A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company led by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, continues its 22nd season and the third season in its new Pasadena home with Endgame by Samuel Beckett, opening tonight, October 26 and closing Saturday, November 23, 2013, with previews starting October 19. Endgame, directed by Geoff Elliott, is performed in repertory with Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare, September 14 through November 24, and The Guardsman by Ferenc Molnár, October 5 through November 30.
Many consider Endgame to be the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's greatest work. Endgame mixes beauty, vitality, and wry humor in a devastating distillation of the human condition. The title of the play is taken from the game of chess and is a term used for the end portion of the game where very few chess pieces are left; Beckett was an avid chess player.
Beckett, known for plays that are identified as Theatre of the Absurd, wrote the work in the mid-fifties. The one-act play with four characters, Hamm, Clov, Nagg and Nell, premiered at
The Royal Court Theatre in London in a French language performance in April of 1957. It was mounted at the
Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in January of 1958. In the early 1960's, Endgame was performed in English in Paris. Later Beckett directed two productions of the play - one in Berlin in 1967 and one in London in 1980.
The cast includes
Mitchell Edmonds* as Nagg, Geoff Elliott* as Hamm, Jill Hill* as Nell and Jeremy Rabb* as Clov. *member of Actors' Equity
Endgame continues the 2013-2014 A Noise Within season in which the plays are thematically tied by the universal attempt to regain what has been lost. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott said, "Much of life is about managing loss - and the search to find what we perceive is lost: a longing for spent youth as in Come Back, Little Sheba, or the sadness of the tireless search for a lost child in Pericles. Sometimes it is re-discovery - the thrill of romance in The Guardsman, a self-deception of great entitlement in Macbeth, or sometimes it's the acceptance of endings in Endgame. And sometimes it's making sure that what you believe doesn't end up completely sabotaging your life, as inTartuffe."
A Noise Within's 2013-14 Season continues A Christmas Carol by
Charles Dickens (December 7-22), Tartuffe by Molière (February 22-May 24), Macbeth by
William Shakespeare (March 15-May 11), and concludes with Come Back, Little Sheba by
William Inge (April 5- May 17).
A Noise Within is located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. Single ticket prices for Endgame start at $34. Contact the A Noise Within box office in person, via phone at 626-356-3100, or online at
www.ANoiseWithin.org for updated pricing and seat availability. "Pay What You Can " tickets are available for Thursday, October 24 at 7:30 PM. Tickets must be purchased in person, at the Box Office after 2:00 PM on the day of the performance. Cash only. Subject to availability.
A Noise Within performs and promotes classical theatre as an essential means for our community to confront the universal human experience, expand personal awareness and challenge individual perspectives. A Noise Within's mission is to produce world-class performances of the great works of drama in rotating repertory with a resident company; to educate and inspire the public through programs that foster an understanding and appreciation of history's great plays and playwrights; and to train the next generation of classical theatre artists.
A Noise Within was founded in 1991. Operating out of a former Masonic Temple in Glendale, they staged a production of Hamlet that was accessible and relevant at a time when classic theatre was not widely performed in Los Angeles. The twenty-year evolution from a small neighborhood theatre to the current acclaimed repertory company has been marked by constantly raising the bar on what great classical theatre can be. The move to a new, permanent home provides A Noise Within with expanded artistic possibilities, a greater scope of educational opportunities, and the capacity to meet demand and reach its full potential.
A Noise Within Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott both hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Florida and a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. In 1991, with a mere $3,000 from their personal savings account, they set an ambitious vision for ANW: to establish a home for the classics that would present a challenging repertory, take artistic risks, and ensure accessibility to diverse audiences. Through their passion and persistence, the theatre now ranks as the leading presenter of great world drama in Southern California.
Pictured: Geoff Elliott in a scene from THE CHAIRS, a previous A Noise Within production. Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz.
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