Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Shakespeare Theatre Company Presents Molière’s Tartuffe

Lenne Klingaman & Luverne Seifert (r) star in Tartuffe

From our friends at the Shakespeare Theatre Company...

Helen Hayes Award Winner Steven Epp Returns in Title Role

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) will finish its 2014-2015 season with Molière’s Tartuffe. A co-production with South Coast Repertory and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Tartuffe is directed and designed by Dominique Serrand, the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company, a company dedicated to creating new work and reimagining work from the past. Tartuffe will play at the Sidney Harman Hall (601 F Street, NW) from June 2 - July 5, 2015.

Orgon has fallen under the spell of the pious fraud Tartuffe, at great cost to his family and household in Tartuffe, Molière’s crowning achievement and scathing indictment of religious hypocrisy. The family watches in astonishment as their leader obeys every word of Tartuffe’s false piety and divine authority - who meanwhile is stealing secrets and seducing the lady of the house. Only by conspiring, hiding in closets and climbing under tables (all in true French farce fashion) can the family reveal Tartuffe's fake divinity.

“We have never before produced Tartuffe, just as we have (still) never produced The Misanthrope, perhaps Molière’s two most well-known plays,” says STC Artistic Director Michael Kahn. “The reason is simple. Great plays demand great talent and an even greater vision for their contemporary relevance. Under the direction of Dominique Serrand, Tartuffe takes on unmistakably contemporary overtones.”

Director Dominique Serrand is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company and co-founder and former Artistic Director of the Tony Award®-winning Théâtre de la Jeune Lune. With his production of Tartuffe, Serrand brings a modern feel to Molière’s signature masterpiece of religious hypocrisy. The production comes off of critically acclaimed runs at South Coast Repertory Theatre and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where the San Francisco Chronicle hailed it as “bracingly comic, edgily somber” and “revelatory.”

The ensemble is led by Steven Epp as the seemingly pious Tartuffe. Known as one of the finest comic actors in America, Epp has previously appeared at STC in 2012 as Truffaldino in The Servant of Two Masters, earning the 2012 Helen Hayes Award for Best Actor. Epp is joined by Sofia Jean Gomez, playing Elmire, the object of Tartuffe’s desire. Gomez returns to STC after her high-flying role as Ariel in this season’s production of The Tempest.

Tartuffe is presented as a part of Comedy Française - The Clarice Smith Series.
The Clarice Smith Repertory Series is sponsored by the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.

Molière’s Tartuffe, adapted by David Ball, will play at Sidney Harman Hall June 2 through July 5, 2015. To purchase tickets or to learn more, patrons can call the Box Office at 202.547.1122 or visit ShakespeareTheatre.org.

* This production contains adult situations.

TARTUFFE CAST:
Steven Epp is an actor, writer and co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company, based in Minneapolis. Epp also served as co-Artistic Director at Théâtre de la Jeune Lune, winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre. Epp has co-authored many plays including Children of Paradise, which earned the 1993 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play. He’s appeared in numerous roles in regional theatres across the country including the Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Some of his acting credits include title roles in Crusoe, Hamlet, Gulliver, Figaro, and The Miser.

Sofia Jean Gomez has appeared in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s productions of The Tempest and Argonautika (Helen Hayes Nominee Best Supporting Actress). She has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions and regional theatres including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Denver Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theatre Center, and Yale Repertory Theatre.

The cast of Tartuffe also includes Christopher Carley (Valere), Brian Hostenske (Damis), Nathan Keepers (Laurent), Lenne Klingaman (Mariane), Gregory Linington (Cleante), Michael Manuel (Madame Pernelle/Officer), Luverne Seifert (Orgon), and Suzanne Warmanen (Dorine). Other cast members include Ross Destiche, Maria Leigh, Michael Litchfield, and Stephanie Schmalzle.

THE DIRECTOR:
Dominique Serrand is co-Artistic Director of The Moving Company, with Steven Epp. A Paris native, Dominique was Artistic Director and one of the co-founders of 2005 Regional Theatre Tony Award winner Théâtre de la Jeune Lune from 1978 to 2008. Dominique has acted, conceived, directed, and designed for most Jeune Lune productions for more than 30 years, concentrating primarily on directing. Some of his directing credits include Romeo and Juliet, Children of Paradise: Shooting a Dream, Three Musketeers, The Pursuit of Happiness, Queen Elizabeth, Tartuffe, Gulliver, and The Miser. He staged several operas including The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Juan Giovanni, Figaro, Carmen, Maria de Buenos Aires, and Mefistofele. Dominique has directed on numerous stages including PlayMakers Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, and Children’s Theatre Company, amongst others. He is a USA/Ford and Bush fellow. Dominique has been knighted by the French government in the order of Arts and Letters.

TARTUFFE DESIGNERS & ARTISTIC TEAM:
The Artistic Team includes Adaptor David Ball, Co-Scenic Designers Dominique Serrand and Tom Buderwitz, Costume Designer Sonya Berlovitz, Lighting Designer Marcus Dilliard, and Sound Designer Corinne Carrillo.

For this production, Dominique Serrand was assisted by Casting Directors Joanne DeNaut, CSA and Amy Potozkin, CSA; STC Resident Casting Director Carter C. Wooddell; Literary Manager Drew Lichtenberg; Assistant Directors Craig Baldwin and Nathan Keepers; Production Stage Manager Joseph Smelser; and Assistant Stage Manager Elizabeth Clewley.

*Artists and dates are subject to change.

DATES: June 2 - July 5, 2015

LOCATION: Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street, NW

TIMES: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays at 7:30 PM, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM.

• Note: No performances on Tuesday, June 9, and Saturday, July 4

TICKETS: $20.00 - $110.00. Premium seating is also available for weekend performances. Special discounts are available for military, students, seniors and patrons aged 35 and under. Contact the Box Office at 202.547.1122 or visit ShakespeareTheatre.org for more information.

YOUNG PROSE: Every Tuesday at 12 PM, STC releases an allotment of $20 tickets to patrons ages 35 and younger. $20 tickets are limited to performances through the following Sunday and are available in person at the Box Office and via phone at (202) 547-1122. Advance tickets are available for $25. There is a limit of four tickets per person. ID is always required to pick up Young Prose tickets.

ACCESSIBILITY: Sidney Harman Hall is accessible to persons with disabilities, offering wheelchair-accessible seating and restrooms, audio enhancement and Braille and large print programs.

• An audio-described performance of Tartuffe will be on Saturday, June 27 at 2 PM.

• A sign-interpreted performance of Tartuffe will be on Tuesday, June 30 at 7:30 PM.

• Seating in the sign-interpreted and audio description section can be reserved by calling the Box Office, (202) 547-1122.

PARKING: The LAZ garage is located directly beneath Sidney Harman Hall; enter from E or F Streets between 6th and 7th Streets. E Street is the recommended entry because of events at the Verizon Center. When entering, follow signs directing you to 620 F Street. Elevators will take you to the Winter Garden lobby next door to Sidney Harman Hall on F Street.

METRO: Gallery Pl-Chinatown station on the Red/Green/Yellow lines: Use the Arena/7th Street exit. Sidney Harman Hall is visible one block to your left. Judiciary Square station on the Red line: use the F Street exit to the National Building Museum, turn left and walk 1.5 blocks along F Street to 6th Street.

ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has become one of the nation’s leading theatre companies. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Managing Director Chris Jennings, STC’s innovative approach to Shakespeare and other classic playwrights has earned it the reputation as the nation’s premier classical theatre company. By focusing on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced, the Company’s artistic mission is unique among theatre companies: to present theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their work through a 21st-century lens.

A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and acting classes to discussion series as well as accessible programs like the annual Free For All, one of STC’s most beloved annual traditions, allowing audiences to experience Shakespeare at no charge.

Located in our nation’s capital, STC performs in two theatres, the Lansburgh Theatre and Sidney Harman Hall in downtown Washington, D.C., creating a dynamic, cultural hub of activity that showcases STC as well as outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. STC moved into the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre in March 1992, after six years in residency in the Folger Library’s Elizabethan theatre. At that time the Penn Quarter neighborhood was not considered desirable by many; since then, STC has helped drive its revitalization. The 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall opened in October 2007.