Repertory Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director James Bundy and Managing Director Victoria Nolan, will present three re-imagined classics, a rediscovered play from the mid-twentieth century, and a world premiere during its 42nd season in 2007-2008.
William Shakespeare's history play,
Richard II, opens the season, September 21 – October 13. "When the work received its first revival in 1599, the heirless Queen Elizabeth I faced a rebellion led by the Earl of Essex. Elizabeth famously quipped, 'I am Richard II, know ye not that?' For theatre-goers today, Shakespeare's lyrical recounting of the fate of this king, who ruled fourteenth-century England, may resonate for reasons far different from Queen Elizabeth's: Richard's approval ratings have plummeted; he leads an unpopular foreign war that is impoverishing the nation; and his cronies are helping themselves to the tax coffers," state press materials.
Yale Repertory Theatre resident director Evan Yionoulis is staging
Richard II. Her recent New York credits include Howard Brenton's
Sore Throats (Theatre for a New Audience),
Daisy Foote's
Bhutan (Cherry Lane Theatre), and Richard Greenberg's
The Violet Hour (Broadway),
Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center Theatre), and
Three Days of Rain (Manhattan Theatre Club, Obie Award for direction). At Yale Rep, she directed
Black Snow, The People Next Door, and
Heaven, among others.
Next is
Trouble in Mind, described as "the proud and pointedly funny play by Alice Childress, October 26 – November 17. Based upon her own experience, it tells the story of an African American actress who struggles to maintain her dignity as an artist while rehearsing a new, Broadway-bound play.
Trouble in Mind was a smash hit Off-Broadway in 1955. Producers optioned the play for Broadway, but Childress refused to brighten the ending for a commercial audience, so the move was cancelled. Today she is best known for the 1973 novel
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich, which she adapted for a 1978 film that starred
Cicely Tyson and
Paul Winfield."
Yale Rep's staging is by Irene Lewis, Artistic Director of Centerstage in Baltimore, who directed that company's production of
Trouble in Mind in early 2007. Prior to her sixteen-year association with Centerstage, she worked regularly at Hartford Stage, becoming Associate Artistic Director there. In addition, she has directed at Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Sundance Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, New York Shakespeare Festival, and Glimmerglass Opera. At Yale Rep, she staged George F. Walker's
Escape from Happiness.
Tartuffe, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière's rollicking satire of hypocrisy, arrives November 26 – December 22. It marks the return to Yale Rep of Daniel Fish, who directed the world premiere of
The Black Monk by
David Rabe at Yale Rep in 2003. His credits include
Rocket to the Moon (Long Wharf Theatre and Bard Summerscape),
Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, and
Cymbeline (California Shakespeare Festival),
Hamlet, Loot, The Importance of Being Earnest, and
The Learned Ladies (McCarter Theatre Center), and the world premiere of
Poor Beck (Royal Shakespeare Company).
The New Year ushers in the world premiere of
The Evildoers, billed as "a ferociously funny work by New York-based playwright David Adjmi, January 18 – February 9. It tells of two couples, whose ties of friendship and marriage fray and bind them ever closer in fiendish ways."
"We are thrilled to continue Yale Rep's commitment to producing new plays," said Artistic Director James Bundy. "This commitment has allowed our audiences in recent years to be among the first to see new works by award-winning writers like Rolin Jones, Elizabeth Meriwether,
Sarah Ruhl,
August Wilson, and now, David Adjmi," he concluded.
Adjmi's plays have been developed and performed at The Juilliard School, La Mama, Etc., Lincoln Center, MCC Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre (London), and Soho Rep. He has received a Jerome Fellowship in Playwriting, The
Jon Robin Baitz Grant for New Writing, a Royal Court International Residency, a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, The Barry Kemp, Norman Felton, and Iowa Opportunity Awards, a Sundance Institute/Ucross residency, and a Juilliard Fellowship in Playwriting, among many others. Adjmi is the Artistic Director of Vinegar Tom Players and a member of MCC's Playwrights Coalition.
Rebecca Bayla Taichman will direct
The Evildoers. Her credits include the upcoming premiere of
Sarah Ruhl's
Dead Man's Cell Phone (Woolly Mammoth), Theresa Rebeck's
The Scene (Second Stage Theatre) and
Mauritius (Huntington Theater Company),
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's
The Velvet Sky and
Sarah Ruhl's
The Clean House (Woolly Mammoth), as well as Euripides's
Iphigeneia at Aulis (Yale Rep).
Yale Rep's Artistic Director James Bundy directs Oscar Wilde's comedy
A Woman of No Importance, March 21 – April 12, "a seldom seen play of serial seducers, moralizing monogamists, secret pasts, and simmering heartbreak. At Yale Rep, he has directed
The Psychic Lives of Savages, The Ladies of the Camellias, and co-directed
All's Well That Ends Well. Mr. Bundy's directing credits include work at the Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Acting Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and The Juilliard School."
A sixth playtitle and details to be announced will conclude Yale Rep's season, April 25 – May 16.
All performances will be held at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel Street (at York Street), New Haven. For subscription information, visit
www.yalerep.org/subscribe or call (203) 432-1234.
