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The Loft Theatre at Dowling College Presents
Euripides’
BACCHAE:
THE DISARMERS
The Loft Theatre
at Dowling College, Oakdale, New York
Proudly Presents
Euripides’
For the Comfort of Everyone in the Theatre ...
1. Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices: they interfere
with our in-house communications;
2. Please do not use photographic or recording
equipment of any kind;
3. No food in the theatre please;
4. Remember that unlike movies and
television, theatre is by its nature
a public and social event. Because
the Loft is such an intimate space,
please be attentive to the comfort
of the community gathered around
you by refraining from distracting
behavior and speech.
BACCHAE:
THE DISARMERS
Adapted from a translation by Kenneth Cavander
Directed by
Tracy Bersley
Artistic Director
Andrew Karp
Set Designer
Jeff Van Velsor
Costume Designer
Elissa Iberti
Lighting Designers
Michael J. Leslie
David Sandilands
Stage Manager
Emily Paugh
Lighting Technician
Patrick Long
Thank you,
The Loft Theatre Company
The Loft Theatre is funded by Dowling College
A Note from the Artistic Director
This Loft Theatre production----of a haunting, terrifying, and timeless Greek tragedy---evolved from our desire to grapple with the political drama playing out across our country
today. Possibly the Ancient Greeks, who possessed an uncanny ability to delve into the
human and social psyche and to turn that exploration into art, could help us use the
theatre in the way the Athenians used the theatre: as a means of bringing the citizen body
together to share a collective, provocative experience that would move us to reassess
ourselves, our politics, and our most deeply held beliefs.
We have subtitled the play "The Disarmers" to indicate the way in which Euripides has
Dionysus interact with the human world: he catches us off guard; snatches away the
weapons (whether armies or words) we use to protect ourselves from alien forces or beliefs;
compels us to demolish the dichotomies that we insist are chiseled in stone (such as the
seeming opposition between citizen and foreigner, male and female, straight and gay,
human and animal, wisdom and ignorance, reason and madness, Republican and
Democrat); and promotes, through suasion and force, a communion between things
hitherto isolated and separate. In a country as divided as ours is today, where questioning
authority is tantamount to treason, changing one's mind a sign of weakness and vice, and
the call to freedom the imprimatur for aggression and oppression, we just might be moved
toward communion and away from disunion by experiencing the world that Euripides
created for his fellow Athenians and for us all.
Under the sensitive direction and exotic choreography of Ms. Tracy Bersley, the striking
set of Jeff Van Velsor and the enticing costumes of Elissa Iberti, with the help of a tireless
tech crew (especially Dowling's Pat Long, David Sandilands, Mike Peluso and our beloved
Emily Paugh), the hard work of numerous Dowling students, faculty, and staff, and with a
group of fiercely dedicated actors willing to take the plunge into the deep waters of an
ancient text, we have endeavored to bring this play alive for you. We hope you will enter
the waters and take this journey with us.
A Note from the Director
"Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment
wage war against your passion and your appetite. Your reason and your passion are
the rudder and the sails of your sea-faring soul. If either your sails or your rudder
be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For
reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that
burns to its own destruction.
"Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may
sing; and let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through
its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes."
(from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran)
With much of the world turning to ashes, this play has shaken my foundation in terms
of both what America is as well as who I am within its borders. I see that excessiveness
from any front, whether internal or external, is destructive, but also that any burial site can
become grounds for learning and ultimately, new life.
Background to the Story of
Bacchae (Bák-kkai):
Kadmus was a great warrior who founded the thriving Greek city of
Thebes. He bore four daughters: Agave, Autonoe, Ino, and Semele.
Agave married Echion and bore Pentheus, who has become the new,
young ruler of Thebes.
Some time before the opening of the play, Kadmus' daughter, Semele,
was killed in Thebes by a blast of lightning. She'd claimed that she was
seduced by the Greek God, Zeus, and made pregnant by him. Her
sisters refused to believe her and thought she was lying to cover up an
illicit affair. According to the story, Semele was killed by the lightning
because, tricked by Hera, she'd asked to see Zeus in his true form. Zeus
then took her unborn baby, sewed him into his own thigh, and gave birth
to the god Dionysus.
Also known as Bacchus, Dionysus is associated with nature, fertility
and wine, and his followers are called Bacchants, who worship not in
temples or by performing ritual sacrifices but through secret, ecstatic
dancing. As the play opens, Dionysus has returned to his birthplace,
Thebes, from the East, where he has been spreading his new form of
worship. While the Thebans readily accept the usual pantheon of
Olympic Gods, they have not accepted Dionysus as a god. Angry that
Semele's sisters have refused to believe that she mothered a God,
Dionysus has taken possession of all the women of Thebes and driven
them out of the city onto the hills of Cithaeron in Bacchic frenzy.
Pentheus, the ruler of Thebes (and cousin of Dionysus) is now
confronted with a crisis: how to handle the apparent madness of his
female citizens and the threat from the followers of this new and, from
Pentheus' point of view, bogus pretender to power and divinity.
THE CAST
Who's Who in the Cast
(in order of appearance)
Teiresias, a blind prophet ................................................David Jank
Boy, past, present, & future .................................. Joseph Huberman
Dionysus ................................................................Jonathan French
Kadmus, ex-King of Thebes ..........................................Andrew Karp
Agave, mother of Pentheus ........................................ Debbie Starker
Pentheus, King of Thebes, grandson of Kadmus .......... James Duggan
Bacchants from the East, devotees of Dionysus .......... Kelli Holsopple
Bethanne Margies
Messenger, Advisor to King Pentheus ............................Craig Colfelt
Time: A Time Not Unlike Our Own
Place: A Great City
The play will run without intermission for approximately
1 hour and 45 minutes.
Craig Colfelt (Messenger, Advisor to Pentheus) toured this summer as Dorset/Tyrrel/Ely
with the New England Shakespeare Festival's Richard III (directed by Demi Papadinis). His
recent New York credits include The Dessert Cart by Daniel Damiano (directed by Joseph
Rosswog & Ria Cooper) and All the Comforts of Home by Judd Lear Silverman (directed
by Matt Schicker), both at the Black Box New Play Festival, Gallery Players, Park Slope; the
launch of Directors Theatre/New York (directed by Ted Sluberski); Peter Morris's Salivation
Army and Weekends at Club Ped (directed by Joseph Rosswog); Lancelot Gobbo in The
Merchant of Venice at the West End Theatre (directed by Jacob Titus); and, for film, The
Sonnet Project (prod. 1863 inc). Craig is a graduate of Dartmouth College and trained at
the Moscow Art Theatre, NTI, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
(LAMDA). This is his first appearance with the Loft Theatre.
James Duggan (Pentheus) is a Dowling student majoring in Speech and Dramatic Arts as
well as Special Education. He is a member of the Arena Players Repertory Company in
Farmingdale where he has starred in many productions over the past four years including
Beyond Therapy, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, Arsenic and Old Lace, P.S. Your Cat is
Dead, and As Bees and Honey Drown. He has starred in the QPTV Television Series, The
Realm of Never, including Snowflakes Fall, Fifth Wind, Heart of the Mighty Oak, and in the
independent film, A Crocus Bloomed. James studied acting with the New Theatre
Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, and Shakespeare and Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts.
He is Director of the Speech/Drama program for AHRC in Ronkonkoma. This is his first
appearance with the Loft Theatre.
Jonathan French (Dionysus) has appeared in many productions with the Arena Players in
Farmingdale. Those credits include Hamlet, Gross Indecency, The Three Trials of Oscar
Wilde, Side Man, and Cowbirds (a LI original). He also appeared in the award-winning
television series The Realm of Never, the independent film, A Crocus Bloomed and, most
recently, as Dr. Cukrowicz in Suddenly Last Summer (Isle of Shoals Productions) at Shelter
Studios in Manhattan. This is his first appearance with the Loft Theatre.
Kelli Holsopple (Bacchant from the East) makes her Greek theatre debut with The Bacchae.
Regional credits include Shenandoah Shakespeare, New England Shakespeare Festival,
Lime Kiln Theatre, and Bridgework Theatre. In New York she most recently played the
Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi (Big Break Productions) and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
(Looking Glass Forum). She is also an actor-teacher with the Creative Arts Team. This is
her first appearance with the Loft. Peace!
Joseph Huberman (Boy) is a 7th-grader at Oakdale-Bohemia Middle School. He's been in
numerous local theatre productions including Scrooge (Young Ebby), Annie Get Your Gun
(Little Jake), Jack in the Beanstalk (Jack), and South Pacific at Creative Ministries, and
Music Man, Oliver, and a Teen Theater Workshop at Broad Hollow Theater. Joseph also
participates in Band (French Horn) and Jazz ensemble (Melophone) at his school. This is
his first appearance with the Loft.
David Jank (Teiresias) is proud to be working on this production with such a talented cast
and crew. His other Loft Theatre appearances were in True West (as Saul Kimmer), Buried
Child, The Underpants, and The Misanthrope. He also played the role of William
Vanderbilt, Sr. in the Dowling Restoration performance of Idle Hour. Other credits include
Applause, Once Upon a Mattress, and Pygmalion. David worked with the Florilegium
Chamber Choir in Manhattan and put in time beneath the footlights, playing violin in the
pit orchestras of such shows as Brigadoon, Two by Two, South Pacific, Mame, and
countless productions of Gilbert and Sullivan. David was the director of the children's
workshop Dramarama, and appeared as the father in the independent film Go Ask Alice.
He studied acting at the Schreiber Studio in Manhattan, and is working on his Ph.D. at
Long Island University. David is currently a member of the Dowling College Library
faculty, and a proud hometown member of Fenway Nation. David dedicates this
performance, and his life in general, to Folo.
Andrew Karp (Artistic Director, Kadmus) is Professor of English at Dowling, studied
acting at Shakespeare and Co., Stella Adler Conservatory, and the Actor's Center, and has
performed in the city and regionally in King Lear (American Theater of Actors), Twelfth
Night (Hampton Shakespeare Festival), Midsummer Night's Dream (Southampton Players),
Death Defying Acts (Hampton Theatre Company), and most recently in Richard III with the
New England Shakespeare Festival. With the Loft, he has produced and performed in
Buried Child (as Tilden), The Underpants (as Cohen), True West (as Lee), and co-wrote
and acted in an original dramatization of Shakespeare's Sonnets Two Loves I Have. He
took over as Artistic Director of the Loft in the spring of 2004. Thanks, from my heart, to
Tracy for taking the plunge and to the whole cast and crew for digging into this work with
such balance, fervor and abandon. As always, eternal gratitude to my patient brood: Abbe,
Emma, Eli, Puck & Squashy.
Bethanne Margies (Bacchant from the East) has been teaching and choreographing dance
all over Long Island for the past ten years. She has worked with children and adults, taught
at many dance studios, and is currently the Dance Coordinator at the Great South Bay
YMCA in Bay Shore. She has also been the choreographer at Mattlin Middle School in
Plainview since 1995. Bethanne chose to go back to school a few years ago and recently
graduated Summa Cum Laude from Queens College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance.
Bethanne has danced throughout Long Island, and regionally, with the Nassau Dance
Theatre Performing Troupe. She's also performed in NYC at DanceSpace as part of its
Works in Progress series and at Construction Company, under the direction of Pat
Catterson. Bethanne loves to embrace new adventures and opportunities, and is happy to
have become a part of The Bacchae.
Debbie Starker (Agave) is a Dowling alum, class of '79, and began her theatrical career as
a member of the Idle Hour Gilbert & Sullivan Players. She was the female vocalist for the
college's blues/rock group Blu Doktor and also performed with the Alumni Theater in
Antigone. Since graduation, she has performed in all aspects of theater at virtually all of the
regional theaters on Long Island. Her 30-plus-year theatrical career is highlighted by such
wonderful and diverse roles as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, Bloody Mary in South Pacific,
Mother Superior in Nunsense, Mother Miriam Ruth in Agnes of God, and the Nurse in
Romeo and Juliet, to name some favorites. Besides performing, Debbie's recent directorial
credits include Carousel, Rumors, Bermuda Avenue Triangle, Visiting Mr. Green, Picasso at
the Lapin Agile, and Social Security. Debbie appeared with the Loft as Mom in the spring
2004 production of True West and can be seen in Theatre Three's upcoming Festival of
One-Acts Plays in March '05. Her most cherished theater-related accomplishment is her
newsletter, "Deb's Web," devoted to keeping the Long Island theater community connected
and well informed. Visit her site: http://www.debsliweb.homestead.com.
Tracy Bersley (Visiting Director) holds an MFA in directing from Syracuse University, with
a focus on international and cultural influences on an interdisciplinary theatre. New plays:
The House on Mango Street (Black Box Theatre, Syracuse Univ.), Tibet: Through the Red
Box (HERE); lamb of gods (Fringe NYC), 5. Wash your Bowl (Teatro de la Culebra), The
Awful Rowing toward God and The Anatomy of Touch (Ontological Theatre), Rappaccini's
Daughter (Octopus Ensemble/Jim Henson Festival). Other plays: Macbeth (Syracuse
Stage), Antigone (Eidolon Arts; Princeton), The Lord of the Flies (McCarter Theatre First
Stage Co.), remount of Daniel Fish's Twelfth Night (The Juilliard School) Much Ado About
Nothing (Arcadia Shakespeare; Philadelphia), Blood Wedding (Provincetown Playhouse,
NYU), Alice in Wonderland (Purchase Repertory Theatre). Musicals: Once on this Island
(Storch Theatre, Syracuse University), Secret Garden (College Light Opera Co., Cape
Cod); Operas: Cosi fan Tutti (New 42nd Street Theatre), and The Long Christmas Dinner
(Lincoln Center Lab/ Juilliard). Tracy teaches directing & acting & movement at NYU and
SUNY Purchase and is a Drama League Fellow. This is her first time directing with the Loft.
Jeffrey Van Velsor (Set Designer) is pleased to return to Long Island theatre after a thirteenyear absence. In that time he has worked for numerous regional theatres throughout the
country including Glimmerglass Opera and The Dallas Theatre Center. Currently he works
at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, where he was introduced to Tracy Bersley five years
ago. Over the years they have collaborated on many productions. His favorites have been
Jean Anough's Antigone and Yard Sale in Eden, which was an original piece created by the
ensemble, both for Eidolon Arts, a company Jeff founded and ran for four seasons. NY
credits include Marriage of Figaro and Cosi Fan Tutti for Jade Opera Co., and On the Verge
with Joint Stock Productions. Jeff dedicates this production to his family who have
continued to keep themselves involved in LI theatre while he was gone.
Elissa Tatigikis Iberti (Costume Designer) is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts at
Dowling. She joined United Scenic Artist Local 829 as a Costume Designer in 1999. Her
current productions include: Charlotte's Web and Peter Pan, presented at the Pratt Theatre
at the Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, NY. Prior to working at the Pratt Theatre,
Ms. Iberti was the resident costume designer at Marymount Manhattan College's Dance
Department. Other past costume credits include design assistant to Rolf Langenfass on
Die Meistersinger for the Metropolitan Opera (1992) and as project manager for Alvin
Ailey's 40th Anniversary celebration revival of Night Creature (Jane Greenwood, designer).
From 1981-1987, Ms. Iberti was Costume Coordinator at the Metropolitan Opera and
assistant to Peter J. Hall, resident Costume Designer (1981-84). She designed the costumes
for the fall 2004 Loft production of True West.
Emily Paugh (Stage Manager) is a senior at Dowling, majoring in Education with a
concentration in theatre. She's been working on the technical side of theater for eight years.
She made her stage-managing debut with the Loft Theatre's spring production of True West.
Other shows she has worked on recently include Noises Off and Sugar at the BroadHollow
Theater. Thanks to Mom and Dad for unending support and never expecting me to come
home. Captain, thanks for letting me be the Captain sometimes!
Michael J. Leslie (Lighting Designer) is glad to be designing at Dowling's Loft Theatre. He
has designed numerous shows around Long Island and New York City over the past eight
years. He is currently the ATD at Staller Center for the Arts on the campus of SUNY Stony
Brook.
Euripides (Playwright) was born in 480 B.C. near Athens and is one of Ancient Greece's
greatest tragedians. He wrote nearly 92 plays of which 19 are extant. He was a pacifist, a
free thinker, and a humanitarian in an age when such qualities were overshadowed by
intolerance and violence. The most "modern" and subversive of the Greek playwrights,
Euripides was as much satirist as tragedian, writing stinging anti-war plays (The Trojan
Women and Hecuba), anti-heroic psychological dramas (Medea and Hippolytus), and
exposés of Greek superstition and moral hypocrisy. His plays frequently break the
conventions of tragedy, portray men and women with all-too human weaknesses, and
present visions that verge on nightmares. Like the philosopher Socrates, Euripides was the
unwanted voice of conscience in his age, a man unafraid to point out the lies with which a
civilization comforts itself.
The Company would like to thank:
Richard Resch, Provost, and Linda Ardito, Associate Provost of the School of Arts &
Sciences, for their unflagging support, moral and financial; Art Flanagan, Executive
Director of Public Relations and Communications; Pat Sandilands, Coordinator of the
School of Arts & Sciences; Kim Poppiti, Associate Professor of Drama, for moral and
artistic support; Patti Zerafa and Angela Mastroianni of the Arts, Humanities & Social
Science office for their tireless work in promotion and publicity; David McDonald of
Wagner College for his insightful vocal coaching; Heather Van Velsor of BroadHollow
Theater for her advice and counsel; Susan Hartmann of Dowling, and Diane Schwindt and
Brian Pratt of The Longwood Estate, for the loan of law books; Eric Cardwell of Unique
Dream for postcard production; Craig Florence for stepping in as ASM; Alison Russell,
Dance Instructor at Dowling, for help in casting; John and Diane Van Velsor for expert set
carpentry, painting and general good cheer; and to Charlie Margies, Chuck Reeves and
Liz Grudzinski for stepping forward at short notice and keeping us from going dark.
Look for the Loft Theatre's
Spring 2005 Production:
The Dowling Drama Club
will be mounting its first
student production of
“The Fantasticks”
March 31-April 3, 2005
The Dowling College Music Department
presents
Winter 2004 Concert Performances
Jazz Ensemble
Monday, December 6
8:00pm
Fortunoff Hall Ballroom
Program to include pieces by T. Giuffre, L. Niehaus and T. Akiyoshi
Samuel Beckett's
Symphony Orchestra
Sunday, December 12
3:00pm
Fortunoff Hall Ballroom
Program to include pieces by G. Bizet, P. Grainger and G. Holst
Waiting for Godot:
Chorus
Tuesday, December 14
8:15pm
Fortunoff Hall Ballroom
Program to include pieces by W.A. Mozart and J. Brahms
A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
Chamber Ensemble
Thursday, December 16
7:00pm
Fortunoff Hall Ballroom
Program to include pieces by Elgar, Coleman and Rameau
April 29-May 1, May 6-8, May 13-15, 2005
All performances are free and open to the public.
Concert performances will be held in the Ballroom of Fortunoff Hall
at Dowling College’s Rudolph Campus, 150 Idle Hour Boulevard, Oakdale, NY
For more information, please call Ronald Armanini, Coordinator of Musical Concerts at 631-244-3351
David Racanelli, Chair, Dowling College Department of Music