Danton’s Death – Take 1
Performed: - New York City, Dec 08 - Dec 15, 2009
Category: Drama
In my own new translation of Georg Büchner´s first drama, written in six frenetic weeks while being grounded by his worried father, lest the boy get himself arrested for his own involvement in the revolution of his time in 1830s Hessen, Danton’s Death was not only the first play to include verbatim original speeches of the French Revolution, but it sheds a harsh light on the individual’s role in historic upheaval, and how violence, once unleashed, will devour everything. Büchner´s language is at once direct to the point of bluntness, and also resplendent of poetic imagery and a sad tenderness in its dealings with imminent death of its protagonists, Georges Danton, his friends, and their loved ones.
Danton´s Death – Take 1 was a performance-on-book, to workshop the translation. A full production is in the offing.
Creative Team:
Director/Producer: Katrin Hilbe
Associate Producer & Stage Manager: Arienne Pelletier
Dramaturg: Oliver Conant
Scenic Designer: Elisha Shaefer
Costume Design: Jennifer Raskopf
Lighting Design: Justin Partier
Sound Design: Andy Evan Cohen
Movement Director: Michael Schwartz
Cast:
David Mead: Georges Danton
David Elya: Robespierre
St. Just: Catherine Cobb Ryan
Mark Ramsey: Camille Desmoulins
Lucille: Rachel Halper
Liz DeBetta: Julie
Michael Young: Philippeau
Greg Engbrecht: Hérault de Séchelles
Stephen Bidwell: Legendre
William Growney: Lacroix
Oliver Conant: Simon
Pamela Ehn: Simon’s wife, Fouquier, woman
Zoe Anastassiou: Marion, prisoner, Herrmann
Julie Garrison: Adelaide, Eugenie, woman
Stephanie Willing: Rosalie, Jailer, Guard
Anthony Labresco: Young man, soldier, Mercier
Matthew Barbot: 1st citizen, deputy, Payne, Barrère, Patrol
Mia Grottola: Prisoner, Eug. mother, lady card table, woman
Sean Kane: 3rd citizen, Deputy, Prisoner, Billaud-Varennes
Steve Peluso: 2nd citizen, deputy , Collot d’Herbois, Laflotte
Thomas Kane: General Dillon, President of the Jacobin club, Balladeer, Beggar and a Prisoner.
