Past Productions
2024
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Clash of the Woyzecks
Adapted from the original Woyzeck by German poet and playwright Georg Büchner
A fusion of one of the first truly modern plays, some ancient Greek mythology, and a well-loved movie from 1980 becomes the world premiere of Clash of The Woyzecks. Based chiefly on the Georg Büchner play from the 1830s, drawn on a real story about a murder, Clash of The Woyzecks investigates the tension between truth and artifice, while attempting to explore the psychological pathways that could make life better for us all.
Directed and adapted by Martin French
Assistant directed by Hayley Ginger
Featuring: Stephanie Hall, Ryan Lash, Marc McHone, Jake Minton, Jay Padilla-Hayter, and Bailey Preston
Kleinhelter Gallery (New Albany, IN), January 2024
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Hyacinth Halvey of Irish Hill
Adapted by Michelle Lori from the original one-act Hyacinth Halvey by Irish playwright Lady Augusta Gregory
Newly set in the Irish Hill neighborhood of Louisville in 1920, the year Prohibition became law, our fair citizens attempt to shift from life as they know it. When newcomer Hyacinth Halvey arrives on the train from Bardstown, hope springs forth that this stranger with outstanding character will provide the example neighbors desperately need. But all is not as it seems.
Directed by Michelle Lori
Music direction by Stephanie Hall, Lindsey Jones, and James Thompson
Featuring: Rena Cherry Brown, Stephanie Hall, Lindsey Jones, Marc McHone, Anna Meade, Jay Padilla-Hayter, and James Thompson
Commonwealth Theatre Center/Stage One (Louisville, KY), June 2024
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House of Bernarda Alba
by Spanish poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, bilingual adaptation by Jay Padilla-Hayter
Upon her second husband's death, domineering matriarch Bernarda Alba imposes an eight-year mourning period on her household in accordance with her family tradition. Bernarda has five daughters, aged between 20 and 39, whom she has rigidly controlled and prohibited from any form of relationship. The mourning period further isolates them and tension mounts within the household. Soon, a young, attractive suitor from the village, Pepe el Romano, draws attention from several of the sisters, causing jealousy and a secret affair in Bernarda’s suffocating home. The play explores themes of repression, passion, and conformity.
Co-produced with Teatro Tercera Llamada, directed by Jay Padilla-Hayter, and original music by Jon Silpayamanant
Featuring: Jordan Aikin, Morgan Beauchamp, Clara Burton, Meg Caudill, Isabella Gonzalez, Lauren Carrazana Martos, Maria Ofelia Martos Garcia, Xenia Miller, Lissinet Parrado, Glamar Rivera, and Karole Spangler
The Chapel of St Philip Neri (Louisville, KY), August & November 2024
The Stronger Project
Adapted and directed by Martin French from the original The Stronger by August Strindberg
The Stronger is a two hander set in a café, where one actress (Mlle Y, who is there before and after the other arrives and departs) is silent, while the other (Mme X) speaks everything, outlining their relationship, and in time revealing to herself the possibility that Mlle Y has had an affair with her husband. The project is an interactive simultaneous guerrilla theatre performance art project to help develop local actresses who feel they are not getting adequate chances to perform in significant roles.
Featuring: Kate Bariteau, Jeannette McKenna, Sassy Nouvelle, and Marcy Ziegler
What the LOU, Witches Brew Coffee, Floyd Co. Central Library (New Albany), Mickey's Cafe & Bookstore (New Albany), November 2024
2023
It's Earnest Y'All!
Adapted from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The perfect comedy of preposterous people and improbable parentage gets a new lease of life on the border between the South and Midwest! Rather than society of London and the bucolic gentility of Hertfordshire, we tweak the accent on Wilde to find its way into contemporary Louisville and Southern Indiana in a site specific performance of the play.
Directed by Martin French
Featuring: Jordan Aikin, Annie Bulleit, Sean Childress, Ev Davis, Michael Guarnieri, Marc McHone, Joe Monroe, Todd Padgett, Bailey Preston, Piper Shanks, and Janice Walter
St. Paul's (New Albany, IN), May 2023
2019
Around the World of 80 Days
An immersive adaptation loosely based on the novel by Jules Verne
The 19th century - a time of adventure and self challenging for many in the British Empire. A debate in a private club rapidly becomes the Wager of the Century, as Fogg bets 20,000 pounds that the world can be circumnavigated in 80 days. Joined by Passepartout, servant extraordinaire, and others along the way, Fogg goes on a madcap comic race around a mad mad mad mad world where the British Empire still reigns, telegram is the medium of the day and life through the British lens is golden. Yes, this is an empire that is a shining beacon to all Womankind...
Directed by Martin French and Music Direction by Jeanne-Marie Rogers
Featuring: Danielle Armstrong, Valerie Canon, Sean Childress, Sierra Conner, Samantha Hall, Mandy Kramer, Lisa Lanning, Michelle Lori, Cristina Martin, Jay Padilla-Hayter, Tory Parker, Patricia Perry, Jennifer Poliskie, Kalaunee Roger, Todd Rogers, James Thompson, Alexandra Seabrook, and JoAnne Sweeny
Hope Community & Coffee at Mellwood Arts Center (Louisville, KY), November 2019
2018
ELIZA: A Play on Pygmalion
Adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's much loved comedy
This play explores The Chamber Theatre’s interest in status and language, and oftentimes how the two are interconnected. With Pygmalion, we look at the way that language can be used both to empower and restrain people’s development.
Directed by Martin French
Featuring: Kate Bringardner, Annie Bulleit, Jake Minton, Joe Monroe, Julia Bright Moran, Josh O’Brien, Laurene Scalf, and JoAnne Sweeny
Hope Community & Coffee at Mellwood Arts Center (Louisville, KY), November 2018
2017 - 2018
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Tales From The Hills: 2 One-Act Plays
Deirdre by W.B. Yeats
A verse tragedy that happens towards the endgame of the legend/myth of Deirdre who ran away from a planned marriage to the king to be with a man she loved. Featuring: Everett Brodbeck, Rena Brown, Sean Childress, Hannah Connally, Clarity Hagan, Tony Harris, and Cate Willard.
In The Shadow of The Glen by J.M. Synge
Reputed to be half created from what Synge heard servants talking about when staying in a boarding house, this play is an exaggerated comedy in the isolation of the hills. Featuring: Gerry Rose, Vidalia Unwin, Rich Williams, and Marcy Ziegler.
Directed by Martin French and Polina Shafran
Hope Community & Coffee at Mellwood Arts Center (Louisville, KY), November 2017
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All People Sneeze
Adapted from short stories by Anton Chekhov
Perhaps there is one thing that unites all people - the need to tell their stories. That, and the fact that all people sneeze. Rifling through the pages of Chekhov's short stories, we look in on people of all backgrounds as they get on with the daily business of eating, drinking, laughing, crying, living, and dying, with Chekhov as our guide through their world.
Directed by Polina Shafran
Featuring: Hannah Connally, Carol Dines, Luke Eigelbach, Chris Meier, and Rich Williams
Produced at Hope Community & Coffee at Mellwood Arts Center (Louisville, KY), March 2018
2016 - 2017
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Creditors
An uncomfortable tragicomedy by August Strindberg
Two men meet while one awaits the return of his wife, and become fast friends. They talk of art, and in time, they talk of relationships - one starts to ask questions, and doubts start to form: doubts that only the wife can dispel. One of Strindberg's most powerful plays, Creditors explores the power of doubt, and how a seed of mistrust can disintegrate a relationship.
Directed by Martin French
Featuring: Michael Drury, Polina Shafran, and Ryan Watson
Vault 1031 (Louisville, KY), December 2016
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A Doll's House
by Henrik Ibsen
Nora, a married woman, who years after forging a signature to secure a loan is about to get caught. At the same time, she is caught in a marriage where her husband, Torvald, treats her like a child. Set in the 19th century, the play illuminates Nora's dependence as a woman on her husband and the often suffocating institution of marriage for women bound in them.
Directed by Martin French
Featuring: Brian Hinds, Joe Monroe, Jay Padilla-Hayter, Gerry Rose, Polina Shafran, and Beth Tantanella
Vault 1031 (Louisville, KY), March 2017
2016
Chek-Mate
The Boor adapted by Martin French and Polina Shafran
The Boor has a frustrated man just a day ahead of his creditors realize that he is falling for the widow denying him his money.
The Proposal original translation by Polina Shafran
The Proposal sees a courtship nearly thwarted by a casual mention of a disputed property, to say nothing of the idiosyncratic people involved.
Directed by Martin French
Featuring: Tom Pettey, Gerry Rose, and Polina Shafran
Vault 1031 (Louisville, KY), January 2016, toured to University of Kentucky (Lexington) for U.K. Russian Week, April 2016, and Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch, April 2017
