The Power of Memory and Imagination
in Modern Times
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The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies
June 6 - 30, 2019
written by Sarah Ruhl directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer An American mother and a Tibetan father must make a life-altering choice that will test their strength, their marriage and their hearts. Two Tibetan monks seek their three-year-old son. The boy is the reincarnation of a revered Buddhist lama, and the monks propose to take the child away for a life of spiritual training in India.
“The Oldest Boy is a richly emotional journey filled with music, dance, puppetry, ritual and laughter — Sarah Ruhl at her imaginative best,” says Artistic Director Richard Henrich. “A meditation on attachment and unconditional love, the play shows us a world in which the youngest children are sometimes also the oldest and wisest teachers.” Cast *member, Actor's Equity Association
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Production Team
Stage Managers - Kate Kilbane & Kathryn Dooley Assistant Director - Bridget Grace Sheaff Set Design - Vicki R. Davis Lighting Design - Max Doolittle Costume Design - Julie Cray Leong Sound Design - David Crandall Props - Liz Long Puppet construction - Matthew Pauli Movement Director, Music and Cultural Consultant - Tuyet Thi Pham ASM - Olivia Viola Production sponsored by Jeffrey P. Cunard
and Craig Pascal & Victor Shargai |
About the Playwright
Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with Paula Vogel. An alum of 13P and of New Dramatists, she won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 and most recently, the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. She was the recipient of the PEN Center Award for a mid-career playwright, the Whiting Writers award, the Feminist Press’ Forty under Forty award, and a Lilly Award. She proudly served on the executive council of the Dramatist’s Guild for three years, and she is currently on the faculty at Yale School of Drama. Her book of essays on the theater and motherhood, 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write, was a Times Notable Book of the Year. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Artist Feature
Techung helped us out as an adviser on traditional Tibetan music for The Oldest Boy. Recordings of his music appear in the production. Now we have the opportunity to help preserve this beautiful, traditional art form. So head on over to Techung's fundraiser and show your support.
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Among the Dead
February 14 - March 10, 2019 written by Hansol Jung directed by Richard Henrich Three separate time periods collide in a small hotel room in Korea. Mediated by a shape-shifting Jesus who first shows up as a bellboy. Three characters have to come to terms with their stories.
Production Team
Stage Manager - Katie Bucher Assistant Director - Danny Romeo Set Design - April Joy Vester Lighting Design - Hailey LaRoe Sound Design - Navid Azeez 
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Ana is a Korean American who travels to Seoul in 1975 to retrieve her recently deceased father’s ashes. Luke is a young American soldier fighting in the jungles of Burma in 1944. Number Four is the name of a Korean comfort woman camping out on a bridge in Seoul in 1950, waiting for the return of the young American soldier who fathered her daughter.
Cast
*member Actor's Equity Association
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About the author:
Hansol Jung was born in Jeonju, South Korea. When she was six years old her family moved to South Africa where her father had been accepted at the University of Stellenbosch.
When she was 13 the family moved back to South Korea, and at 20 years old Jung studied abroad in New York City. It was there that she became hooked on theater. Subsequently she received an MFA in musical theatre directing from Pennsylvania State University and another MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama in 2014.
Jung’s work has been developed at theaters across the US and she has received numerous awards. She has translated over thirty English musicals into Korean. Jung is currently working on a commission for the National Theatre in London, a musical called The Circle.
Hansol Jung was born in Jeonju, South Korea. When she was six years old her family moved to South Africa where her father had been accepted at the University of Stellenbosch.
When she was 13 the family moved back to South Korea, and at 20 years old Jung studied abroad in New York City. It was there that she became hooked on theater. Subsequently she received an MFA in musical theatre directing from Pennsylvania State University and another MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama in 2014.
Jung’s work has been developed at theaters across the US and she has received numerous awards. She has translated over thirty English musicals into Korean. Jung is currently working on a commission for the National Theatre in London, a musical called The Circle.
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Run time approx 60 mins, no intermission
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New Guidelines for Peaceful Times
October 11 - 28, 2018 written by Bosco Brasil directed by Roberta Alves A high-stakes confrontation between a troubled Brazilian immigration official and a WWII European refugee. We open our season with New Guidelines for Peaceful Times by Brazilian playwright Bosco Brasil. Written in 2001, performed around the world and adapted for the screen in 2009, the play will now have its US premier here at Spooky Action Theater. |
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The playwright
"I wrote New Guidelines inspired by the true experience of a very well-known director who fled to Brazil from Poland after WWII, because I was interested in finding out how somebody can leave everything behind and start over,” remembers Bosco Brasil. “But New Guidelines is not just about one man's struggle, it's about the struggle that all refugees and migrants experience nowadays.” Brasil donates his royalties from the play's productions to AVSI Foundation, an international NGO that supports refugees and migrants around the world. |
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Spooky Action Theater hosted The Welders
and their production of In This Hope: A Pericles Project November 11–December 2, 2018 In This Hope: A Pericles Project is a performance adventure that travels through time and place, weaving ancient myth and contemporary recollection into a rare event of migration, love lost, and bonds forged anew. Each night, with Shakespeare’s epic Pericles as the launching point, the performers will gather with audiences to revel in the power of memory for a singular, communal evening of story, spontaneous memory, and experimental theatre. Braided into Shakespeare’s poetry, are the real and personal memories of the company of actors, who share an inspired link to Shakespeare’s own story of immigration, hope at all costs, and the blessings of memory.
Created by Hannah Hessel Ratner Director Anna Brenner Performers Lida Maria Benson, Rocelyn Frisco, Raghad Makhlouf, and Lori Pitts. Designers Colin K. Bills, Pei Lee and Roc Lee. Assistant Director and Dramaturg Jess Phillips Artistic Consultant Isaiah Matthew Wooden Stage Manager Emma Heck Production Manager KayCee Tucker with help from The Welders and our audiences |
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