The Mystery of Irma Vep
by Charles Ludlam
directed by ensemble member Connie Canaday Howard
featuring ensemble members Bryan Burke and William “Sandy” Smillie
Sept. 23 to Oct. 17, 2010 (see performance calendar below)
Outrageous, ingenious and hysterical, The Mystery of Irma Vep is the tale of Lord Edgar Hillcrest and his new young bride, the second Lady Hillcrest. Set on an estate on some distant moors, the first Lady Hillcrest, Irma Vep (anagram for vampire) and the Hillcrests’ only son were killed on the moors by a wolf, or were they? Eight roles are played in rapid succession by two actors, complete with cross-dressing, double-entendre and comic exaggeration. The result is wicked, farcical fun.
Frozen
by Bryony Lavery
directed by ensemble member Bryan Burke
Jan. 20 to Feb. 6, 2011 (see performance calendar below)
Featuring ensemble members Michael Sassone and Connie Canaday Howard Chilling, horrible and compelling, but ultimately a play of hope and redemption, the 2004 Tony nominated play Frozen is an extraordinary story about terrible loss. Nancy Shirley is a mother whose child disappears, and the two decades that follow allow us to see how three very different characters, who have been psychologically “frozen,” begin to thaw.
Private Lives
by Noel Coward
May 5 to May 29, 2011 (see performance calendar below)
Directed by ensemble member Amelia Barrett featuring ensemble member Robert Jordan Bailey Sophisticated, elegant and quintessential Coward, Private Lives, set in 1929, introduces us to long-divorced Amanda and Elyot, who meet again on the eve of each other’s honeymoons with their new spouses, where they confirm their fear – they are still deeply in love with one another. A passionate, volatile tale of kindred souls – those who can’t live with one another, nor without – it is a ridiculous, sentimental and very funny romp.
Faith Healer
by Brian Friel
directed by Brad Armacost
featuring ensemble member Bryan Burke
July 7 to 24, 2011 (see performance calendar below)
Lyrical, haunting and quietly suspenseful, in Friel’s classic Faith Healer we meet “the Fantastic Francis Hardy,” a traveling faith healer whose gift is genuine if capricious, as well as Grace and Teddy, who complete the traveling band. A mystery, these three individually tell us stories of their shared history, and, while the events they relate are essentially the same, the details are widely discrepant in each version. Which tale is true ultimately becomes less important than the increasing understanding that each person creates their own version as a balm, when the challenges become too great.
BTE Directors: Connie Canaday Howard (left), Amelia Barrett
BTE Vision