 | James Bundy (center), the Yale Rep's artistic director and dean of the School of Drama, makes his directorial debut with the New England premiere of Amy Freed's award-winning "The Psychic Life of Savages." He is pictured at a recent rehearsal with actors Will Marchetti and Fiona Gallagher. The play runs from Feb. 14 to March 8. |
The Yale Repertory Theatre will present the New England premiere of "The Psychic Life of Savages," Amy Freed's award-winning play about the price of artistic genius, Feb. 14-March 8.
The production marks the Yale Rep directorial debut of James Bundy, who came to the University this year as the theater's artistic director and dean of the Yale School of Drama.
"The Psychic Life of Savages" is inspired by the lives and writings of real-life poets Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton. As they struggle to tame the demons that drive them to art -- and to each others' beds -- the four characters in the play must contend with everything from dim-witted undergraduates to writer's block to Emily Dickinson's ghost to the realization that acts of creation are not unlike acts of madness.
"The four poets in this play are all incredibly smart, phenomenally literate, and articulate and talented, and energized, and sexual, and everything that is attractive and bracing and terrifying about the literary life," says Bundy. "But they're people like you or me: they contain both elemental human passions and a kind of airy transcendence, and that contradiction is both uproariously funny and really painful. I think all of us who come into contact with art, and artists, and the history of art, are aware of those complexities as being part of the artists' nature and, indeed, of the nature of anybody who feels a spark of creativity. Which may in fact be a spark of destructive impulse as well."
"The Psychic Life of Savages" received the 1995 Joseph Kesselring Award, a national award presented each year by the New York Arts Club to an outstanding new play, and was named the winner of the prestigious Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding New Play. An earlier version of the play, titled "Poetomachia," received an Outstanding Achievement Award for an Original Script by the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 1994. Another work by Freed, "Freedomland" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. She is also the author of "Claustrophilia," "The Ghoul of Amherst," "Still Warm" and, most recently, "The Beard of Avon."
A 1995 alumnus of the School of Drama, Bundy came to Yale from the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was artistic director 1998-2002. He was formerly associate producing director of The Acting Company, considered the nation's foremost touring repertory theatre, and managing director of Cornerstone Theater Company, known for its innovative, community-based productions of classic plays. He has also directed at The Acting Company, California Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and the Juilliard School Drama Division. He has been a Drama League fellow and a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.
The cast of "The Psychic Life of Savages" features Fiona Gallagher (Sylvia Fluellen), Robyn Ganeles (Kit-Kat and others), Meg Gibson (Anne Bittenhand), John Hines (Ted Magus), Bill Kux (Announcer and others), Will Marchetti (Dr. Robert Stoner), and Phyllis Somerville (Emily Dickinson, Vera).
The play features scenic design by Young Ju Baik, costume design by Corrine Larson, lighting design by Torkel Skjaerven and sound design by Sten Severson. Emily Shooltz is the dramaturg; Pamela Prather is the vocal coach; Rick Sordelet is the fight director; and Laura MacNeil is the stage manager.
"The Psychic Life of Savages" will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., on the following schedule: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday. There is a special Monday evening performance at 8 p.m. on Feb. 17 and a Wednesday matinee at 2 p.m. on March 5.
A variety of special events are being offered in conjunction with the play at no additional cost. These include: Yale Night on Friday, Feb. 14, which includes free pizza and soft drinks for students from area colleges and universities; Opening Night on Thursday, Feb. 20, with a celebration following the performance at Hot Tomato's; "Re:Play," a question-and-answer session with the cast and crew following the matinee performance on Saturday, Feb. 22; and "Senior Matinee" on Wednesday, March 5. In addition, the Yale Rep will offer a Sign-Interpreted Performance on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. and an Audio-Described Performance on Saturday, March 1 at 2 p.m.
Three-play subscription packages are currently available for the remaining plays of the 2002-2003 Season ("The Psychic Life of Savages," "The Taming of the Shrew" directed by Mark Lamos, and the world premiere of "The Black Monk" featuring actor Sam Waterston). Single tickets are $25-$40. Senior, student and group rates are also available. Tickets are available by telephone at (203) 432-1234, in person at the Rep Box Office and online at www.yalerep.org.
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