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The Lark

by Jean Anouilh / Adapted by Lillian Hellman


Synopsis: Chapman, writing in the New York News called The Lark: "a beautiful, beautiful play…It is always the story of a simple girl who became an inspired warrior and then was tried by the church—but there have been several ways of telling it. Anouilh's way, and Miss Hellman's, is to try to tell the story from two viewpoints. One of them is how we look at the tale now as a piece of history, with our knowledge of how the girl's blundering captors unwittingly created a martyr who became forever a symbol of courage and faith. The other viewpoint has been to try to imagine what it must have been like to be Joan herself. Both approaches to this legend of the Martyr of Rouen have been splendidly realized by the technique of divorcing the drama from the confinements of time, sequence and space. Until the last moment—a thrilling and uplifting one of Joan's greatest earthly triumph, the coronation of the worthless Dauphin for whom she fought—there is no scenery in the usual sense, merely a few levels of steps and platforms, and lights. With this freedom, the story of Joan of Arc can move backward or forward without an interruption, without a jar. It begins with Joan's trial, and her tale of the voices which prompted her one day to set forth and save France from the English. And as she tells her listeners—the cold Inquisitor from Spain, the politically cynical Earl of Warwick, the deeply religious but ineffectual Cauchon and all the others—of what she heard and what she did, her story comes alive."

Cast

Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick Crispin Manson
Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais Jason Gonzalez
Joan the Maid Marjorie K. Smith
Joan's Father William Fairchild
Joan's Mother Chris Bakasis
Joan's Brother John Evans
Henriette Travis Loyanich
The Promoter Thomas Rouch
The Inquisitor Bert Gordon
Brother Donald Don Drummond
Brother Adam Adam Chase
Brother Ladvenu Bobby Holder
Robert de Beaudicourt Waylon Wood
Agnes Sorel CLaudia Egerdorfer
Marie, the Little Queen Jammi Adams
Charles, the Dauphin Adam Cohn
Queen Yolande Beatrice Lindeman
Monsieur de la Tremouille Jim Hastings
Archbishop of Reims Steven Saunders
Captain La Hire Tom Stamper
Executioner John Evans
English Soldier Adam Chase

 

Production Staff

Director Susan Dunlap Harper
Scene Design Paul DeDoes
Lighting Design Peter B. Young
Costume Design Mary Bruns
Technical Director Paul DeDoes
Stage Manager Kristian Telese
Assistant Stage Manager Hope Roberts
Light Control Bonnie Jean Clark
Light Crew David Newton
  Bonnie Jean Clark
Sound Control Renee Carnley
Properties Mistress Hope Roberts
Properties Assistant Chris Bakasis
Assistant Costume Designer Kelly Long
Voice Coach & Choreographer Gillain Clause
Musical Direction Thomas Rouch
Drums Hope Roberts
Vocalist Joanna Robbins
House Manager Judith DeBolt