Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ adapted for Ensemble Theatre Production

Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil

Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga producers chose ‘A Doll’s House’ as this year’s classic stage play because it addresses marriage conventions.    Producer and actor Christy Gallo says that Henrick Ibsen’s play written in the late 1800′s has some, “Great commentary on marriage.”    As such, ‘A Doll’s House’ fits into the ETC theme for this season of exploring social norms.

Kelly Lapzynski directs this ETC production.    The cast will be working from an adaptation of this Ibsen tragedy written by Lapzynski who worked with four different translations of ‘A Doll’s House’ seeking agreement between them.

The following comes from ETC’s press release:

“First and foremost, Ibsen wrote a tragedy.   The story is based on the true life events of one of Ibsen’s friends, author Laura Smith Petersen,” explains director Kelly Lapczynski.   “When Laura’s husband contracted tuberculosis, doctors advised that he go south to recuperate and Laura participated in a forgery to acquire the money.  When he discovered the forgery, he divorced Laura and threw her out of the house.  Within a few years, Laura was sent to a mental hospital and Ibsen began to write A Doll’s House. “

“I love the way it addresses marriage conventions,” says actor John Thomas Cecil. “Ibsen’s classic delves into issues that are so mainstream today, yet were so controversial in his time. It has been fun to explore the contrast between the life we live today and Ibsen’s world.

A Doll’s House is directed by Kelly Lapczynski.  Cast members include Brandi Alexander, John Thomas Cecil, Evie Durant, Christy Gallo, Jamie Goodnight, Karen Keith and Doug May.  The stage manager is Eric “Red” Wyatt.

For more information about the production, check out www.adollshouse.org

Christy Gallo and John Thomas Cecil, ETC’s ‘A Doll’s House’

Listen to the Story:

“Have A Seat” Gives Voice to Chattanooga Homelessness

ETC "Have a Seat"

Have a Seat is an original theatre piece created by the actors and co-directors, Christy Gallo and John Thomas Cecil.    Gallo gives a description of the 5 characters in Have a Seat which are based on the, “Top five reasons why people identify that they are homeless.”

Martha Jean – been on the streets most of her life and is now old enough to receive government housing
Leo – has aspergers, has been on the streets 7 years after suffering the loss of his wife
Arthur – new to homelessness after his father kicked him out of the house for being gay, is/was a student, struggles with drugs
Jinx – she ran away from her abusive father and has been riding the rails, and finally looking for a way to get her life back
Amy – lived beyond her means, lost her job, was evicted and her father wouldn’t help, been homeless about 4 months

Gallo and Cecil based this play on research from the Homeless Coalitions 2009 Blueprint and from statistics from the most recent Census.    One character in Have a Seat is based on an actual person as seen through the eyes of her social worker.    Here’s more from the ETC press release:

By the Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga

Directed by John Thomas Cecil and Christy Gallo

Dec 2- Dec 18 (Fridays 7:30, Saturdays 2:00, Sundays 3:00 AND/OR 6:30)

Description: We close out the season with an introspective look from the bottom up. The idea was presented about structuring a piece of theatre based on the concept of “if these chairs could talk.” We took that idea a step further by addressing the idea that a seat looks at the world from below everyone and couple that with the idea communities across country are slowly becoming inundated with homeless populations, who also see society from the bottom up. So HAVE A SEAT is going to focus of the homeless community in Chattanooga, spotlighting where they sit, where they hang out and who they are.

Listen to the Story with Co-Directors and Cast Members:

 

ETC Stages “Stoning Mary,” by British Playwright Debbie Tucker Green

Reporting:  Monessa Guilfoil

Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga brings the voice of female British Playwright, Debbie Tucker Green to the stage in the Scenic City.     Green worked as a stage manager in theatre for 10 years before debuting as a playwright in London.

Lyn Gardner wrote in the Guardian about Debbie Tucker Green:

Debbie Tucker Green is mystified as to how her plays develop. They start with a voice in her head that won’t go away, and grow into scraps of writing that she then fits together. Trying to explain how it works, she waves her hands around in the air as if making an intricate 3D jigsaw. “I never set out to write plays,” she says. “I was just messing about, writing stuff down and throwing it away or keeping it if it interested me. Then the writing started to get longer. I didn’t know whether it was a poem, the lyrics to a song or a play. It is all much of a muchness to me. It’s all words, ain’t it?”

ETC producer and actor, Christy Gallo was introduced to, “Stoning Mary” at the Royal Court Theatre while on a trip to London.     She was so impressed that she bought a hardback copy of the play while there.

Gardner continues about Green’s latest play which opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 2005:

Stoning Mary has a teasing quality that makes the audience work hard to figure out exactly how the characters are connected as it pieces together three apparently disunited stories. In the first, a couple, both suffering from Aids, can only afford one prescription for the drugs both need to stay alive; in the second, a child soldier returns to his parents. The final story concerns two sisters, the youngest of whom has been condemned to death by stoning.

Listen to the Story: