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THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE
CONSTELLATION THEATRE 

Grusha knows what love is!  

In Bertolt Brecht’s  The Caucasian Chalk Circle, our heroine Grusha (Yesenia Iglesias)  knows the delights of young love when she meets a soldier Simon (Drew Kopas).   She knows the  hardships of love  as she sacrifices to save a child who is not hers when she finally after many tests faces the big trial before Azdak the comical judge (Matthew Schleigh who is also the Singer who narrates the show).

The Caucasian Chalk Circle  is at once an epic tale with 60 characters from every social class from peasant to royalty, covering decades of political tyranny and warfare— and it  also a folk narrative of a simple but determined servant girl named Grusha caught in this chaos and swift changing tides of fortunes.  

Constellation Theatre manages to get both the gigantic scope and the intimate details down right in this production. 

Yesenia Iglesias as Grusha is not as a stock character but one in whom we can feel the threats she faces from the warring soldiers looking to harm her on their way to find and kill the royal child.  The audience knows that the child is not Grursha’s but the royal son left behind by his mother and for this too, she will face the critical gossip where she takes refuge.  

Grusha indeed seems to be punished in life for her good deed to save a helpless human life.  Yet this timeless allegory of love, justice, and compassion told with humor and heart unfolds its broader message of what this all means in society as well as  a simple proverbial ending that we can all take home.

Constellation’s production engages all the senses, with  live music, vivid characters, and daringly immersive staging.

For that, it takes a village to create a village as over a dozen actors take on 60 roles:

Ashley Ivey (Lavrenti and others), Billie Krishawn (Ludovica and others), Keith Irby (Governor and others), Natalie Cutcher (Doctor and others), Scott Ward Abernethy (Sergeant and others), and Teresa Spencer (Governor’s Wife and others) join newcomers Amanda Forstrom (Cook and others), Brian Reisman (Jessup and others), Greg Ongao (Adjutant and others), Lisa Hodsoll (Mother and others), and Tamieka Chavis (Shauva and others). Justus Hammond, Louis Lavoie, Rebecca Ballinger, Tess Higgins, and Thais Menendez understudy the ensemble.

Allison Stockman directs Brecht’s masterwork, joined by a fantastic team of creative collaborators. Kelsey Hunt, as Costume Designer; Tony Thomas II (Theatre Alliance’s Word Becomes Flesh) choreographs; A.J. Guban serves as both Scenic and Lighting Designer; Gordon Nimmo-Smith is Sound Designer; perennial Constellation favorite Matthew Aldwin McGee returns as Puppets Designer; Corinne Hayes the production’s Dramaturg; and Crista Noel Smith rounds out the creative team as Props Designer.

Local musician Brian Lotter to the Chalk Circle creative team as Composer. Lotter has collaborated with actor Matthew Schleigh to create original music for Brecht’s lyrics, which frame and comment on the action of the play. Keyboard player Ben Luyre and percussionist Manny Arciniega perform live during each show, with added guitar and vocals from Schleigh and other members of the ensemble.

WANT TO KNOW MORE:   www.ConstellationTheatre.org
 (until May 13, 2018)

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