Friday, March 03, 2006

In the Midst of Rehearsals and asking...

Friends-- Do any of you have old lamps hanging around?
I'd really appreciate the loan or gift of them. The Sugan Theatre is doing TALKING TO TERRORISTS at the BCA, and the set designer wants banks of lamps-- all sorts, tall and small-- in the background (symbols of "Enlightened" civilization....????) Actors and friends have been asked to scour basements and attics for lamps to lend or give to the production. I'll lug them back and forth.

This is also a "heads up" about this production, which opens March 17th. I feel that it is really important, addressing difficult things that are currently in the headlines but on a broad canvas, "sub specie", as it were. The script, by Robin Soams, is constructed from verbatim interviews with people whose lives were shaped (warped?) by terrorism-- victims, terrorists, analysts, relief workers, politicians, soldiers... from several different parts of the world. The play won multiple prizes when at the Royal Court in London last year, and this Boston production is its American premiere. The cast and director are wonderful-- I am so proud to be part of it! Though I think the play is deeply humane as well as challenging, it is possible that it will be controversial and that some people will be so offended by it that they will try to shut it down: perhaps even threaten the BCA theatre or the cast and crew. I hope that people from FUSN will see it, and make up their own minds-- and see it early, before whatever hullabaloo erupts and people feel they have to "takes sides".

The Súgán Theatre Company is pleased to announce that the final production of its 2005-06 theatre season will be the American premiere of Talking to Terrorists by Robin Soans, to be directed by Carmel O’Reilly. The production will run from Friday, March 17 through Saturday, April 8 in the Plaza Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. Talking to Terrorists will be available for press viewing beginning Saturday, March 18 at 8pm.

Can you imagine anything that mattered so much you'd blow up a pub full of people? Strap explosives to your body? Hold a petrified child at gunpoint? Until we understand how ordinary people can do these things we won't stop them. Talking to Terrorists is for anyone who has ever wanted to ask why.

“I looked round the room, and I thought, I'm the only person in this room that hasn't killed anyone.”

“I realised that if I had been born in Crossmaglen or South Armagh, I would have been a terrorist. And that's an understanding every soldier should have.”

To find out what makes ordinary people do extreme things, playwright Robin Soans, and the director and actors of the original Out of Joint / Royal Court production interviewed those from around the world who have been affected by or involved in terrorism. Regarded as the most important new play of 2005 by many of London’s critics, this play recounts the experiences of peacemakers, journalists, hostages and those who crossed the line.

Playwright Robin Soans has written two previous documentary plays, A State Affair (2000), also written for Out of Joint, and the highly acclaimed The Arab Israeli Cookbook (2004).

Director Carmel O'Reilly is Artistic Director of the Súgán Theatre Company. She has received two Elliot Norton awards for outstanding direction -- the 2001 award for Bailegangaire, and the 2002 award for This Lime Tree Bower and The Lonesome West. Plays she has also directed for The Súgán include the award winning St Nicholas and The Sanctuary Lamp.

The production will feature Geralyn Horton, Eve Kagan, Gabriel Kuttner, Lau Lapides, Mario Mariani, Dale Place, Dafydd Rees, and Mason Sand. Designers include J. Michael Griggs (scenic), John Malinowski (lights), Rachel Shufelt (costumes) and Nathan Leigh (sound),


About the Súgán Theatre Company
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Carmel O’Reilly, The Súgán Theatre Company, now entering its 14th season, is the only professional theater company in the greater Boston area dedicated to the production of contemporary plays that draw from the well of Irish and Celtic culture. Súgán productions have received multiple Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards as well as an Elliot Norton Special Citation in 1997 for “enriching Boston for five years with provocative productions of contemporary Irish and Celtic works". The Súgán is a Resident Theatre Company at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA). The Súgán is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Boston Cultural Council, Anglo-Irish Bank, IONA Technologies, Performix Technologies, and the Ireland Funds.

About the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston Center for the Arts is an urban cultural village, incubating and showcasing the performing and visual arts and artists of our time. Occupying a city block in Boston’s historic South End, the BCA provides a creative “home” for artists, a welcoming destination for audiences, and an arts connection for youth and community. For more information, visit www.bcaonline.org.

Tickets are priced $35-40 and are available from the BostonTheatreScene.com Box Office (617) 933-8600 and may be charged to Amex, Visa or MasterCard. Senior citizen, group, and student discounts are also available. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.BostonTheatreScene.com. Student Rush tickets at $15 are available two hours before curtain.

For further information, please contact us at info@sugan.org.

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