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View Winners → 25th Anniversary Season A Noise Within Presents Man of La Mancha
Arts Apr 01, 2017
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Geoff Elliott as Don Quixote and Kasey Mahaffy as Sancho Panza. Courtesy photo / Craig Schwartz
By Dale Wasserman, Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion March 26 – May 21, 2017 Press Opening April 1
Shakespeare’s King Lear Now through May 6, 2017
A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre, celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season, presents Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, and based on Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and Shakespeare’s King Lear. ANW Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs both productions. La Mancha performs March 26-May 21, 2017; Lear is now performing through May 6, 2017. Tickets for both productions start at $25.
“Though many often associate Man of La Mancha with elaborate set pieces and fanciful costumes,” says Rodriguez-Elliott, “Its earliest stagings were sparse, encompassing the spirit of a rag-tag band of prisoners putting on a play with found objects. The play celebrates the power of make believe, and I want to go back to those roots. This production is fueled by an almost childlike sense of ‘play’ – where an ordinary object can seamlessly become a horse simply because we endow it as such.”
“My goal is to evoke that magical, improvisational quality we have as children but is often lost as adults. The modern-day setting – a bleak, destitute ‘holding tank’ for prisoners – is intentional. Reminiscent of third-world prisons and military detention centers, and populated with empathetic characters, I want this La Mancha to feel personal to our audiences. The stakes are real, and I want the transformation from hardened criminals to true believers to be palatable to our audiences.”
“This is a real-world fairy tale: despite the dire circumstances, through the power of art, these prisoners have the ability to transform their claustrophobic existence into the vastness of Cervantes’ vision.”
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott references this quote by Pablo Picasso: “We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell.”
Artistic Director Geoff Elliott takes on the challenge of playing both Lear and Cervantes/Don Quixote in repertory; In addition to the director and actor, King Lear and La Mancha share some cast and Artistic Design Team members – Fred Kinney (Scenic), Angela Balogh Calin (Costume), and Ken Booth (Lighting).
On two Saturdays (April 22 and May 6) audience members have a unique opportunity to see both shows on the same day. Called The Great Escape, audience members are able to dine with the casts and artistic team between the performances. Elliott said, “It’s a unique opportunity to gain insight on our design and conceptual process.” Tickets to The Great Escape are $50 per person and include food and drinks (show tickets are purchased separately).
“In Lear, this personal journey of a family dealing with an ailing patriarch has global implications,” says Rodriguez-Elliott, “The breakdown of a nation runs concurrent with Lear’s mental decline. At the beginning of the play, see a man at the zenith of his power, a modern day dictator who is feared and has never heard the word NO. The world we enter is a violent, callous one. At the end, we see a man transformed.”
Elliott says, “In his way, Cervantes/Don Quixote is Lear’s doppelganger. As he assumes Quixote’s persona, Cervantes gains the courage and the strength needed to face the uncertain future of the inquisition.”
“It seemed natural to pair Shakespeare and Cervantes–two essential figures in English and Spanish culture–on the heels of the 400th anniversary of their deaths. I saw an opportunity to approach Lear and La Mancha in a fresh new way. Both stories are deeply personal and have such an epic worldview.” Rodriguez-Elliott points out that ANW’s state-of-the-art theatrical space – 283-seat house with a thrust stage – is the perfect playground on which to explore the epic and intimate nature of these two plays.
“La Mancha is about the power of imagination – and how important it is onstage and in our own lives. It’s a play that truly represents the transformative power of the theatre; a perfect way to end our 25th Anniversary season,” says Rodriguez-Elliott.
ANW’s Beyond Our Wildest Dreams, the spring 2017 season also includes Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O’Neill playing now through May 20, 2017. This gentle American family comedy is set in the first decade of the 20th Century over a July 4th weekend. Tickets for Man of La Mancha, King Lear and Ah, Wilderness!, starting at $25, are available online at www.anoisewithin.org and by phone by calling 626-356-3100.
