experience
with mounting Shakespearean plays, Garner was Key's immediate choice as
director. Explains Key, "As Walker Percy has noted, A Confederacy of Dunces
is a commedia 'of Falstaffian proportions,' and Richard, through his
breathtaking imagination, knows how to capitalize on the strengths of live
theater to deliver great literature to modern audiences in explosive,
surprisingly complex ways."
Of the challenges presented by the extensive New Orleans
locations, Garner comments, "Tom has done a smart job keeping all the
flavors of the characters intact while moving the story along with good
speed, so we need a creative design conceit that allow us to flow
effortlessly from one scenic location to the next." Referring to Globe
Theatre productions, Garner continues, "By fueling the audience's
imaginations with a vivid lighting and sound design, we'll provide just
enough visual hints to make each space distinctive, while our real focus is
to draw out all the glorious quirks for all the charactersthis show is
going to be an actor's dream with all the detailed vocal and physical work."
Set designer Sara Ward, a Louisiana native, has drawn on her
personal familiarity with New Orleans deftly to create and suggest the
distinctive flavors of the French Quarter and the surrounding cityscapes.
Since 1995, Tom Key has served as Executive Artistic Director of
Theatrical Outfit. He conceived and co-authored the off-Broadway hit, Cotton
Patch Gospel, with the late singer-songwriter, Harry Chapin, earning two
Dramalogue Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Theater and a nomination as
Best Actor by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. His one-man play C.S.
Lewis On Stage has been presented for over two decades, including
productions at The John F. Kennedy Center, Harvard, Yale and Oxford
Universities.
Richard Garner is in his 24th season as Producing Artistic
Director and Co-Founder of Georgia Shakespeare (LORT D), in Atlanta. He
trained as an actor at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco
and in theatre administration with Leslie Urdang at Double Image Theatre in
New York. His directing credits include Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, The
Winter's Tale, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Metamorphoses, Richard II,
and the recent world-premiere musical adaptation of Antigone. He also
directed Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, a co-production between Georgia Shakespeare
and the Alliance Theatre.
Cast in the role of Ignatius is Atlanta newcomer Aaron Munoz,
who appeared Off-Broadway in the title role of Frankie, as Bottom in
Midsummer Night's Dream (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and as Michal in The
Pillowman (The Studio Theatre). In the role of Ignatius' long-suffering
mother Mrs. Reilly is Kathleen McManus, who grew up in 1960s New Orleans and
has been an Atlanta actor for several decades; she was seen last season as
Big Edie in Grey Gardens at Actor's Express and Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! at
Theatre Emory. E. Roger Mitchell, who plays the Narrator/Watson, was last
seen in Theatrical Outfit's The Sunset Limited, Horizon Theatre's A Cool
Drink of Water, and Kenny Leon's True Colors' Jitney, Miss Evers Boys and
Ceremonies In Dark Old Men; his upcoming films include Blood Done Sign My
Name, The Crazies, and Battle Los Angeles (2011).
Completing the 16-member cast are: Brik Berkes (Mr. Levy/Ensemble), Andrew
Crigler (George/Ensemble), Rachel DeJulio (Waitress/Ensemble), Laura Floyd
(Darlene/Myrna/Ensemble), Marianne Fraulo (Trixie/Santa/Miss
Annie/Ensemble), Agnes Harty (Lana Lee/Mrs. Levy/Ensemble), Enoch King
(Jones/Ensemble), Mark Kinkaid (Sergeant/Ensemble), Eric Mendenhall
(Gonzales/Ensemble), William S. Murphey (Claude/Clyde/Ensemble), Andrew
Puckett (Dorian/Ensemble), Scott Warren (Mancuso) and Mary Wolfson (Miss
Inez/Ensemble).
Members of the creative team are Set Designer Sara Ward, Costume Designer
Jamie Bullins, Lighting Designer Mike Post, Sound Designer Thom Jenkins,
Props Designer Maclare "MC" Park, and Hair and Wig Designer Monty Schuth.
For more information about show times and tickets, call the box office at
678.528.1500 or visit www.theatricaloutfit.org
<http://www.theatricaloutfit.org/> . Theatrical Outfit, 84 Luckie Street,
Atlanta, GA 30303.
# # #
About Theatrical Outfit
Theatrical Outfit entertains, educates and enlivens our audiences by
producing classic and contemporary theater with an emphasis on work
indigenous to the culture of the American South. The themes of spirituality
and racial understanding are particularly resonant in our culture, and we
are committed to giving them dramatic voice in the heart of downtown.
Founded in 1976, Theatrical Outfit is dedicated to Atlanta-based artists of
national caliber.
Theatrical Outfit is a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 organization supported by
private and public funding, along with ticket sales revenue. Major support
is provided by the Fulton County Commission through the Fulton County Arts
Council, the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, Metropolitan
Atlanta Arts Fund, the Georgia General Assembly through the Georgia Council
for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/attachments/20100702/23f0921a/attachment.html>
More information about the Percy-L
mailing list