Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 16, 2001Volume 29, Number 19



Natalia Payne performs in the Yale Dramat's "alarmingly contemporary" production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle."



Yale Dramat to present Brecht masterpiece

The Yale University Dramatic Association (a.k.a. the Yale Dramat) will present an "alarmingly contemporary" production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 21-24 at the Yale Repertory Theatre, corner of Chapel and York streets.

Twice a year, the Yale Dramat brings in a professional director and design team for its mainstage production. The director for "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" will be Jay Scheib.

A recent graduate of Columbia University's M.F.A. directing program, Scheib is a director, writer and designer. He recently staged a multimedia production of Euripedes classic tragedy "Herakles" in the basement of a building in Times Square. At the Ohio Theatre, also in New York, Scheib collaborated as a writer on a multimedia adaptation of the films and writings of Jean-Luc Godard. Scheib remounted this production, titled "Godard (distant and right)," for Theatre Nanterre-Amandiers in Paris as part of a festival of emerging theater artists, and the production took the grand prize. Scheib also directed last year's "Falling and Waving," a digital opera with libretto by conceptual artist Ronald Jones and score by composer David Lang of Bang on a Can.

Working with Scheib on the production will be scene designer Suzanne Wang, light designer Jeremy Morris and costume designer Elizabeth Bourgeois. The play is produced by Mollie Garner Goldstein and features an original score by Kyle Jarrow.

According to Scheib, the production of "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" at Yale "spans the slaughter of Rosa Luxemburg, the suicide of Mayakovski, the fall of Berlin and the eventual death of communism ... Nowhere has postmodernism been more aptly reduced to ashes than in this alarmingly contemporary production ... Careening between the time of the revolution, the space of the refugee and the judgment of the crime, Brecht's 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' throws into stark relief the journey of a chambermaid who rescues the baby of an assassinated governor and flees into the Caucasus mountains."

Scheib and the design team will discuss the process involved in bringing the Brecht work to the stage on Monday, Feb. 19, at a 4 p.m. master's tea in Calhoun College, 189 Elm St. The event is free and open to the public.

Showtimes for "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" are 8 p.m. nightly, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $6 for students, $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. For reservations, call (203) 432-1212.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

New scholarship seeks to boost diversity in EPH

Exhibit celebrates 'Paul Mellon Bequest'

Columnist condemns 'infotainment' trend

Producer calls for more ethics in filmmaking

Students learning their letters in weekly calligraphy club

Yale SOM launches student-managed venture capital fund

NFL commissioner to discuss future of pro sports

New society advocates use of ecological concepts in industry

Senior Ben Trachtenberg wins prestigious Mitchell Scholarship

Liman Colloquium will examine law enforcement practices

Students will test skills in 'ultimate mind sport' with Yale sponsorship

Solnit will explore the 'Bioethics of Children's Rights'

Economist William Nordhaus to discuss dilemmas raised by 'global public goods'

Yale Dramat to present Brecht masterpiece

Dance troupes to unite in benefit performance

Garten to discuss his new book, 'The Mind of the C.E.O.'



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