Silver Spring Stage Presents 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,' 10/28-11/19

Silver Spring Stage presents The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Guillaume Tourniaire and produced by Seth Ghitelman. Set in a darkly comic world between heaven and hell, a court case examines the plight and fate of the New Testament's most infamous and unexplained sinner. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot will perform weekends October 28 to November 19.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is the first of Silver Spring Stage's 2011-2012 Project Underground series. Project Underground presents challenging offerings, productions that few community theaters will take on, but ones that will excite and stimulate audiences. The second show will be The Beauty Queen of Leenane. The two-show series can be purchased at a discounted single price of $30.

Silver Spring Stage is located in the Woodmoor Shopping Center, lower level (next to the CVS) at Colesville Road and University Boulevard. Ticket prices are $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM and Sundays November 6 and November 13 at 2:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at www.ssstage.org. Information is also available by calling (301) 593-6036.

The author of the hit plays Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street and the recent The Motherf**ker with a Hat, Stephen Adly Guirgis has a unique and powerful voice in today's theater. The New York Times wrote about him, "a fierce and questing mind that refuses to settle for glib answers, a gift for identifying with life's losers and an unforced eloquence that finds the poetry in lowdown street talk." In The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, he brings together his trademark street characters and historical figures in a stirring and humorous conversation on the paradoxes of faith, Christian existential pain and the conflict between divine mercy and human free will. Guirgis was inspired to write the play from his childhood when he learned as an eight-year-old of Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus Christ. He said, "It threw me a big jolt. I was little but I remember thinking, well, if I can forgive someone, why can't God, who was supposed to be all loving. I was intrigued by the theory that Judas might have been a zealot and had a strong belief in Jesus's revolution but misunderstood the mission. I just said, 'Let me go back to the beginning, where the problem first came up, and see where it takes me.'" The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is his imaginative, funny and thrilling exploration.

The director Guillaume Tourniaire says about the show: "What appeals to me about The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is its universality; the characters aren't simply biblical figures, they're mythological archetypes -- they're us -- and that should resonate with both non-Christians and Christians alike, as well as those who sometimes forget that the storied saints and sinners of the bible were real people too. The play is also about more than one specific betrayal and damnation; it speaks to self-betrayal leading the way to damnation, and that they road to redemption lies in accepting love, whether it comes from God, from others, or from ourselves."

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot tells the story of a court case over the ultimate fate of Judas Iscariot. Set in a courtroom in a corner of purgatory called Hope, Fabiana Aziza Cunningham, an agnostic defense lawyer who obtains a writ from the God she doesn't believe in to force a retrial for Judas. Presided over by a judge, who hanged himself during the Civil War, the rules of procedure are pretty random. But they allow Cunningham and her prosecutorial adversary, an aspiring yes-man named Yusef El-Fayoumy, to bring on a parade of historical witnesses: Judas' mother, Mother Teresa, Pontius Pilate, Sigmund Freud, Mother Teresa, Mary Magdalene and St. Peter. This is a play to be experienced!

The cast, playing multiple roles, features Cory Atwood, Kecia Campbell, Mattie Cohan, Scott Courlander, Cara Duckworth, Jonathan Dyer, Norm Gleichman, Erika Imhoof, Karen Lawrence, Natalie McManus, Brendan Murray, Erica Smith and Wies Valen. The production team includes Kristen Skolnik (Stage Manager), Linda Bartash (Set Design), Nick Sampson (Sound Design), Jim Robertson (Light Design), Richard Ley (Props/Set Dressing), and Linda Swann (Costumes).

Silver Spring Stage continues its 2011-2012 season with the family holiday favorite A Christmas Carol (Dec. 9-Dec. 18), imaginative comedy Dead Man's Cellphone (Jan. 13-Feb. 4), thrilling mystery Hapgood (Feb. 24-Mar. 16), frothy delight Enchanted April (Apr. 13-May 5), shocking tragedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane (May 18-June 9), and compelling drama Stop Kiss (June 29-July 21).

Silver Spring Stage has provided quality, affordable theatre for over 40 years. We are an all-volunteer, non- profit organization and appreciate any contribution to enable us to offer excellent and entertaining productions. Thank you for your interest and support of Silver Spring Stage. All programs at Silver Spring Stage are made possible in part by grants from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and the Maryland State Arts Council.

 

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