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The King Stag and A Gozzi Surprise

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The King Stag is set in the magical kingdom of Serendippo. Tartaglia, King Deramo’s evil prime minister, uses his magic to transform the king into a stag and then an old man so that he can steal the king’s one true love for himself.

A Gozzi Surprise was Serban’s twenty-five-minute adaptation of Gozzi’s fable The Love of Three Oranges. 

Credits

Creative team

By

Carlos Gozzi

Translated by

Albert Bermel

Translated by

Albert Bermel

Albert Bermel, whose association with the American Repertory Theater includes translating The King Stag, The Serpent Woman, The Miser, and three of the four Molière farces in Sganarelle, is a distinguished author, critic, translator, playwright, and teacher. His translations, published and performed, include works by Beaumarchais, Cocteau, Corneille, Courteline, Jarry, Labiche, the prize-winning French-Canadian author Languirand, and Molière. His recent works include Molière’s Theatrical Bounty and Carlo Gozzi: Five Tales for the Theatre (co-translated by Ted Emery), both published by University of Chicago Press; and Shakespeare at the Moment: Playing the Comedies, published by Heinemann. A professor emeritus of theater at the City University of New York, Mr. Bermel has received a Guggenheim Fellowship in playwriting and the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.

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Directed by

Andrei Serban

Directed by

Andrei Serban

Director Andrei Serban (Pericles) has been associated with the American Repertory Theater for more than two decades, and has directed Lysistrata, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, The King Stag, Sganarelle, Three Sisters, The Juniper Tree, The Miser, Twelfth Night, and Sweet Table at the Richelieu. In the United States, Mr. Serban has also worked with LaMama ETC, the Public Theater, Lincoln Center, Circle in the Square, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, A.C.T., and the New York City, Seattle and Los Angeles Operas. In Europe, Mr. Serban has worked at the Welsh National Opera, Covent Garden, Théâtre de la Ville, Helsinki Lilla Teatern, the Bucharest Municipal Theatre, and the Paris, Geneva, Vienna, and Bologna Opera Houses, among others.  He has worked in Japan with the Shiki Company of Tokyo. He has taught acting and directing at Yale, University of California, Carnegie-Mellon, Sarah Lawrence, the Paris Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique, and the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard.  Mr. Serban has received grants from the Ford, Guggenheim, and Rockefeller Foundations. Several of his productions have been nominated for Broadway and Off-Broadway awards. He is a tenured professor at Columbia University, where he heads the MFA acting program.

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Set design by

Michael H. Yeargan

Set design by

Michael H. Yeargan

Michael Yeargan designed sets for King Stag, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Threepenny Opera, The Juniper Tree, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Sganarelle at the A.R.T. He is resident designer for the Yale Repertory Theatre and Professor of Stage Design at Yale School of Drama. Mr. Yeargan has designed extensively in American resident theatres and on Broadway, and for opera companies throughout the U.S. and Europe, with designs for the Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, and Covent Garden, Frankfurt Opera and Australian Opera. His U.S. credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, and Houston Grand Opera.

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Costume, mask, and puppetry design by

Julie Taymor

Costume, mask, and puppetry design by

Julie Taymor

 

Julie Taymor choreographed and designed the costumes, masks, and puppetry for The King Stag. Her many credits worldwide include The Lion King (Tony Awards for Best Direction and Best Costumes) and The Green Bird on Broadway, The Green Bird and Titus Andronicus at the Theatre for a New Audience in New York, The Tempest for American Shakespeare Festival, The Transposed Heads for Lincoln Center, and Liberty's Taken (an original musical co-created with David Suehsdorf and Elliot Goldenthal). Her opera productions include Salome in St. Petersburg, Russia, The Flying Dutchman for Los Angeles Opera, Oedipus Rex for the Saito Kinen Festival, Japan, and The Magic Flute for Maggio Musicale, Florence. She directed, designed, and co-wrote (with Elliot Goldenthal) Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass (five Tony nominations, several Obies, as well as numerous other awards) presented at the Edinburgh Festival, on a tour of the U.S. West Coast, and at Lincoln Center in New York. Her first film, Titus Andronicus, was recently released worldwide. She also adapted and directed two stories by Edgar Allan Poe for Public Television's American Playhouse. She is a McArthur and Guggenheim Fellow.

 

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Lighting design by

Jennifer Tipton

Music composed by

Elliot Goldenthal

Music composed by

Elliot Goldenthal

In addition to The King Stag, Elliot Goldenthal's theater compositions include The Serpent Woman at the American Repertory Theater, Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Tempest for Theatre for a New Audience, The Transposed Heads for Lincoln Center and American Music Theatre Festival, and Juan Darien (Obie Award) at Lincoln Center. Mr. Goldenthal's orchestral works include Shadow Play Scherzo, a commission for the Brooklyn Philharmonic in honor of Leonard Bernstein's seventieth birthday, Pastime Variations for the Haydn-Mozart Chamber Orchestra at BAM, and Fire, Water, Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, presented at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. His film scores include Michael Collins (Oscar nomination), Batman Forever, Interview with a Vampire (Oscar nomination), Drugstore Cowboy, and Pet Sematary. He received the New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship and the First Annual Toscanini Award, the Stephen Sondheim Award at the American Music Theatre Festival, the Richard Rogers Award, and an Obie Award.

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Cast

Cigolotti

John Bottom

Cigolotti

John Bottom

Durandarte

Rodney Scott Hudson

Durandarte

Rodney Scott Hudson

Brighella

Harry S. Murphy

Brighella

Harry S. Murphy

Harry S. Murphy, who returns to play Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew and Collie Couch in In the Jungle of Cities, spent many seasons at the American Repertory Theater and appeared in over a dozen productions here, including The King Stag, Angel City, Platonov, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, As You Like It, The School for Scandal, Alcestis, The Balcony, Sganarelle, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and The Marriage of Figaro. His Broadway credits include Macbeth, Othello, Big Time, and The Good Times are Killing Me. He also appeared in such musicals as The Boys from Syracuse and Happy End (at the A.R.T ), as well as Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well . . . and Good Sport. Other resident credits include Room Service, Henry V, Hedda Gabler, Phaedre, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Mr. Murphy appeared in the feature films Calendar Girl, Eddie Macon's Run, and The Return, and his television credits include Cosby, Law and Order, Spenser for Hire, True Blue, and New York Undercover.

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Smeraldina

Priscilla Smith

Smeraldina

Priscilla Smith

Truffaldino

Dennis Bacigalupi

Truffaldino

Dennis Bacigalupi

Tartaglia

Richard Grusin

Tartaglia

Richard Grusin

Clarice

Lynn Chausow

Clarice

Lynn Chausow

Pantalone

Jeremy Geidt

Pantalone

Jeremy Geidt

A.R.T. Senior Actor, founding member of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the A.R.T. Yale: more than 40 productions (including The Seagull). A.R.T.: 100 productions including The Seagull (three turns as Sorin), Julius Caesar, Three Sisters, The Onion Cellar, Major Barbara (Undershaft), Heartbreak House (Shotover), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Quince four times, Snug once), Henry IV (Falstaff), Twelfth Night (Toby Belch), The Caretaker (Davies), The Homecoming (Max), Loot (Truscott), Man and Superman (Mendoza/Devil), Waiting for Godot (Vladimir), The Threepenny Opera (Peacham/Petey), Ivanov (Lebedev), Three Sisters (Chebutkin), Buried Child (Dodge), The Cherry Orchard (Gaev) and The King Stag (Pantelone). Teaches at Harvard College, Harvard’s Summer and Extension Schools and at the A.R.T/MXAT Institute. Trained at the Old Vic Theatre School and subsequently taught there. Acted at the Old Vic, Young Vic, The Royal Court, in the West End, in films and television and has been hosting his own show “The Caravan” for the BBC for five years. Came to the U.S. with the satirical revue The Establishment and acted on and off Broadway, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and at the Lincoln Center Festival. Lectured on Shakespeare in India and the Netherlands Theatre School. Received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Boston Actor and the Jason Robards Award for Dedication to the Theatre.

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Angela

Diane D'Aquila

Title role in Dido, Queen of Carthage. A.R.T.:  The King Stag (created the role of Angela), The Changeling (Beatrice-Joanna), Gillette (Brenda), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Stepdaughter), Love's Labour's Lost (Rosaline), Robert Wilson's the CIVIL warS (Young Woman) and Alcestis (title role, also toured to France), and the world premiere of Paula Vogel's Hot n' Throbbing (Woman). Associate artist of the Stratford Festival of Canada, credits include: King Lear (Goneril), Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra), Richard III (Elizabeth), Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), The Alchemist (Doll Common), Oedipus Rex (Jocasta), King John (Constance), Elizabeth Rex (Elizabeth), The Swanne Parts I, II, and III (Scarecrow). Recipient of 2004 ACTRA for outstanding female performance and 2004 Gemini for best performance by an actress in a televised dramatic program for Elizabeth Rex.

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Christopher Liam Moore
Christopher Liam Moore

Leandro

Christopher Moore

(he/him) A.R.T.: Becoming a Man, Fingersmith (dramaturg), All the Way, Olympian Games, Alcestis, the CIVIL warS, The King Stag (1984). Broadway: All the Way (Walter Jenkins). Off-Broadway: The Far Country, Atlantic Theater Company. Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Guthrie, Yale Rep, South Coast Rep, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Rep, Old Globe, Long Wharf. TV/Film: “10 Items or Less” (series regular), “Star Trek: Voyager,” “Friends,” The Cherokee Kid, “Judging Amy” (recurring). Founding Member of Cornerstone Theater Company.

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Deramo

Thomas Derrah

Deramo

Thomas Derrah

A.R.T.: 119 productions, including R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Myster) OF THE UNIVERSE (R. Buckminster Fuller), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Endgame (Clov), The Seagull (Dorn), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Birthday Party (Stanley), Highway Ulysses (Ulysses), Uncle Vanya (Vanya), Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Richard II (Richard). Broadway: Jackie: An American Life (23 roles). Off-Broadway: Johan Padan (Johan), Big Time (Ted).  Tours with the Company across the U.S., with residencies in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Moscow, and has recently been performing Julius Caesar in France. Other: I Am My Own Wife, Boston TheatreWorks; Approaching Moomtaj, New Repertory Theatre; Twelfth Night and The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.; London’s Battersea Arts Center; five productions at Houston’s Alley Theatre, including Our Town (Dr. Gibbs, directed by José Quintero); and many theatres throughout the U.S. Awards: 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, 2000 and 2004 IRNE Awards for Best Actor, 1997 Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role of Shlemiel the First). Television: Julie Taymor’s film Fool’s Fire (PBS American Playhouse), "Unsolved Mysteries," "Del and Alex" (Alex, A&E Network). Film: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther II. He is on the faculty of the A.R.T. Institute, teaches acting at Harvard University and Emerson College, and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

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Ensamble

Hilary Chaplain, Benjamin Evett, Joshua Lehrer, Melissa Osborn, Tammy Richards, and Adam Rogers

Ensamble

Hilary Chaplain, Benjamin Evett, Joshua Lehrer, Melissa Osborn, Tammy Richards, and Adam Rogers

A Gozzi Surprise

Performed by the Company