FSU/Asolo Conservatory Presents: “The Rehearsal” – a Farce & Social Satire Mix
(SARASOTA, FL) — The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training continues its 2017–18 season with Jean Anouilh’s The Rehearsal: a comedic satire about class, love, and sex in the French aristocracy. The Rehearsal opens on Wednesday, February 21 and plays through March 11 in the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts. A special pay-what-you-can preview performance will be offered to the public on Tuesday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. with a $3 minimum.
At a French chateau in 1950, Tiger and Eliane (the Count and Countess) are determined to keep their high social standing with a conspicuously lavish ball and a staging of Marivaux’s The Double Inconstancy. But when the enchanting, lower class Lucile is added to the play’s casting, the true politics of the Count and Countess’ passionless marriage is revealed, and their network of extraneous lovers creates unexpected alliances and enacts brutal revenge. The small circle of aristocracy is left shattered and its members forced to face the true nature of their incivility.
“What an exciting opportunity to work at such a renowned institution with this exceptional cast,” says Director Ashley Teague.
The story of this play, although set in another geography and time, is not unfamiliar to Americans. The desperation of these people—clinging to an inherited social power—can serve as a mirror to parts of our own society. Perhaps we can recognize these characters in our own American aristocracy; recognize the play’s events from our 2018 newsfeed?
The Rehearsal premiered at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris in October 1950, and made its Broadway debut in November 1952 starring Jean-Louis Barrault. Roundabout Theatre Company produced the Jeremy Sams translation in 1996, which Variety called “a very dark dance indeed,” praising its “shimmer of French farce and breezy mood of…Noel Coward.”
“Anouilh’s humor comes from characters that can be oafish buffoons, but it also comes from the exacting psychological games these buffoons play on one another,” said Greg Leaming, Director of the Conservatory.
“It’s an incredibly complex comedic voice, and requires a sure-handed skill from every actor onstage. Audiences are going to love how dense and rich this humor is.”
The Rehearsal will feature performances from second-year students Olivia Osol, Erik Meixelsperger, Andy Hardaway, Katie Sah, Dylan Crow, Scott Shomaker, and Jenny Vallancourt. The production will be directed by Ashley Teague, with Scenic Designer Jeffrey Weber, Costume Designer Sofia Gonzales, Lighting Designer Christopher McVicker, Sound Designer Alex Pinchin, and Voice and Dialect Coach Patricia Delorey comprising the production team.
Tickets for The Rehearsal are $30 for both matinee and evening performances. To purchase tickets, call (941) 351-8000 or 1-800-361-8388, visit www.asolorep.org, or visit the Asolo Repertory Theatre Box Office at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. The box office closes at 5:00 p.m. when there are no evening performances, and phone reservations close one hour before all performances.
CASTING FOR THE REHEARSAL
The Countess – Olivia Osol*
Damiens – Erik Meixelsperger
The Count – Andy Hardaway
Hortensia – Katie Sah
Hero – Dylan Crow
Villebosse – Scott Shomaker
Lucile – Jenny Vallancourt*
*Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) was born in Bordeaux, France on June 23, 1910. Early in his career, he worked for Publicité Damour as a copywriter, and wrote comic scenes for the cinema. In 1929, Anouilh collaborated with screenwriter Jean Aurenche on his first play, Humulus Le Muet, and completed his second play—Mandarine—in the same year. By the age of 25, Anouilh decided to devote himself entirely to writing, gaining critical attention with Y Avait Un Prisonnier (1935) and Le Voyageur Sans Bagage (1937). World War II continued to inspire and focus Anouilh’s voice, with Léocadia (1940) and his adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, a clear attack on the Nazis and the Vichy government. After the war, Anouilh’s success began to press into the United States, with La Valse Des Toréadors (1952), The Lark (1953), and the Tony Award-winning Becket (1959). Beginning in the 1960s, audiences began to lose interest in Anouilh’s plays as the careers of Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett began hitting their popular strides. Towards the end of his life and career, Anouilh wrote few plays, now with more conservative attitudes, and also began directing plays by other authors. He died in Lausanne, Switzerland on October 3, 1987.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Ashley Teague is a recipient of the 2017 Embark Fellowship Award for Social Innovation in Entrepreneurship. While with Cornerstone Theater Company, she developed and produced Talk It Out, which travels throughout California creating community-engaged theatre aimed at changing public policy around the school-to-prison pipeline crisis. Most recent directing credits include CHQ Project (Chautauqua Theatre Co., NY), Scapegoat (Delta Cultural Center, AR), Invasion! (Brown University, RI), Side Show: The Musical (Pell Chafee Performing Center, RI), Romeo and Juliet (Brown University/Trinity Rep, RI), A Kind of Providence (AS220, RI), The Crucible (Brown University, RI), Bean (Hollywood Fringe Festival, CA), Jesus Hopped the A Train (Lyric Theatre, CA), Willful (California State Capitol), Healthy Richmond (East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, CA), Ajax (Theater of War Productions, CA), The Shadow Box (Collective Studio: LA, CA), The Book of Liz (Bedlam Theater, CA), and Halfway Home (Blank Theater, CA). Teague assisted director Liesl Tommy and playwright Sarah Ruhl on the world premiere of Melancholy Play: A Chamber Musical at Trinity Repertory Theater and assisted director Kimberly Senior on the Off-Broadway premiere of Discord by Scott Carter at the Cherry Lane Theatre.
ABOUT THE CONSERVATORY
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training is a celebrated three-year graduate program culminating in a Master of Fine Arts degree. For more than 40 years, tens of thousands of actors from across the continent have auditioned for admission. A maximum of 12 students are admitted each year. In their second year, the students perform in the Cook Theatre, a 161-seat space designed to create an intimate experience for the audience and actors. Third-year students are seen on the Mertz Stage working with the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s professional actors in exciting and significant roles.
For more information, visit http://www.asolorep.org/conservatory.
Christopher Kehoe, Marketing Associate
(941) 351-9010 x4820
christopher_kehoe@asolo.org