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AN ILIAD

AN ILIAD

ABOUT

An Iliad is a modern day retelling of Homer’s Iliad. The setting is a room – a theatre, a bar, an empty space in the present day. The time is now – the present moment - when this classic story of man’s need for violence and man’s longing for peace is most relevant. The lone man onstage is a storyteller – possibly Homer, possibly one of the many bards who followed in his footsteps. He is doomed to tell this story throughout history and is spirited to this present location by his masters – the gods and aided throughout the evening by his inspiration – the muses. The evening seems fraught with failure as this hollowed-out, tortured soul channels the mysteries and the miseries of that long ago battle beneath the walls of Troy. He finds inspiration, inhabits the characters, is stymied by ferociously painful memories, finds his feet again and throughout the evening catapults the story into our very hearts by speaking in our idiom, with examples from our lives. We become implicit. We are there. The evening ends with a collapse, a renunciation, a rebellion and finally an offering as our embattled narrator looks into the abyss and pleads for our understanding. Although it is essentially a one man show, the muse is inhabited by a bass player – a live musician whose presence transforms the performance into a series of dialogues – between actor and musician, actor and audience, musician and audience.

When we first started writing our piece, we were responding to the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and we were worried about the seemingly endless wars that yawned in front of us. As we investigated violence, war, and rage we came to see that we human beings have been struggling with these realities since we first started writing down our stories. We also realized, as we performed our play, that story-telling itself is one of the most basic of human impulses. Our play speaks of war and violence, of grief and compassion and it does so through the device of a story-teller. The audience sits in the darkness and watches the images that spring to their mind’s-eye through the ancient vocabulary and rhythms of Homer. No country is immune from violence. Everyone needs to hear a good story. We think An Iliad can provide an audience 100 minutes of respite from their daily lives – time to think, time to remember, time to resolve to change– for the better.

AN ILIAD started out as an examination of war and man’s tendency toward war. In the end, it also became an examination of the theater and the way in which we still tell each other stories in order to try to make sense of ourselves, and our behavior. Someone started telling the story of the Trojan War, in all its glory and devastation and surprise, over 3,000 years ago. We pass it on.

STORE

 

 

Production HISTORY

AN ILIAD was originally produced by Seattle Repertory Theatre (Jerry Manning, Producing Artistic Director; Benjamin Moore, Managing Director) in Seattle, Washington, opening on April 9, 2010. It was directed by Lisa Peterson; the set design was by Rachel Hauck; the costume design was by Marcia Dicxy Jory; the lighting design was by Scott Zielinski; the original music and sound design were by Paul James Prendergast; the stage manager was Michael B. Paul; and the dramaturg was Janice Paran. The production featured Hans Altwies as The Poet. 

AN ILIAD was produced at the McCarter Theatre Center (Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director; Mara Isaacs, Producing Director) in Princeton, New Jersey, opening on October 29, 2010. It was directed by Lisa Peterson; the set design was by Rachel Hauck; the costume design was by Marina Draghici; the lighting design was by Scott Zielinski; and the original music and sound design were by Mark Bennett. The production featured Stephen Spinella as The Poet. 

AN ILIAD was produced at New York Theater Workshop (James C. Nicola, Artistic Director; William Russo, Managing Director) in New York City, opening on March 7, 2012. It was directed by Lisa Peterson; the set design was by Rachel Hauck; the costume design was by Marina Draghici; the lighting design was by Scott Zielinski; the original music and sound design were by Mark Bennett; and the production stage manager was Donald Fried. The production featured Denis O’Hare and Stephen Spinelli as The Poet on alternating nights.

The Company

DENIS O'HARE

(Co-Author/The Poet) As Actor: NYTW: Vienna Lusthaus, The Devils. Broadway: Elling, Inherit the Wind, Sweet Charity, Assassins, Take Me Out, Major Barbara, Cabaret, Racing Demon. Off-Broadway: Uncle Vanya, A Spanish Play, Pig Farm, Helen, Ten Unknowns, Lonely
Planet, Silence Cunning Exile, The Arabian Nights, Woyzeck, Hauptmann. Film & TV: J. Edgar, The Eagle, Changeling, Milk, Duplicity, Michael Clayton, A Mighty Heart, The Proposal, Garden State, "The Good Wife," "True Blood," "American Horror Story." 

As Author: several screenplays. Upcoming: Theater project in collaboration with Lisa Peterson (Court Theatre). Education: 
Northwestern University (Acting, Writing Poetry). 

STEPHEN SPINELLA
(The Poet) NYTW: Burrhead, The Illusion, A Question of Mercy.  Broadway: Angels in America, A View From the Bridge, Electra, James Joyce's The Dead, Our Town, Spring Awakening. Off-Broadway: Troilus  and Cressida, The Seagull, Elle, Svejk, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. Film & TV: Virtuosity, The Jackal, Love! Velour! Compassion!, Great  Expectations, Ravenous, Cradle Will Rock, Bubble Boy, Connie and  Carla, Milk, Rubber, "The Education of Max Bickford", "24", "Desperate Housewives", "ER", "Alias", "The Mentalist". Upcoming: Lincoln movie. 

LISA PETERSON
(Co-Author/Director) NYTW: Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Slavs!, Traps, The Waves (Co-Author/Director), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (OBIE). Off-Broadway: Poor Itch, The Square, Tongue of a Bird (Public); Motherhood Outloud, Shipwrecked! (Primary Stages); Collected Stories (MTC); Fourth Sister, Batting Cage (Vineyard); Sueno (MCC); Birdy, Chemistry of Change (WPP). Regional: Guthrie, McCarter, Seattle Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, OSF, Taper, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage and many more. Executive Board of SDC.

RACHEL HAUCK
(Scenic Designer) Off-Broadway: Bluebird (Atlantic Theatre Company);  Go Back To Where You Are (Playwrights Horizons); This Wide Night (Naked Angels, Lortel Nom.); Picked, Boy and His Soul (Vineyard); Orange, Hat and Grace (Soho Rep., Drama Desk Nom.); Ethel:Truck Stop (BAM Next Wave). Recent Regional: An Iliad (McCarter, Seattle  Rep.), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Guthrie), Phaedra Backwards (McCarter). Resident Designer at the O'Neill since 2005. 

MARINA DRAGHICI
(Costume Designer) NYTW: Mad Forest. Broadway: Fela! (Tony  Award). Off-Broadway: Cymbeline, Mother Courage (Delacorte  Theater); The Skriker, Hamlet, Woyzeck (Public Theater). International:  Les Indes Galantes, L’Italiana in Algeri (Paris Opera), La Traviata (Bordeaux Opera), 24 Images Secondes (Lyon Opera). Film & TV: Precious, Rage, Heights, Twelve and Holding, The Grey Zone, “Dexter,” “Blue Bloods,” “Homeland.” 

SCOTT ZIELINSKI

(Lighting Designer) NYTW: Flesh and Blood, The Trestle at Pope Lick  Creek. Broadway: Topdog/Underdog. Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theatre  Company, CSC, Lincoln Center Festival, MTC, NYSF, Playwrights Horizons, Signature, TFANA . Upcoming: Miss Fortune (Royal Opera House, London), Abigail's Party (National Theater, Oslo), Lear Dreaming (TheatreWorks, Singapore), The Seagull (Festival d‘Avignon, Cour d’Honneur). 

MARK BENNETT
(Original Music and Sound Designer) NYTW: L'llusion, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, My Children, My Africa!, Mad Forest, Valhalla. Broadway: The Coast of Utopia, Driving Miss Daisy, A Steady Rain, Golda's Balcony, Henry IV, A View From the Bridge, The Goat. Off-
Broadway: Richard III, Tempest, As You Like It, Cherry Orchard, Winters Tale (BAM-The Bridge Project). Awards: Drama Desk (Original
Score), OBIE (Sustained Excellence, Sound Design). 

BRIAN ELLINGSEN
(Bassist) Soloist: Spoleto Festival USA, New Music Hartford, International Society of Bassists Competition, Van Rooy Competition. Chamber Musician: Ensemble ACJW, Le Train Bleu, Heavy Hands Bass Quartet. Ensembles: Ensemble Intercontemporain, New York
Chamber Soloists, NOW Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Transit. Orchestras: Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra (Pierre Boulez, 
conductor), Spoleto Festival Orchestra. Education: Hartt School (B.A.), Yale (M.A.) 

GREG CHUDZIK 
(Sub Bassist) Ensembles: Talea Ensemble, Signal Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Ensemble Moto Perpetuo. Bands: Lia Ices, David Crowell. US Premieres: An Index of Metals (Fausto Romitelli), Pendulum V (Alex Mincek). Recordings: Americans (Scott Johnson), High Violet (The National), Grown Unknown (Lia Ices), The Penelope Project (Signal Ensemble). 

DONALD FRIED 
(Production Stage Manager) Broadway: The 39 Steps, 700 Sundays, A Raisin In The Sun, The Producers, I'm Still Here ...Damn it! Off-Broadway: Ruined (MTC), Freak (Atlantic Theatre Company), Roundabout; Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Signature. Regional: 
Goodspeed, Williamstown, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Denver Theatre Center, Yale Repertory Theatre. National Tours: Blast!, Scooby-Doo
Live, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. Education: Yale School of Drama. AEA member. 

JAMES C. STEELE
(Assistant Stage Manager) Broadway: Mrs. Warren's Profession (Roundabout), The Visit, Chance and Chemistry (Actors' Fund). Off-
Broadway: Motherhood Out Loud (Primary Stages), The Divine Sister, Another American: Asking and Telling (Daryl Roth Productions), Valley of the Dolls, Nothing Like a Dame (Actors' Fund). Regional: Grease, Kiss Me Kate, Carousel, Joseph. 

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