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FACT SHEET
/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS
For the Months of March and April, 2002
The Antaeus Company
presents
The Proof of the Promise
by Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
translated into rhyming English verse
by Dakin Matthews
The Play: Alarcón's comedy about a Spanish sorcerer
who uses magic to test his daughter's suitors. Originally written
in 1618, La prueba de las promesas has been translated
into contemporary English rhyming verse by Dakin Matthews. The
Antaeus production is the world premiere of this English translation.
Playwright: Juan Ruiz de Alarcón was born in
Mexico City around 1581 and studied law at the University of
Mexico before relocating to Madrid, where he wrote 24 plays while
seeking a court appointment. He is a contemporary of Shakespeare's
and the first playwright of the Americas, antedating his brilliant
countrywoman Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz by almost half a century.
He was probably the finest writer of comedy in the Golden Age,
and was something of a character besides, being not only a Mexican
but a red-headed hunchback as well.
Direction: Anne McNaughton is a founding member of
the Antaeus Company, a graduate of The Juilliard Drama Division
(Group One), a founding member of John Houseman's Acting Company,
and a graduate of the Stanford Drama Department. She is a former
Artistic Director of the Valley Shakespeare Festival and a former
Associate Director at San Jose Rep, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival,
and the California Actors Theatre. Her most recent productions
were Collected Stories for the Globe Theatres in San Diego
and Trial By Jury and The Will for Antaeus.
Translator: Dakin Matthews is an actor, playwright,
Shakespeare scholar, and Professor Emeritus of English (Cal State
Hayward). He was the Artistic Director of the Berkeley Shakespeare
Festival and the California Actors Theatre, taught in the early
years of the Juilliard Drama Division, and was a founding member
of the Acting Company. He has appeared widely on television and
in film, and has had a 35-year stage career--most recently playing
Sir Toby Belch in Jack O'Brien's Twelfth Night for the
Globe Theatres, Capulet in Sir Peter Hall's Romeo and Juliet
at the Ahmanson, the title role of Mercadet for the Antaeus
Company, and currently the lead in Moliere's School for Wives
at South Coast Rep. His translations of Golden Age plays are
published by Smith & Kraus and University Press of the South
and have earned him and the Company two Walker Reid Awards and
an Ovation nomination.
The Company: The Antaeus Company is a classical ensemble
founded in 1990 at the Mark Taper Forum by Dakin Matthews and
Lillian Garrett-Groag. The Company premiered at the Taper with
its acclaimed production of The Wood Demon, and has since
grown into an independent collective of 80 classical theatre
artists, which now makes its home in North Hollywood.
Sponsors:
El Paso: The Association of Hispanic Classical Theatre
awarded the Company its second Walker Reid Award to bring the
production to the international Siglo de Oro Festival.
Phoenix: The Association for Hispanic Classical Theater,
Inc., in conjunction with the joint Annual Conference of the
Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies and the
Renaissance Society of America, is sponsoring this special appearance.
The production is partially funded by the Arizona Commission
on the Arts, the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance
Studies, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Arizona
State University.
Cast: Rhonda Aldrich, Scott Allegrucci, John Apicella,
Terry Evans, Jennifer Gatti (Phoenix), Dakin Matthews, Bill Mendieta,
and Karen Stone (El Paso).
Performs:
Saturday, March 9, 2002 at 8:00 pm at the Chamizal Theatre
in El Paso.
Friday, April 12 at 8:00 pm, Saturday, April 13 at 8:00 pm, and
Sunday, April 14 at 2:00 pm at the Playhouse on the Park in Phoenix.
Tickets:
El Paso: Chamizal Festival: Free admission to public
-- first come, first served.
Phoenix: at Playhouse in the Park: $17.50 General Audience,
$15.00 Students.
Reservations:
El Paso: No Reservations Available.
Phoenix: (480) 965-8900 or go online to acmrs@asu.edu
Location:
El Paso: The Chamizal National Theatre in the Chamizal
Peace Park, El Paso, Texas.
Phoenix: The Playhouse on the Park at the Viad Corporate
Center, southwest corner of Central and Palm Avenues in Central
Phoenix.
Amenities: Phoenix: ADA accessible. Street parking.
Lot parking. Excellent restaurants nearby.
Press Contacts:
Phoenix: Laura Slavin, Program Coordinator, Arizona Center
for Medieval and Renaissance Studies: (480) 965-9323
L.A. Press Contact: John Apicella: (818) 506?5436, Apicella@compuserve.com
and at website
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March 4, 2002 |
