NoHo Arts and Theatre Festival ~~ June 7 & 8, 1997
New Place Studio Theatre
	Go To Mayhem Go To Mysteries Back to Repertoire
From left: Martin Ferrero, John Achorn, Jonathan Nichols, Tuck Milligan, Mikael Salazar, Marsha Dietlein. Seated: Dakin Matthews, John Michael Morgan, John Apicella.

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The Blind One-Armed Deaf Mute A French Parade by Thomas Simon Gueullette The Master -- JOHN ACHORN Gilles -- JOHN MICHAEL MORGAN The Sharper -- TUCK MILLIGAN Directed by JOHN ACHORN A Street, Paris. Arouind 1730

The French parade tradition flourished in the late 1600s to the dawn of the Revolution. It was a direct descendant of the Commedia dell'Arte, brouight to France by the Italians a century earlier. The parades were literary versions of the outdoor playlets of the fairgrounds, where the Italian stock characters became increasingly blended with the French ones. Giles is a very French derivation of Pedrolino/Pierrot--an innocent, sometimes impish servant who exists to eat and sleep. Gueullette (whose name comes from the colloquial "mug") was a lawyer who, inchanted with Giles, began writing his own parades. Watteau was to base his famous painting of Giles on one of Gueullette's parades. Jacques Copeau rediscovered Gueullette in the 1920s, staging his works as part of the new revival of the Commedia dell'Arte in this century. We are pleased to introduce this little piece, set upon our bare outdoor stage, in the improvised spirit of both the traditions from which it is derived.

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The Bannerers -- The Creation and Fall of the Angels The Fall of Man -- Cain and Abel Adaptations by Dakin Matthews All across Europe all through the late middle ages, early June was the traditional time for the great outdoor theatre celebrations commonly called (today) the Mystery Cycles. Each town would present its version of religious history, from Creation to the Last Judgement, in a series of biblical playlets produced and performed on pageant wagons by the local guilds. These plays themselves were the descendents of church performances of the Easter story; and as they grew bigger and more secular, they were moved out of the Church, and--in search of better weather--to later in the year, traditionally on the feast of Corpus Christi. The Antaeus Company presents four selections from this cycle: The Banns, The Creation, The Fall, and Cain and Abel. The style of performance, which we call classical street theatre, is an attempt to re-create, in modern terms, what it must have felt like for a ragtag company of wandering players to perform these sometime solemn, sometimes racy plays in a small town square of the fifteenth century.

 The Bannerers

from the "N. Town" Cycle

First Bannerer -- MIKAEL SALAZAR

Second Bannerer -- MARTIN FERRERO

Third Bannerer -- JONATHAN NICHOLS

The Creation and Fall of the Angels

from the Wakefield Cycle

God -- DAKIN MATTHEWS

Lucifer -- JOHN APICELLA

Bad Angel One -- MARTIN FERRARO

Good Angel One -- MARSHA DIETLEIN

Good Angel Two -- MIKAEL SALAZAR

Bad Angel Two -- JONATHAN NICHOLS

The Fall of Man

from the Wakefield Cycle 

God -- DAKIN MATTHEWS Angel -- MARTIN FERRARO Adam -- MIKAEL SALAZAR Eve -- MARSHA DIETLEIN Satan/Snake -- JOHN APICELLA Demon -- JONATHAN NICHOLS

Cain and Abel

from the Wakefield Cycle 

Pikeharness -- JONATHAN NICHOLS Ox/Angel -- MARSHA DIETLEIN Ox/Angel -- MIKAEL SALAZAR Cain -- JOHN APICELLA Abel -- MARTIN FERRERO

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