THE ROBBERS, Yale School of Drama, 2008

2008–09 season

december 12 to 18 yale repertory theatre, 1120 chapel street

DECEMBER 12 TO 18, 2008

Yale School of Drama James Bundy, Dean / Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean Presents

the robbers by friedrich schiller

adapted by becca wolff and

jacob gallagher-ross directed by becca wolff ARTISTIC TEAM Scenic Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer/Composer Dramaturg Stage Manager

katherine AKIKO day valerie T. bart chuan-chi chan scott L. nielsen jacob gallagher-ross jessica barker

CAST Hermann/Robber 1 Schweitzer Speigelberg Schwartz Schufterle/Daniel Amalia Razmann Old Moor/Maximilian Pastor Moser/Father Dominic Karl/Franz Kosinsky/Roller

eddie brown kevin ALAN daniels austin durant laura esposito carter gill aja-naomi king ryan lockwood barret o'brien ken robinson erica sullivan nondumiso tembe

There will be one 15−minute intermission.

Season Media Sponsor

director's note This play is not a protest. I do not want you to leave the theatre feeling charged to change the world. I do not mean to overwhelm your apathy or call up images of the senseless violence of terrorism. Here is not a demand for the abolition of the oppressive institution of gender or a condemnation of the ideals or actions of one side or another in the wars in the Middle East. I do not mean to excite your indignation at a world where "mercy has taken refuge among bears" (Karl Moor, 5.2). Rather, I hope that you continue on your way after this evening's performance feeling as I have each day of my work on this play: a little less righteous, a little bit less altruistic and a little less sure of the value of fighting for what's right. This Robbers is a call to inaction.

I find the following a deeply stirring argument for doing nothing. I hope you understand the depth of my sincerity in this strange enterprise and that you find inspiration here as well.

–Becca Wolff, director Excerpted from

Manifesto: A press release from PRKA

By George Saunders Posted Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 on slate.com

Last Thursday, my organization, People Reluctant to Kill for an Abstraction, orchestrated an overwhelming show of force around the globe.

At precisely 9 in the morning, working with focus and stealth, our entire membership succeeded in simultaneously beheading no one. At 10, Phase II began, during which our entire membership did not force a single man to suck another man's penis…at 11, in Phase III, zero (0) planes were flown into buildings.

During Phase IV, just after lunch, we were able to avoid bulldozing a single home…

No bombs were dropped, during the lazy afternoon hours, on crowded civilian neighborhoods, from which, it was observed, no post-bomb momentary silences were then heard. These silences were, in all cases, followed by no unimaginable, grief-stricken bellows of rage, and/or frantic imprecations to a deity….

Who are we? A word about our membership.

Since the world began, we have gone about our work quietly, resisting the urge to generalize, valuing the individual over the group, the actual over the conceptual, the inherent sweetness of the present moment over the theoretically peaceful future to be obtained via murder...

This is PRKA. To those who would oppose us, I would simply say: We are many. We are worldwide. We, in fact, outnumber you. Though you are louder, though you create a momentary ripple on the water of life, we will endure, and prevail.

Join us.

Resistance is futile.

stealing freedom

If people outside Germany have heard of Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805) at all, the image of a serene Teutonic bard probably comes to mind—the poet who wrote the Ode to Joy (later set to stirring music by Beethoven). Or maybe it’s the figure of an august tragedian: Goethe’s accomplice in Weimar, the author of foundational works in the German canon like Don Carlos (1787) and Maria Stuart (1801.)

But the twenty-one year old Schiller who wrote The Robbers (1780) was an angry young man, yearning for artistic and political freedom. A promising student, Schiller had been forcibly conscripted into the state academy established by Duke Karl Eugen—one of the eighteenth century’s self-acclaimed ‘enlightened despots’—to be trained as an army doctor. (In The Robbers, Franz’s scientific justifications for malevolent acts betray hints of Schilller’s medical studies.) The play’s wild exultations of freedom and self-determination emerged from the imagination of someone who was denied both. After Schiller went AWOL to attend the play’s 1782 premiere in Mannheim, he became, like his hero Karl, a fugitive from tyrannical laws.

Schiller’s literary rebellion matched the heady atmosphere of the times. Written just a few years after the American Revolution established a beacon of hope for Europe’s thwarted intellectuals, and less than a decade before the French Revolution upended centuries of feudal hierarchy, The Robbers captures the insurrectionary climate of the period before Robespierre’s Terror revealed revolution’s potential for atrocity. But it also anticipates such mob brutality: the Robbers’ siege of the city where Roller is imprisoned is as much a reprisal as it is a rescue. (When Schiller was offered honorary citizenship in the new French Republic, based in part on the revolutionary values extolled in The Robbers, he turned it down.)

The play’s form was as incendiary as its politics. The sprawling Shakespearean scope, surprising onstage murders, and philosophical abandon of The Robbers incited riots at its premiere, and helped loosen Neoclassicism’s vise-grip on the German imagination, clearing the way for the flowering of German letters that was to follow.

A work that dates from the beginning of the roiling cycle of revolutions that repeatedly convulsed Europe (and the rest of the world) throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, The Robbers can help us to think about the legacy of such transformative violence.

Can we pursue political ideals without doing harm in the name of abstractions?

What kinds of terrible means are we still willing to justify by messianic ends?

What would absolute freedom be like?

These questions are as pertinent for us as they were for Schiller in 1780, trapped in his prison-like school and dreaming of release.

–Jacob Gallagher-Ross, Production Dramaturg

Cast EDDIE BROWN (Hermann/Robber 1) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama.

KEVIN ALAN DANIELS (Schweitzer), originally from Dallas, Texas, is a secondyear MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he most recently appeared as Vershinin in The Three Sisters. Kevin received his BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University.

AUSTIN DURANT (Speigelberg) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include I Am a Superhero, Romeo and Juliet, and Peer Gynt.

His other stage credits include Passion Play (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Who’s Tommy, Kids These Days, Recess (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Illusion, The Pilgrim Papers, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Mum Puppettheatre and Philadelphia Theatre Workshop. He received his BA in theatre from Temple University.

LAURA ESPOSITO (Schwartz) most recently appeared in Passion Play at Yale Repertory Theatre and Be Aggressive at Yale Cabaret. Yale School of Drama credits include I Am a Superhero, Peer Gynt, If Found Please Return to Charles Darwin, A Month in the Country, Camino Real,and The America Plays. At Yale Cabaret she directed Perk/ Pussy/Pathos and performed in The Do-Over and An Evening of Cabaret. She spent this past summer at the Guthrie Theater working on the original piece Caviar on Credit. MFA, expected 2009, Yale School of Drama.

CARTER GILL (Schufterle/Daniel) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he has performed in 19 productions over the past two years. His credits include Man=Man, The Apocryphal Project, Journey to Santiago, A Month in the Country, Troilus vs. Cressida (Yale School of Drama); EYE and God is a DJ (Yale Cabaret).

He received his BFA in directing under Stan Wojewodski, Jr., at Southern Methodist

University in Dallas, and directed Othello, Edmond, and True West there. In the UK, he received a certificate in directing and playwriting from the British American Drama Academy’s Shakespeare Programme and appeared in The Real Inspector Hound.

His regional theatre credits include The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It at Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

AJA-NAOMI KING (Amalia) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama.

Recent credits include Irina in The Three Sisters, Lady Anne in Richard III, Meg in Learning Russian (Yale School of Drama); and Irina in Three Sisters, or The Dormouse’s Tale (Yale Cabaret). Aja received her BFA in theatre from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

RYAN LOCKWOOD (Razmann) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include The Three Sisters and Lone Pilots of Roosevelt Field. Other productions include The Five Fists of Science (Yale Cabaret); King Lear, As You Like It (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); bobrauschenbergamerica, and Angels in America (University of California, Santa Barbara).

BARRET O’BRIEN (Old Moor/Maximilian) most recently appeared in Passion Play at Yale Repertory Theatre. Other credits include Grace, or the Art of Climbing; Peer Gynt; The Merchant of Venice; The Ghost Sonata; A Month in the Country; The Wendy Play; and Camino Real (Yale School of Drama).

At Yale Cabaret, he wrote and directed Mr & Mrs Hollywood and performed in In the Cypher and Five Fists of Science. At Yale Summer Cabaret, he appeared in Recess and The Bacchae. A New Orleans native, he has worked nationally and internationally at such theatres as Ensemble Studio Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, HERE Arts, Southern Rep (New Orleans), Vortex Theatre (Austin), Spiral Stage (Boston), Man in the Moon (London), National Theatre (Budapest),

and The American Center (Paris). Television and film credits include Dawson’s Creek, Netherworld, Malpractice, and Runaway Jury.

MFA, expected 2009, Yale School of Drama.

and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (New York).

CREATIVE TEAM

KEN ROBINSON (Pastor Moser/Father

JESSICA BARKER (Stage Manager)

Dominic) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he appeared in Man=Man, Romeo and Juliet, and A Month in the Country. Yale Cabaret credits include The Who’s Tommy, Little Shop of Horrors, Sidewalk Opera, Dancing in the Dark, and The Donny Hathaway Story. Regional credits include Being Alive (Westport County Playhouse), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (North Shore Music Theatre), Jelly’s Last Jam and tick, tick...BOOM! (Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre).

Ken graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in economics.

is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where her credits include credits include Dramatis Personae, I Am a Superhero, Peer Gynt, and Learning Russian.

Her other crdits include Little Shop of Horrors and Three Sisters, or The Dormouse’s Tale at Yale Cabaret. She received a BFA in technical theatre from University of Central Missouri in 2007, and served as the Production Intern for the Mostly Mozart Festival 2008 at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

ERICA SULLIVAN (Karl/Franz) is a thirdyear MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she has appeared in Man=Man, Peer Gynt, The Ghost Sonata, A Month in the Country, and Camino Real. Other credits include A Woman of No Importance, Lulu (Yale Repertory Theatre); Perk/Pussy/Pathos, Mr & Mrs Hollywood (Yale Cabaret); God Is a DJ, and EYE (Summer Cabaret 2007). Film and television credits include There Will Be Blood, A Coat of Snow, Crossing Jordan, Strong Medicine, 10-8, and For the People.

NONDUMISO TEMBE (Kosinsky/Roller) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. She proudly hails from Durban, South Africa. Recent credits include The Youth Ink Festival (McCarter Theatre); staged readings of Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (McCarter Theatre) and the original new musical Step Aside (New Dramatists). Yale School of Drama credits include Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet by Tarell Alvin McCraney and Romeo and Juliet. She also recently sang at Nelson Mandela’s 90th-birthday Celebrations at his home in Qunu, South Africa. Nondumiso holds a BFA in theatre and political science from The New School

VALERIE T. BART (Costume Designer) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. Her theatre credits include Cabaret, The Wind in the Willows, James and the Giant Peach (Santa Ana College); Monster, One Flea Spare (Sight Unseen Theatre Group); Twelfth Night (Footprint on the Sun); Metamorphosis (University of California Los Angeles Theatre); and has assisted on productions at Yale Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, A Noise Within, and Pasadena Playhouse. Film credits: The Commotion (Vanishing Pictures), A Kiss on the Nose (University of Southern California Film). Valerie has also designed costumes for dance concerts at Santa Ana College, in which she performed as well. She holds a BA from University of California, Los Angeles.

CHUAN-CHI CHAN (Lighting Designer) credits include Woyzeck (Tainan Jen Theater), The One Jailed by Moonlight (Taiwan Artist Theater), and Peer Gynt (Yale School of Drama). She has worked as a designer, master electrician, and programmer with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Assembly Dance Theater, Tainan Jen Theater as well as other performing arts groups. Education: National Taiwan University, 2005; MFA, expected 2010, Yale School of Drama.

KATHERINE AKIKO DAY (Scenic Designer) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. She received a BA in art history and film studies from Dartmouth College in 2007. At Dartmouth, she designed sets for The Imaginary Invalid, The Distance from Here, A Number, The Lover, and sets and costumes for Betrayal.

JACOB GALLAGHER-ROSS (Dramaturg) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he won the John W. Gassner Memorial Prize for his essay “Ibsen the Oracle.” Recent dramaturgical credits include Edward II and Troilus vs. Cressida.

A former managing editor of Theater magazine, he has also written for TDR, TheatreForum, Canadian Theatre Review, and the Brooklyn Rail. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

SCOTT L. NIELSEN (Sound Designer/ Composer) is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama. He received his BA with a double major in sociology and theatre from the University of California, San Diego in 2007. Scott designed sound and composed original music for the University of California, San Diego productions of Waiting for Lefty, Second Sites: Tales of Alternate Routes, and Red State Bluegrass.

Some of his other sound design and music composition credits include Pacific Tales: Santiago vs. The Seven-Legged Squid Monster at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater and Be Aggressive at Yale Cabaret.

BECCA WOLFF (Director) is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where she has directed Troilus vs.Cressida, Dramatis Personae, and The Emperor of Ice Cream or Thirteen Ways of Looking at Donald Rumsfeld. Musicals: Usher, winner of the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival Award for Outstanding Musical, and Bicycling for Ladies, which she also co-created (Yale Cabaret). Opera: The Country Doctor, based on a Franz Kafka short story, upcoming at Yale University;

and Dr. Faustus Lights the Light, featuring a new score by Tracy Minicucci and Caroline Shanti, at Theatre Riot in Providence, RI. She has directed world premiere plays in Providence, RI, at Perishable Theatre and Elemental Theatre Ensemble along with several seasons of work by young playwrights with The Manton Avenue Project. She co-wrote and directed Explain This (Aisles Productions), which went on to the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was a nominee for the Princess Grace Award (2008) and is a recipient of the John Badham Scholarship at Yale University.

Frances Black (Associate Managing Director) is a third-year MFA candidate in theater management at Yale School of Drama. Frances serves as a graduate affiliate of Ezra Stiles at Yale College, is a member of the Yale Entrepreneurial Society, and is the alumni class representative to Havergal College and University of King’s College.

Previous work experience includes serving as the production manager for the Ice Theatre of New York, the new play development intern at the Canadian Stage Company, youth consultant for Young & Rubicam, and founder of the Executive Nanny Service and Wash ’n Go. Frances is a Torontonian and has attended school in Canada, Australia, England, and now the USA.

Sergi Torres (Associate Marketing Director) is a third-year MFA candidate in theater management at Yale School of Drama. A 2006–09 Fulbright Fellow, he was the Executive Fellow and consultant for artistic programs for Theatre Communications Group in New York.

Previous experience includes serving as a curatorial assistant at the National Portrait Gallery in London, director of creative strategy at an advertising agency in Barcelona, and assistant to a brand manager at Renault Spain in Madrid. He holds an MA in cultural policy from City University London and a BA in communication sciences.

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the robbers production staff Associate Managing Director

Frances Black

Associate Production Supervisor

Matt Welander

Associate Marketing Director

Sergi Torres

Assistant Director

Devin Brain

Assistant Scenic Designer

Ana M. MiloĹĄevic

Assistant Costume Designer

Leon Dobkowski

Assistant Lighting Designer

Laura J. Eckelman

Assistant Stage Manager

Kirsten Parker

Technical Director

John McCullough

Assistant Technical Directors

Brian D. Dambacher, Ryan Retartha

Master Electrician

Justin Elie

Properties Master

Stephen C. Henson

Stage Carpenter

Steven Albert

Costume Shop Manager

Tom McAlister

Associate Costume Shop Manager

Robin Hirsch

Drapers

Harry Johnson, Clarissa Wylie Youngberg

First Hand

Linda Kelley-Dodd

Sound Engineer

Bona Lee

Staff Sound Engineer

Paul Bozzi

Head Electrician

Jason Wells

Scenic Charge

Steward Savage

Run Crew

Donald Claxon, Min Sun Jung, Sarah Pearline,

Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco, Steward Savage,

Steven Schmidt, Amanda Spooner

Musicians William Lanuzzi, David Parmelee Vocal Coaches

Walton Wilson, Grace Zandarski

Fight Directors

Jeff Barry, Rick Sordelet

Cover Photography

Erik Pearson

Program Design

Maggie Elliott

special thanks Charles Coes, Rachel Easton, Dorothy Fortenberry, Summer Jack, Lisa Loen, Jennifer Newman, Philip Owen, Jacob PadrĂłn, Roberta Pereira, Alyssa Simmons, Lisa Stern, Shahrokh Yadegari

NEXT AT YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA

jelly’s

last jam book by

GEORGE C. WOLFE lyrics by

SUSAN BIRKENHEAD music by

JELLY ROLL MORTON and LUTHER HENDERSON directed by

PATRICIA MCGREGOR

FEBRUARY 13 TO 18 UNIVERSITY THEATRE 222 YORK STREET

DECEMBER 12 TO 18 AT 8PM