Whistler in the Dark
Home News Company Get Involved Productions Contact Us Box Office Press
 

The Europeans

 
 

Struggles to Love

The EuropeansBy Howard Barker
directed by Meg Taintor

February 10th-26th, 2011
The Factory Theatre
off Northampton St between Columbus and Tremont
Boston MA 02118

Tickets:

Wednesdays* and Thursdays at 7:30pm
Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm
Sundays at 3pm

Tickets:
General Admission: $20
Students: $10
*all Wednesdays are Pay-What-You-Can ($5 minimum)

Help me, or I think we'll die alone...

Vienna. 1683. The combined Polish and Viennese armies have beaten back the Turkish force. In the aftermath of the siege, the city's survivors begin to build their society anew. The Emperor and Empress would like order restored, and the poor just want to survive, but Starhemberg, the general responsible for the salvation of the city, and Katrin, a wounded citizen, seek to forge a new world out of the ashes of the old.

A harrowing love story, and an exploration of our personal freedoms and choices inside the maddening political structures that control our lives.

“British playwright Howard Barker isn’t a young man, but he is an angry one. He doesn’t countenance niceties, and he actively discourages politesse. Whatever lies we tell ourselves in order to live in civil society, Barker reveals and reviles them.” - The Village Voice

For mature audiences only.

the playwright

Howard Barker

Howard Barker was born in a working class family in South London in 1946. His first stage play was performed in 1970. His early nausea with social realism, his embracing of tragedy ‘the greatest art form known to man’, his poetic discourse, and what he calls ‘a suffocating unanimity of critical and theatre opinion’ served to isolate him from mainstream theatre in this country, whose culture he describes as ‘utilitarian, entertainment-obsessed and awash with moral platitudes.’ Such a solitude has been compensated by a powerful and growing international reputation and the formation of a company specifically created to develop his theories of theatre, The Wrestling School . Barker sees his mission as developing a ‘conscience-free, speculative, tragic theatre speaking its own language …’ He describes his greatest achievement as earning world-wide status without compromising his principles. His best known plays are The Castle, He Stumbled, The Possibilities, and Gertrude, The Cry, all studies in the extremes of human behaviour, sexual passion and self-discovery.

For more information on Howard Barker, click here.

the company
nate

Nate Gundy is thrilled to work again with Whistler in the Dark, in whose production of Family Stories he appeared last spring.  Other recent credits include The Mistakes Madeline Made (Holland Productions); Shh! (New Exhibition Room); The T Plays (Mill 6 Theatre Collaborative).

Dan

Dan Grund is happy to be returning to Whistler in the Dark for his third show! He was formerly involved in In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe and Don't Exaggerate. Dan is the Artistic Director for Counter-Productions Theater Company and is ecstatic to be again working with Whistler in the Dark, the company that has inspired many of CPTCs progressions.

curt

Curt Klump Whistler in the Dark Theatre: One Flea Spare and The Bacchae; Actors Shakespeare Project: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coriolanus; New Rep: Macbeth, Mister Roberts, and Lieutenant of Inishmore; Huntington Theatre Company: How Shakespeare Won The West;  Zeitgeist Stage: The Kentucky Cycle and Sacred Hearts;  Shakespeare Now!: Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream; Shakespeare & Company: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest. Curt is also the host of NewEngland.com’s New England TV. Curt trained at Shakespeare & Company in Western Massachusetts and spent several years there acting, teaching, and directing in their award winning education programs and has also taught for the New York Film Academy’s summer program at Harvard University.

Jen

Jennifer O'Connor holds a B.F.A. in theatre performance from Salem State. Joining Whistler for their inaugural production of The Possibilities, she has been with the company ever since. For three seasons she was the company manager and an acting member of imaginary beasts. Other Boston area collaborations include Chelsea Theatre Zone (now Apollinaire Theatre), Insomouth Productions, Mill 6 Collaborative, and staged readings with Catalyst Collaborative@MIT and New Voices @ New Rep.

marie

Marie Polizzano* is thrilled to be a part of her first Whistler production! She most recently appeared in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Circle Mirror Transformation.  Other regional credits: As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare On Love (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); The Crucible, Othello, Of Mice and Men (New Rep on Tour); A Christmas Carol (Stoneham Theatre); Hamlet (GAN-e-meed Theatre Project); Limonade Tous Les Jours (Exquisite Corps). She can be seen in various commercials and the upcoming independent films Slip and Fall and Gem of the West. Marie earned her BFA in acting from the Boston University School of Theatre, and has also studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is a proud member of the Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

Aimee Rose Aimee Rose Ranger is a local actress, storyteller, and clown who performs frequently with imaginary beasts theatre company. She has created two solo perfomances, what happened pink clouds and My Heart a Jester which premiered at the New England Fringe Festival. She recently performed an original short piece at the Medicine Show Theatre off-off Broadway. Aimee Rose performed in FeverFest 2009 in the show Would You Meet Me with Veronica Barron and Adam Kassim, and was in the production 47 Ways to Die at Club Oberon. She is a ghost tour guide for Ghosts and Gravestones of Boston, and also hosts a once-a-month storytelling potluck called SOOP in her home in Jamaica Plain.  
Liz

Elizabeth Rimar is graduate of Boston University. She is extremely excited to be part of her second Whistler show. Boston credits include: The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Lyric Stage Company), Macbeth (New Repertory Theatre), The Superheroine Monologues (Phoenix Theatre Artists & Company One), The Boys of Winter (BKS Productions), Assassins (Company One) and The Bacchae (Whistler in the Dark). BU credits: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead & The Complete Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged). Thanks to Timmy.

evan

Evan Sanderson graduated from Boston University with a BFA in Theatre Arts. He has performed in numerous shows at BU’s School of Theatre, as well as acting at the Boston Playwright’s Theater, and as a part of the performance ensemble at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. His play Fallujah is currently in production as a nominee for the American College Theatre Festival and is slated to be performed in New York at the InCite Arts Festival. Evan is also a candidate for the Irene Ryan Excellence in Acting Award and a finalist for the Kahn “Career in the Arts” Entry Grant. This fall, he performed as Mark Antony in Shakespeare Now’s production of Julius Caesar. He is originally from Columbia, Maryland.

dakota Dakota Shepard is so happy to appear in her very first production with Whistler in the Dark.  She most recently appeared in New Rep's touring productions of A Christmas Carol and The Scarlet Letter.  Local credits include Farragut North (Zeitgeist Stage Company) and Becky Shaw (u/s, Huntington Theatre Company).  Other credits: The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, The Bald Soprano, Intimate Apparel, Matt and Ben, Robin Hood, Daisy Crockett, Frontiersperon! (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater); Our Country's Good, Wintertime (Cape Rep); Doubt (Provincetown Theater); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare on the Cape).  Dakota can be seen in Come On Down (Best Short, 2010 Provincetown Int'l Film Festival), the independent feature Big Ship, and many commercials.  She will appear in a project created by Ben Evett and Steve Barkhimer in 2011.  Dakota has a B.A. in Drama from Vassar College and studied with Maggie Flanigan in New York.
scott

Scott Sweatt is excited to be back working with the Whistlers after last fall's production of In on It. He spent the summer touring with Momentum Theatre Troupe, on a truck that unfolds into a stage, sharing productions of: The Tempest, The Leader, and an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Around Boston he has worked with New Repertory Theatre on productions of boom!, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile, at Stoneham Theatre in My Fair Lady, GAN-e-meed's production of Silence, and The Donkey Show at the ART. He has also worked with Exquisite Corps on their Infinite Story project devoted to developing plays of Boston playwrights. He earned an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and a BS in Theatre from Skidmore College.

mac

 Mac Young holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Theatre from Bennington College. His recent appearances include Imaginary Beast's Moliére Squared, Holland Production's Aloha, Say The Pretty Girls, Zeitgeist Stage's Bad Jazz, and ArtFarm Production's premiere, Kim and Delia. He has numerous credits from the Vineyard Playhouse, and makes frequent appearances in their Shakespeare for the Masses series, for which he serves as fight director. He has contributed prop and set designs for Siamsa Theatre Co. (Thirst, A Pound on Demand), Holland Productions (Kid Simple, Melancholy Play), and Imaginary Beasts (Moliére Squared).

the artistic team  
Molly Molly Haas-Hooven (Dramaturg) is excited to continue working with the Whistler team after this fall's Tales from Ovid and last spring's Family Stories. Molly recently performed in Gan-e-meed Theater Project's Silence. She has trained with Double Edge Theatre, Roy Hart Theatre and studied dance and Suzuki at Brandeis University. She received a B.A. in Theater Arts from Brandeis where she studied acting and playwriting with a minor in Peace, Conflict and Coexistence studies. She continues to explore the intersection of peace-building and theater in everyday life.
 

Vawnya Nichols (Stage Manager) is happy to return to Whistler in the Dark having stage managed Family Stories with them last season. Her stage managing credits include Cherry Smoke (Gurnet Theatre Company), The Diary of Anne Frank (Boston Children's Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Now!), Carny Knowledge (Fort Point Theatre Channel), Boyce & Melinda's Investment Strategies for the Post-Money World (Magic Bean Productions), Classics! National Tour (Chamber Theatre Productions), FeverFest 09 (Small Theatre Alliance of Boston), Present Imperfect: A Gallery of Shorts by Harold Pinter (Fort Point Theatre Channel), Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls (Holland Productions) and Harvard University's FarceFest 2009.

meg Meg Taintor (Director) is the Artistic Director at Whistler, for whom she has directed Family Stories, One Flea Spare, In On It, The Bacchae, Mary's Wedding, Vampire, All This Flying, All This Tumbling Down, The B File, and The Possibilities, and performed in A Hard Heart, Don't Exaggerate (FeverFest 06), and in The Psyche Project (FeverFest 07). Meg has also directed for Mill6 Theatre and New Voices @ New Rep. Her regional theatre credits include the National Players, Rorschach Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, the Potomac Theatre Project and Washington Shakespeare Company. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Women & Gender Studies from Middlebury College.
emily Emily Woods Hogue (Costume Designer) is a recent graduate of Bennington College, where she studied costume design and history. Past credits include: The Understudy (The Lyric Stage Company of Boston), Silence (Gan-e-meed Theatre Project), Jane Eyre: The Musicaland Two Gentlemen of Verona (Lyric First Stage Program, Lyric Stage Company of Boston) Mahagonny Songspiel (Bennington College) and One Flea Spare (Whistler in the Dark Theatre Company). Upcoming projects include Alice's Adventures Underground (Concord Academy).
Meron Meron Langsner (Fight Director) is delighted with be working with Whistler in the Dark again after composing violence for Tales from Ovid (for which he was billed as the "dental consultant") and Family Stories and having two short plays in last season's Whistler Wednesdays.  Meron has fight directed locally for Merrimack Rep, New Rep, Lyric Stage, Opera Boston, Company One, Zeitgeist Stage and numerous academic venues.  He was one of three writers in the country selected for the pilot year of the National New Play Network Emerging Playwright Residencies.  His work has been performed around the ocuntry and overseas and developed at the Lark New Play Development Center, the Last Frontier Theatre Conference (where he later returned as a featured artist), and the New England Regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.  His publishers include Smith & Kraus, Applause, YouthPLAYS, JAC, NorthNorthwest, and Lamia Ink.  Meron holds an MFA in Playwriting from Brandeis and an MA in Performance Studies from NYU/Tisch, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Tufts University, where he received the award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education.  Meron is also a self defense instructor for IMPACT Boston, a non-profit violence prevention organization. 
PJ PJ Strachman (Light Designer) has recently designed Blue Spruce's Once on This Island, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and World Premiere of Portraits, Whistler in the Dark's Family Stories, One Flea Spare, and new translation of The Bacchae, F.U.D.G.E.’s Violet, Glory Days and Nevermore, the World Premiere of Phoenix Theatre's The Superheroine Monologues, and many other area shows. She is the regular designer for Chamber Repertory Theatre, Gann Academy, and Stonehill College, including two ACTF regional selections. PJ has been a guest lecturer with the Boston Arts Academy, the Gann Academy, the Cambridge School of Weston, and Stonehill College. Her next show will be Fort Point Theatre Channel's Codes of Conduct. Photos of her work can be seen at www.pjelex.com.
  Mac Young (Set Design) See above for bio
 

 

* Appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

 
   
* *
*

Whistler logo

*
 
Unknowing the Known
Join Mailing List E-Mail Us Buy Tickets Now!
copyright (c) 2006