The Yale Repertory Theatre's next production -- Tennessee Williams' darkly comic psychodrama "Kingdom of Earth" -- will be the first it is staging in the School of Drama's New Theater at Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall, 1156 Chapel St.
"Tennessee Williams' 'Kingdom of Earth' is just the play to introduce Rep audiences to the New Theater at Holcombe T. Green Hall," says Stan Wojewodski Jr., dean of the School of Drama and artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre. "Williams' deeply personal and yet broadly comic piece requires a space that is responsive to both its power and its intimacy so that the subtlety of the play can work, and the enormity of dramatic situation can land."
In "Kingdom of Earth," a trio of misfits is trapped in a dilapidated Mississippi farmhouse endangered by an encroaching flood. The frail and effeminate Lot, in the last stages of tuberculosis, has returned home to the farmhouse with his wife of 24 hours, the aging, down-on-her-luck showgirl, Myrtle. Lot's return fuels a longstanding feud with his half-brother, Chicken, over the ownership of the family estate. As rising flood waters threaten her new home, Myrtle, who is frightened of, but fascinated by, the macho Chicken, makes several trips down to his kitchen lair from the upstairs bedroom, where her new husband is fighting for breath and losing his tenuous hold on reality.
"I have always thought of 'Kingdom of Earth' as a Tennessee Williams primer," says Catherine Sheehy, the Yale Rep's literary manager and resident dramaturg. "It's got everything you expect from a Williams play: a faded belle (who happens in this case to be a man), a brutish animal type who's irresistible to women, a bigger-than-life heroine in a tough spot, and a rocking chair in the moonlight. And this all comes at you with startling humor in great theatrical language."
Originally titled "The Seven Descents of Myrtle," the play's first run was neither a critical or public success. Disappointed, Tennessee Williams reportedly fell into a suicidal depression. He later revised the script and the play was produced again in 1975 in Princeton, New Jersey, under the new title "Kingdom of Earth." It remains one of Williams' lesser known works.
The production will be the second at Yale led by Mark Rucker, a 1992 graduate of the School of Drama, who first directed the play 11 years ago as part of a student project on realism. The alumnus, who says he has "a huge love" for Williams' work, was unfamiliar with the play while he was studying at Yale, but once he discovered it, he was surprised by its "obscurity."
"Back then, I would have called the play 'poetic realism,' but now that I've gotten more in touch with things Southern and have had more time being 'in the real world,' I've come to see that the eccentricities of the characters are more realistic than I previously thought," says Rucker, whose mother is from Mississippi. "The characteristics of the characters no longer seem so exaggerated to me."
Rucker has also directed "The Imaginary lInvalid," "Measure for Measure," "The Cryptogram, " "Landscape of the Body" and "Twelfth Night" at the Yale Rep. He is an associate artist and director at South Coast Repertory and has also directed at Seattle's Intiman Theatre, Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, The Acting Company and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, among others.
The cast includes Cindy Katz as Myrtle, Joey Collins as Lot and Jack Gwaltney as Chicken.
Katz, a graduate of the School of Drama, last appeared at the Yale Rep as Cressida in "Troilus and Cressida" and as Rosemary in "Summer and Smoke." On Broadway, she played the role of Constanze in "Amadeus," directed by Sir Peter Hall. She also has numerous off-Broadway and regional theater credits.
Collins appeared on Broadway in "The Lonesome West" and has appeared in several off-Broadway productions. He was in the national concert tour of "A Celtic Celebration," and has appeared in many regional theaters.
Gwaltney appeared on Broadway as Ronnie in "The House of Blue Leaves," and has acted in a number of Off-Broadway productions. His film credits include "The Siege," "G.I. Jane," "Trial by Jury," "Clean and Sober" and "Casualties of War." For television, he was a series regular on "Profit" and "Vanishing Son" and played a recurring role on "Trinity." His other TV credits include "Providence," "Sex and the City," "Soul Food," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "New York Undercover" and "Now & Again," among others.
The design team includes scenic designer Mikiko Suzuki, costume designer Jenny Mannis, lighting designer Agnieszka Kunska and sound designer Fitz Patton. Rounding out the artistic team are dramaturgs Kate Bredeson and Christie B. Evangelisto, dialect coach Beth McGuire and stage manager Courtney Todd.
"Kingdom of Earth" runs through Dec. 1. Show times are 7 p.m. on Mondays and 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays (except Oct. 27). There is an additional 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Nov. 25. Tickets range from $22 to $39. Discounted subscription packages for the entire Yale Rep season are also available. For more information or to order tickets, call the Yale Rep box office at (203) 432-1234, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.yalerep.org
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