The Plagiarists' THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH Explores Humanity's Oldest Story and the Man Who Discovered It

 

An epic play several thousand years in in the making just opened in Chicago and it is a not to be missed trip through time. From playwright Gregory Peters and the Plagiarists, The Epic of Gilgamesh as Told by Mr. George Smith, Associate Curator of the British Museum (Deceased) covers the remarkably parallel adventure stories of part-god, part-man Gilgamesh (Raef Carter) and Mr. George Smith (Bryan Breau), the Assyriologist who uncovered much of the Mesopotamian texts.

This particular depiction of Gilgamesh started forming in Aug of 2006 just as Peters and production director Jack Dugan Carpenter were finishing K (a Kafka bio/adaptation produced by Rough Magic: Lincoln, NE). Peters was mid-relocating to Chicago when George Smith, the engraver turned real life Indiana Jones, was brought to his attention. In George Smith, Peters found a working-class engraver of Victorian London, a family man, curiously musing over artifacts at a museum, who's translation talents were serendipitously discovered and fostered by Sir Henry Rawlinson of the British Museum. From there, Smith (an engraver by trade) was compelled to travel from London to Nineveh in a time when trekking even from London to Naples would have proved somewhat of an epic adventure.

Meanwhile, in ancient Sumeria, Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and two-thirds god, rules his people with cruelty and selfishness, so the gods send an equal to challenge him. The epic that unfolds from there and that Smith was researching is, many consider, the bedrock of much of western literature. Counterparts to the Hebrew Bibles' Garden of Eden and the flood story as well as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are plentiful.

Both Smith and Gilgamesh set off on epic quests, win great victories, and eventually... die. Gilgamesh is a story of ancient hubris, Victorian chauvinism, heroic journeys, mythical monsters, the meaning of life, the inevitability of death, archaeological politics, disgruntled gods, language barriers, the Great Flood, and the universality of human experience.

Under the masterful direction of Carpenter, the ensemble of 12, along with a phenomenal team of designers that the Plagiarists have put together, have created two epics that literally make the intimate stage of the Berger Coach House grow and shake to take on the battles, the travels and the truthful moments that Peters has carved out.

Gilgamesh runs Thurs-Fri, Oct 7-29 (Industry show Monday, October 24th) at the Berger Park Coach House, 6205 N. Sheridan Rd. (Granville & Sheridan), 7:30 PM curtain, due to the specific staging no late seating is possible. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.theplagiarists.org, or www.brownpapertickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006 (for specific ticketing questions feel free to e-mail reservations@theplagiarists.org). Tickets are $20, $15 for students and seniors.

CAST: Peter Ash, Bryan Breau, Raef Carter, Daniel Chenard, Bill Daniel, Graham Emmons, Joe Feliciano, Emily Green, Stephen McClure, Isaac Samuelson, Jessica Saxvik, and Julia Stemper

PRODUCTION TEAM: Stephen Gawrit (Sound Designer and Original Music) joins Plagiarists Jack Dugan Carpenter (Director), Christina Casano (Stage Manager), Emma Cullimore (Costumes & Props Designer), Gregory Peters (Playwright), Derik Marcussen (Scenic Designer), and Artistic Ensemble member John Jacobson (Lighting).

About the Plagiarists: Formed in 2007, The Plagiarists steal from literature, visual art, history, and the culture at large to create new theatre that finds the familiar in the strange, the unique in the commonplace and ultimately enlarges the world. This project is supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.

 

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