dec. 10-15 at the citizens bank theater, pell chaffee performance center

The Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium presents Full Circle, written by Charles Mee, directed by Jesse Geiger (Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium ’09).  This timeless – and timely – show runs December 10-15 in the Citizens Bank Theater, Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire Street, Providence.  Performances are December 10 at 7:30pm, December 11 at 7:30pm, December 12 at 7:30pm, December 13 at 2pm and 7:30pm, December 14 at 2pm and 7:30pm, and December 15 at 6pm.  Tickets are $10 (general admission), and are now on sale at the Trinity Rep box office, by phone (401) 351-4242, and online at www.trinityrep.com.

Director Jesse Geiger wryly invites his audience to “join the party!” Based on Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, the play opens in 1989 at the very moment that the Berlin Wall is toppling. The Americans are already there, of course – taking in the local culture, looking for investment opportunities, kidnapping babies, and careening through the old spas of Eastern Europe. While Communism falls and capitalism moves in, the denizens of Berlin are left wondering if there isn’t a third path somewhere betwixt the old and new ways of life.

“I’m continually shocked by the way the Reunification-era East German world of the play resonates so clearly with our own historical moment,” says Geiger. “The characters are left with a rather open question about how to move forward, [much like] we’re dealing with ourselves at the moment. …That said, the show is also extremely fun and funny.” 

The cast features Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium (’09) MFA students Lynnette Freeman-Maiga as Christa, Charise Greene as Dulle Griet, Aaron Rossini as Modrow/Wermer, Adam Suritz as Erich Honeker, Anna Van Valin as The Cook, as well as Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium (’10) MFA students Matt Clevy as Krenz/Hermann, Becky Gibel as Sign Man, Karl Gregory as Heiner Muller, Sam Haley-Hill as Student Leader/Gunther, Patrick Mulryan as Helmut, Michael Obremski as Warren, Monica Willey as Student 2/Cook’s Assistant/Gunther’s Mom, Anne Francisco Worden as Pamela Dalyrmple, and Lizzie Vieh as Ursula. Guest artists Karin Freed, Andrew Oates, John Racioppo, and Maya Santandrea make up the Ensemble.

Director Jesse Geiger (Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium '09) came to Providence from Chicago, where he directed New Kid (Selected for the 2005 Chicago Children's Humanities Festival) and Cyrano for Chicago Theatre for Young Audiences  (CTYA) and co-directed the world premiere of Funeral Wedding: The Alvin Play for The Strange Tree Group (Chicago Tribune best of “On The Fringe 2006”). Other credits include Curse of the Starving Class, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and the world premiere of Samuel the Fourth for Dramatics NYC and As You Like It for the Delaware Shakespeare Festival.  In Providence, he has directed The Learned Ladies and Angels in America: Perestroika  for the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium, as well as the premieres of Grand Motherland for the Brown New Plays Festival and of Ann Marie Healy's The Gentleman Caller for The Empire Street Lab. From 2003-2006 he was the Associate Artistic Director of the CTYA.  As an assistant or as an actor, he has worked with The Public Theatre/NYSF,  Northlight, Redmoon, Writers’ Theatre, Steppenwolf and About Face Theatre, where he assisted Moisés Kaufman on the workshop production of the Pulitzer Prize winning I Am My Own Wife prior to its New York premiere.  In the summer of 2007, he attended the 8th Annual LaMaMa International Symposium for Directors in Umbria, Italy. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a B.S. in Theatre and a Certificate in Music Theatre Performance. This is his third production at the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium, where he is an M.F.A. candidate in Directing.

The Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium provides a three-year professional training program for eighteen students under the auspices of an Ivy League University and Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theatre company. Brown University’s Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theatre artists.

DETAILS AT-A-GLANCE

Full Circle
a play by Charles Mee
New Generation MFA directing thesis project
December 10-December 15, 2008

Director:   Jesse Geiger
Set Design   Tristan Jeffers
Lighting Design  John Eckert
Sound Design   Matt O’Hare
Costume Design  Jenilee Houghton

What:  New Generation MFA directing thesis project
Cast:  Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium MFA students Matt Clevy, Lynnette Freeman-Maiga, Becky Gibel, Charise Greene, Karl Gregory, Sam Haley-Hill, Patrick Mulryan, Michael Obremski, Aaron Rossini, Adam Suritz, Monica Willey, Anne Francisco Worden, Anna Van Valin, and Lizzie Vieh. Guest artists Karin Freed, Andrew Oates, John Racioppo, and Maya Santandrea.

Performances:   Wednesday, December 10 at 7:30pm, preview
    Thursday, December 11 at 7:30pm
    Friday, December 12 at 7:30pm
    Saturday, December 13 at 2pm and 7:30pm
    Sunday, December 14 at 2pm and 7:30pm
    Monday, December 15 at 6:00pm

Venue: Citizens Bank Theater, Pell Chafee Performance Center,
    87 Empire Street, Providence
Ticket Prices    $10 General Admission
Web Site  www.trinityrep.com
Box Office  (401) 351-4242
  201 Washington Street, Providence, RI 02903

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