San Francisco’s cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater opens its 2008-09 season with VICTIMS OF DUTY from the master of absurdism, Eugène Ionesco. Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose helms Ionesco’s most surreal and autobiographical play, starring David Sinaiko and Felicia Benefield, and featuring Avery Monsen and Ryan Oden, October 24 through November 23 (Press opening: Thursday, October 30). The production begins Cutting Ball Theater’s residency at EXIT on Taylor, 277 Taylor Street in San Francisco. For tickets ($15-30) and more information, the public may visit cuttingball.com or call 800-838-3006.
A humorously eccentric experiment in theatrical possibilities, VICTIMS OF DUTY finds Choubert and Madeleine enjoying a quiet evening at home in their Parisian apartment where “nothing ever happens.” There is an unexpected knock at the door. A detective enters, claiming that he is trying to track down the previous tenant. What starts as a simple interrogation quickly becomes one of the most mind-bending journeys ever imagined for the stage.
“I’ve wanted to direct VICTIMS OF DUTY for 15 years,” said Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose. “Not only is it one of my favorite plays, but it is also a fitting choice for our first production as EXIT on Taylor’s resident company - they have presented 33 productions of Ionesco and have never produced this particular play. With this production, which will be a provocative, ultra-modern embrace of the absurdist spirit, we hope to usher in a new era of experimental work in our new theatrical home.”
Cutting Ball Theater has assembled a talented ensemble for VICTIMS OF DUTY. David Sinaiko returns to the Company as Choubert. He has appeared in Cutting Ball’s productions of Endgame, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, The Sandalwood Box, Ajax, for Instance, Macbeth, and Woyzeck, among others. Additional credits include productions at the Goodman Theatre and The Actor’s Gang; he is a founding member of Chicago’s New Crime Productions. Felicia Benefield returns to the Company as Madeleine. Benefield most recently appeared in Cutting Ball’s Avant GardARAMA! 2008, as well as The Taming of the Shrew, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, and Woyzeck, among others.
Also returning to the Company are Avery Monsen as Mallot/Nicolas D’eu, and Ryan Oden as The Detective. Monson has performed in Cutting Ball’s productions of Endgame and The Taming of the Shrew; a recent graduate of Oberlin College, he also trained at the Moscow Art Theater and with the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. Ryan Oden previously appeared in Cutting Ball productions of Woyzeck, Fighter Airplane, Ajax, for Instance, Helen of Troy, and The Sandalwood Box; additional credits include productions at TheatreWorks, Impact Theatre, and Theatre Rhinoceros, among others.
Artistic Director and co-founder of Cutting Ball Theater Rob Melrose has directed several productions for the company, including Avant GardARAMA!, Endgame, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamletmachine, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, Roberto Zucco, The Vomit Talk of Ghosts (World Premiere), The Sandalwood Box, Pickling, Ajax, for Instance, Helen of Troy (World Premiere), and Drowning Room (World Premiere). Additionally, he has translated No Exit, Woyzeck, Pelléas and Mélisande, and Ubu Roi. Melrose’s directing credits include productions at the Guthrie Theater (Pen), California Shakespeare Theater (Villains, Fools, and Lovers), and Crowded Fire (The Train Play), among others. He has assistant directed on productions at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet,
Oskar Eustis, director), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (The Pillowman, Les Waters, director), American Conservatory Theater (Indian Ink,
Carey Perloff, director), Guthrie Theater (Othello,
Joe Dowling, director), and Yale Repertory Theatre (Twelfth Night, Mark Rucker, director). He is currently a 2007 – 2009 recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors.
Romanian-born playwright Eugene Ionesco is considered the father of the Theatre of the Absurd. Rejecting the logical plot, character development, and thought of traditional drama, Ionesco created his own anarchic form of comedy to convey modern man’s existence in a universe ruled by chance. He is the author of more than 20 plays, including The Bald Soprano (1950), The Lesson (1951), The Chairs (1952), Victims of Duty (1953), Jack, or the Submission (1954), Rhinoceros (1959), Exit the King (1962), A Stroll in the Air (1963), Macbett (1972), and Journeys Among the Dead (1980). Ionesco’s peers included
Samuel Beckett and Arthur Adamov; his work in absurdism laid the foundation for contemporary playwrights including
Harold Pinter and
Tom Stoppard.
Co-founded in 1999 by husband and wife team Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. Cutting Ball Theater has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, Magic Theatre, and Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works, including Bone to Pick by Eugenie Chan. The company has produced a number of World Premieres and West Coast Premieres, and re-imagined various classics. Cutting Ball Theater earned the Best of SF Award in 2006 for Theater from SF Weekly, and was selected by San Francisco Magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007
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