VIEUX CARRÉ

VIEUX CARRÉ - director's notes

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Like Williams' first big success The Glass Menagerie, Vieux Carré (1977) is a "memory play," set in the boarding house in New Orleans where Williams himself stayed as a young man during the Depression. The young writer, as narrator, remembers his artistic and sexual awakening there. Inhabitants of the house swirl up out of the writer's mind as archetypal Williams characters, longing for release and haunted by thwarted dreams. In The Wooster Group's version of Vieux Carré, the Group experiments with new modes of expression for Williams' lyric voice.


Production Credits

VIEUX CARRÉ
by Tennessee Williams

The Writer: Ari Fliakos
Photographer: Judson Williams (2009), Daniel Pettrow (2010-13)
Mrs. Wire: Ellen Mills (2009), Kate Valk (2010-13)
Nursie: Kaneza Schaal
Jane Sparks: Kate Valk
Nightingale: Scott Shepherd
The Pickup: Daniel Jackson (2009-11), Bobby McElver (2012-2013)
Mary Maude, Miss Carrie: Alan Boyd Kleiman (on video)
Tye McCool: Scott Shepherd
Avatar: Andrew Schneider
Dancer: Casey Spooner (on video)
The Judge: Ben Williams (voice-over)
Sky: Raimonda Skeryte (2009), Daniel Pettrow (2010-13)

Director: Elizabeth LeCompte
Associate Director: Kate Valk
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton
Sound: Matt Schloss and Omar Zubair
Video: Andrew Schneider
Production Manager: Bozkurt Karasu (through 2012), Bob Bellerue (2013)
Stage Manager: Teresa Hartmann
Technical Director, Additional Video: Aron Deyo
Master Electrician: Rob Reese (2009), Kent Barrett (2010-13)
Technical Assistant: Daniel Jackson (through 2012), Cooper Gardner (2013)
Wardrobe: Enver Chakartash
Sound Technician: Jamie McElhinney (2010), Bobby McElver (2011-13)
Special Advisor: Casey Spooner
Cineturg: Dennis Dermody
Production Consultant: Bozkurt Karasu (2013)
Producer: Cynthia Hedstrom
General Manager: Edward McKeaney (2009-11), Sandra Garner (2011-13)
Development/Web Manager: Jamie Poskin
Archivist: Clay Hapaz
Administrator: Jason Gray Platt
Video DAILIES: Zbigniew Bzymek with Jean Coleman

VIEUX CARRÉ is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French Inc. on behalf of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. A co-production between Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Les Spectacles Vivants-Centre Pompidou, Festival d'Automne à Paris.


Production History

2008 November: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2008 December: VIEUX CARRÉ research and film shoot in New Orleans, LA
2009 May: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2009 August-October: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2009 November 6-14: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at Festival Premieres at Théâtre National in Strasbourg, France
2009 November 19-23: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at Festival d'Automne at Centre Pompidou in Paris, France
2010 May-June: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2010 August 21-24: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at the Edinburgh International Festival at Royal Lyceum Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland
2010 October-November: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at The Performing Garage
2010 December 1-12: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at REDCAT in Los Angeles, CA
2011 January: VIEUX CARRÉ rehearsals at Baryshnikov Arts Center
2011 February 2-March 13: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at the Baryshnikov Arts Center
2011 May 4-7: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at deSingel International Arts Campus in Antwerp, Belgium
2011 May 18-21: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at National Théâtre Bourgogne in Dijon, France
2011 June 11-13: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2011 November 11-12: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at Nationaltheatret Hovedscenen in Oslo, Norway
2011 November 22-26: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at Théâtre National de Toulouse-Midi-Pyrénées in Toulouse, France
2012 March 28-31: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at World Stage Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada
2013 March 22-24: VIEUX CARRÉ performances at SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil


Articles & Reviews

"Wooster Group Plans New York Premiere for 'Vieux Carré'" in the New York Times (November 10, 2010)
"Critic's Notebook: Wooster Group revives Tennessee Williams' 'Vieux Carré'" in the Los Angeles Times (December 1, 2010)
"The Wooster Group Enhances Memory at REDCAT" in LA Stage Times (December 1, 2010)
Charles McNulty review in the Los Angeles Times (December 4, 2010)
Jordan Young review in the Examiner (December 5, 2010)
Bob Verini review in Variety (December 5, 2010)
Harvey Perr review in Stage and Cinema (December 7, 2010)
Anthony Byrnes review in KCRW (December 7, 2010)
Steven Leigh Morris review in LA Weekly (December 9, 2010)
"Exploring Tennessee Williams" in the Wall Street Journal (January 24, 2011)
"Kate Valk, The Wooster Group" in Gothamist (January 25, 2011)
"Drawn and Quartered" in City Arts (January 26, 2011)
"Elizabeth LeCompte" in Artforum (February 9, 2011)
"New Light, Long After His Sun Set" in the New York Times (February 9, 2011)
Nancy Kelly review in Theater Is Easy (February 10, 2011)
James Jorden review in Musical America (February 18, 2011)
"An Interview With the Wooster Group's Ari Fliakos" in Culturebot (February 18, 2011)
"Drama Revived by the Kindness of Strangeness" in the New York Times (February 20, 2011)
Charles Isherwood review in the New York Times (February 22, 2011)
Andy Propst review in Theatermania (February 23, 2011)
Helen Shaw review #1 in Time Out New York (February 23, 2011)
Elisabeth Vincentelli review in the New York Post (February 23, 2011)
AndrewAndrew review on blogdotblog.andrewandrewdotcom.com (February 23, 2011)
Jennifer Farrar review in the Associated Press (February 24, 2011)
Benjamin Sutton review in The L Magazine (February 24, 2011)
Mark Peikert review in New York Press (February 25, 2011)
Michael Feingold review in the Village Voice (March 2, 2011)
"Ready, set, go: How to prepare for the Wooster Group's Vieux Carré" in Time Out New York (March 4, 2011)
Helen Shaw review #2 in Time Out New York (March 8, 2011)
Don Shewey review in Culture Vulture (March 20, 2011)