Title, Premiere and Location

Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella

April 2 to May 9, 1998

The Actor's Gang Theatre

Note: this production is based on a early experimental production that several Cornerstone members undertook at Harvard in the 1980's. Following the 1998 production, Bill Rauch and Tracy Young ran a special workshop at Cal State Los Angeles during the summer of 2002 that involved about a dozen actors from CSULA. They then went to New Haven where the play was remounted at Yale Rep September 20 to October 12.

Written By

Euripedes, Shakespeare and Rodgers & Hammerstein

Edited by Bill Rauch and Tracy Young and the Company

Synopsis

Euripides', Shakespeare's, and Rodgers and Hammerstein's classics of populist theater performed on one stage simultaneously, three-ring circus-style. Produced in collaboration with the Actors' Gang. Performances (1998): The Actors' Gang Theater, Hollywood, CA, remounted (2002) Yale Repertory Theatre, New Have, CT.

Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella (aka MMC) features full productions of all three of the plays in the title. Each represents a high point in Western culture (Greek tragedy, Elizabethan drama, and the American musical), and played together they create surprising moments of synchronicity and revelation. The shows are "intercut" in a sense: although there are some sequences where characters talk on top or nearly on top of each other, each invididual story does have its moments. When Cinderella sings of her dream of going to the ball, Macbeth is delivering his famous dagger speech and Medea is being consumed by jealousy. The Prince's ball turns out to be the feast at which Macbeth sees the bloody Banquo, and it is the mad Lady Macbeth who leads Medea off to slaughter her own sons.

One convention of the production is that at moments of madness and heightened emotion, characters can see from one play into another. Another is the casting: Medea is cast entirely with women, Macbeth is played only by men, and Cinderella has a mixed cast (although gender-bending continues in characters like the Fairy Godmother). As the play(s) move towards resolution, the cast loses their costumes and props and are eventually all wearing the same stage blacks.

Staff

Directed by Bill Rauch & Tracy Young

Producers - Mark Seldis & Leslie Tamaribuchi

Set Design - Rachel Hauck

Lighting Design - Geoff Korf

Costume Design - Ann Closs-Farley & Lynn Jeffries

Choreographed by Sabrina Peck

Medea Music Composed by Shishir Kurup with David Markowitz

Sound Design, Arrangements & Accompaniment - David Markowitz

Production Stage Manager - Bridget Kirkpatrick

Assistant Director - Colin Campbell

Cinderella Music Director - Steve Argila

Fight Choreography - Dan Forcey & Scott Taylor

Associate Choreographer - Amy Brenneman

Properties Designers - Sandy Adams & Dan Forcey

Assistant Lighting Designer - Evan Ritter

Assistant Costume Designers - Monica Serafin & Kharen Zeunert

Mask Design - Nadia Reed

Prosthetic Head Design - David Rockello

Technical Director - Charlie Anderson

Assistant Stage Managers - Jay Glickman & Mario Martinez

Sound Operator - Linda Raths

Light Board Operator - Bradley Warden

Spot Operators - Alma Golden, Mario Larrazabal, Alfredo Teutla

Carpenters - Neil Penn, Kyle Eickhoff, Dan Forcey, Rene Moreno, Paul James

Electricians - Dan Forcey, Ben Gilberg, Kuo-Lung Kai, Janine Silver, Heather Stagl

Costume Crew - Lupe Correa, Keythe Farley, Susan Forster, Ray Hesslink, Dereck Lasalla, Tracy Perwin, Dori Quan, Nadia Reed, Alma Golden, Lelah Foster, Kristen Farlow

Interns - Rebecca Kirsch, Ed DeRuiter, Jennifer Epps

Press Photograpy - Mark Seldis, Ray Mickshaw

Apparition Voices - Chris Wells, Bradley Warden, Robert Campion

Cast

Medea

Macbeth

Cinderella

Subsequent Performances or Productions

In September 2002, MMC was revived at the University Theater at Yale Univeristy in New Haven, CT. Several members from the original Cornerstone production participated. The show ran from 9/20/02 to 10/12/02.

Changes included the creation of a "Stage Manager" who replaced the "Herald," more traditional casting for characters like the Godmother, and the elimination of some roles (such as Ross in Macbeth).

Cast for New Haven Prodcuction:

Medea

Macbeth

Cinderella

Special Notes

Articles, Reviews, and other Links

Playbill Review:

http://www.playbill.com/article/three-ring-medea-macbeth-cinderella-opens-in-la-apr-3-com-74450 

LA Times Article:

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/29/entertainment/ca-33830