2006-2007 Davis Center Season
CLASSICS RE-VISIONED
The 2006-2007 season, Classics Revisioned features bold new works from ancient Greek myths re-imagined in modern times to award-winning children’s stories adapted for the stage by Georgetown artists, the Theater Program’s bold new season, Classics Re-Visioned, is a dynamic fusion that blends the energies of new and old, music and drama, students and guest artists.
The Gospel at Colonus
Conceived and Adapted by Lee Breuer
Music Composed by Bob Telson
Directed by Isaiah Wooden
October 12–15 and 18–21, 2006
DC Premiere
The Gospel at Colonus is an exciting re-visioning of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, a sermon on redemption, healing and community. Creators Lee Breuer and Bob Telson blend the coolness of the classical Greek text with the energy of American Gospel music. Setting the story in the context of a Pentecostal Service – spirit-filled with preaching, music, and call and response – audience quickly becomes participants and share in a wholistic experience of praise.
Eurydice
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Derek Goldman
November 9-12 and 15-18, 2006
DC Premiere
This area premiere of an award-winning play from one of ‘s hottest playwrights ( The Clean House, A Passion Play ), boldly re-imagines the tragic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with a mix of poetic imagery, contemporary characters, and surprising twists. The result is at once playful and profound – a lyrical exploration of music and memory, and of love and loss.
Right as Rain
Written and Directed by Derek Goldman
January 25-27, 2007
World Premiere
Shedding light on one of history’s darkest chapters, Right as Rain celebrates Anne Frank’s resilient spirit and unbounded imagination. Penned and directed by Georgetown Professor Derek Goldman, developed with Georgetown University students and guest artists.
Swimmy and Other Stories
Adapted and directed by Natsu Onoda
February 21-25, 2007
World Premiere
Come see Swimmy the Fish swim, Fredrick the Mouse sing, and the hungry caterpillar eat through the set! Your favorite children’s books will come inventively alive on stage for this original production, featuring on-the-spot, large-scale drawing, video, and live sound and animals. This experimental performance, devised in collaboration with GU students, is appropriately upbeat for children, and wacky enough for grown-ups. Sponsored by C’74.
Big Love
By Charles Mee
Directed by Maya Roth
March 22-25 and 28-31, 2007
Acrobatic, lyrical, filled with music, humor and humanity, Big Love is Charles Mee’s highly theatrical modern-day adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women . Fifty brides escape the eve before their arranged marriage to fifty brothers, seeking asylum and hope in . A meditation on love, rights and gender. A serious comedy of mythic proportions!
OTHER SPECIAL EVENTS
33 Variations
September 29 and 30, 2006
33 Variations is presented by critically acclaimed director Moses Kaufman, Artistic Director of the Tectonic Theater Project and Guggenheim Fellow in Playwriting, in conjunction with Arena Stage and Georgetown University’s Theater Program. It is a collaborative residency that grows in connection to Beethoven’s work of the same name. Through this feature, students gain an opportunity to participate in the developmental workshop and to collaborate with a professional theater company.
Sigui, Siguila, Siguila: S’absenter pour etre enfin la
(Vanishing, to be There at Last)
By Amadou Kone
Directed by Roger Bensky
Presented by the French Department
Performed in English with French subtitles
November 30-December 3, 2006
World Premiere
Amadou Koné’s major new work is a cautionary tale about a fictitious West African nation whose long-reigning leader has died and which we now find stuck in the impasse between mourning the past and bringing on the future. Why? Because a secret something called siguila, a sacred representation of the Origins, and which is essential to the ritual bestowing of power on the new leader, has been inexplicably misplaced. Unless siguila, can be found and restored to its rightful place in the rituals of transition, the society of this fictitious land will forever remain in socio-political limbo.
To see photos from the production, click here.
Children of Abraham: Festival of Interfaith Arts
Inspired by the Memory of Father B Davis, this newly created week-long festival celebrates the shared cultural and spiritual traditions of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities, as well as Buddhist ones in order to foster interfaith renewal, understanding, and peace. The festival’s inaugural year includes performances by The Robyn Helzner Trio (Music of the Jewish Diaspora), Simon Shaheen (and Quantara), who who dazzles his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles, and Naomi Shihab Nye, whose poetry draws on her Palestinian-American heritage,