2013 / 2014 SEASON!
“A Season of Belief In Theatre”
Three exciting shows that ask questions and challege you to ask more
“A Season of Belief In Theatre”
Three exciting shows that ask questions and challege you to ask more
Fenix Theatre Company with Dramatic Repertory Company present a Maine Premiere  A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter directed by Keith Powell Beyland November 13 - 24, 2013 more > > |
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner directed by Keith Powell Beyland March 6 - 16, 2014 more > > |
New England Premiere EQUIVOCATION by Bill Cain directed by Keith Powell Beyland and Peter Brown May 29 - June 8, 2014 more > > |
A BRIGHT NEW BOISE
Performance Times
Performance Times
Wed. Nov. 13 @7:30pm
Thurs. Nov. 14 @7:30pm
Fri. Nov. 15 @7:30pm
Sat. Nov. 16 @7:30pm – SOLD OUT
Wed. Nov. 20 @7:30pm
Thurs. Nov. 21 @7:30pm
Fri. Nov. 22 @7:30pm
Sat. Nov. 23 @7:30pm
Sun. Nov. 24 @7:30pm
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NOVEMBER 13 - 24, 2013
Fenix Theatre Company
with Dramatic Repertory Company present
a Maine Premiere
WINNER OF THE 2011
OBIE AWARD FOR PLAYWRITING
“A quietly affecting drama that delves into
the always thorny issues of faith, forgiveness,
and second chances with great
eloquence and compassion.”
- -TheatreMania
the always thorny issues of faith, forgiveness,
and second chances with great
eloquence and compassion.”
- -TheatreMania
“A play that marches in the footsteps
of Sam Shepard's acid comedies.”
- The Washington Post
A BRIGHT NEW BOISE
by Samuel D. Hunter
directed by Keith Powell Beyland
with Rob Cameron*, Abigail Killeen*, Erik Moody,
Gabriel Walker and Bess Welden
In the employee break room of a big box craft store in Idaho, Will (Cameron) is on the run from his past. He has just fled his rural hometown after a scandal at his Evangelical church, and arrives at the Hobby Lobby in Boise to reconnect with Alex (Walker), the son he gave up for adoption 17 years ago. As he tries to rekindle his relationship, Will must face Leroy (Moody), Alex's adopted brother and protector; Anna (Killeen), a vulnerable woman who reads bland fiction but hopes for dramatic endings; and the foul-mouthed Pauline (Welden), the store's manager who tries ceaselessly to find order, and profit, in the chaos of business. Samuel D. Hunter's award-winning and powerfully funny script asks us to consider what is more important - the here and now or the ever after?
MY NAME IS
RACHEL CORRIE
Performance Times
RACHEL CORRIE
Performance Times
Thurs. March 6 @7:30pm
Fri. March 7 @7:30pm
Sat. March 8 @7:30pm
Sun. March 9 @2pm
Wed. March 12 @7:30pm**
Thurs. March 13 @7:30pm
Fri. March 14 @7:30pm
Sat. March 15 @7:30pm
Sun. March 16 @7:30pm
** Discount Wednesdays -- All Seats $10
 |
MARCH 6 - 16, 2014
“Here is a play where the real dialogue begins when the curtain comes down. MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is theater that not only stirs our hearts but sticks in our heads.”
- Newsweek
“You feel you have not just had a night at the theatre:
You have encountered an extraordinary woman [in this] stunning account of one woman's passionate response...theatre can't change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people's passionate concern.”
- Guardian (London)
“Extraordinary power...funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent.”
- Time Out London
- Newsweek
“You feel you have not just had a night at the theatre:
You have encountered an extraordinary woman [in this] stunning account of one woman's passionate response...theatre can't change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send us out enriched by other people's passionate concern.”
- Guardian (London)
“Extraordinary power...funny, passionate, bristling with idealism and luminously intelligent.”
- Time Out London
Casey Turner
in
MY NAME IS
RACHEL CORRIE
taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie
edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner
directed by Keith Powell Beyland
Performances at the PSC Studio Theater - 25A Forest Avenue
A Note from Keith
It has been said, and I believe it to be true, that Rachel's story would still have a similar impact had she chosen to become involved with her world in Africa or Central America...or just about anywhere.
What is so relatable about Rachel is that she is like so many of us – those who look at the world and are sometimes dismayed and overwhelmed by what we see. Rachel was driven to take action. Her action is what makes her compelling.
As you delve deeper into her writing, her vivid and intricate imagery becomes readily apparent. When we asked ourselves in the process - “Why this story?” “Why this Rachel?” We kept coming back to the fact she, even at her young age, is a writer and poet of incredible power. She has a command of language and an innate ability to paint a clear and urgent picture with words. That is why I wanted to present her story.
I was deeply struck in my research to encounter what I would describe as a systematic “de-humanizing” that is used by some to justify the unjustifiable. Rachel is not immune. After March 16, she became a symbol -- but what that symbol is depends greatly on your personal prism. However, no matter how bold or important that symbol becomes, it will be pale in comparison to the real, passionate, human Rachel we see in her words.
To me, the 10 year-old Rachel may have said it best - "Everyone must feel safe." Safe to be themselves, physically safe, safe to say what they think, just safe. That's the best rule I can think of.
A Note from Keith
It has been said, and I believe it to be true, that Rachel's story would still have a similar impact had she chosen to become involved with her world in Africa or Central America...or just about anywhere.
What is so relatable about Rachel is that she is like so many of us – those who look at the world and are sometimes dismayed and overwhelmed by what we see. Rachel was driven to take action. Her action is what makes her compelling.
As you delve deeper into her writing, her vivid and intricate imagery becomes readily apparent. When we asked ourselves in the process - “Why this story?” “Why this Rachel?” We kept coming back to the fact she, even at her young age, is a writer and poet of incredible power. She has a command of language and an innate ability to paint a clear and urgent picture with words. That is why I wanted to present her story.
I was deeply struck in my research to encounter what I would describe as a systematic “de-humanizing” that is used by some to justify the unjustifiable. Rachel is not immune. After March 16, she became a symbol -- but what that symbol is depends greatly on your personal prism. However, no matter how bold or important that symbol becomes, it will be pale in comparison to the real, passionate, human Rachel we see in her words.
To me, the 10 year-old Rachel may have said it best - "Everyone must feel safe." Safe to be themselves, physically safe, safe to say what they think, just safe. That's the best rule I can think of.
Casey Turner (Tigers Be Still) stars in My Name is Rachel Corrie – a one-woman play composed from Rachel's own journals, letters and emails. This true story is a portrait of a messy, articulate, Salvador Dali-loving chain-smoker (with a passion for the music of Pat Benatar), who left her home and school in Olympia, Washington, to work as an activist in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the three sold-out London runs since its Royal Court premiere, the piece has been surrounded by both controversy and impassioned proponents, and has raised an unprecedented call to support political work and the difficult discourse it creates.
EQUIVOCATION
Performance Times
Performance Times
Thurs. May 29 @7:30pm
Fri. May 30 @7:30pm
Sat. May 31 @7:30pm
Sun. June 1 @2pm
Wed. June 4 @7:30pm**
Thurs. June 5 @7:30pm
Fri. June 6 @7:30pm
Sat. June 7 @7:30pm
Sun. June 8 @7:30pm
** Discount Wednesdays -- All Seats $10
 |
MAY 29 - JUNE 8, 2014
“No need to equivocate: Bill Cain's EQUIVOCATION... is one of the most bracingly intelligent, sizzlingly theatrical American plays in a decade... it's an experience no serious theatergoer will want to miss.”
— Variety
— Variety
New England Premiere
EQUIVOCATION
by Bill Cain
directed by Keith Powell Beyland and Peter Brown
with Carrie Bell-Hoerth, Peter Brown, Ian Carlsen,
Matt Delamater, Corey M. Gagne and Christopher Holt
Truth will out in this bloody fun romp through imagined history.
London, 1606: William Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by the King, via Sir Robert Cecil, to write a new play. The play will be the "true historie" of the recently foiled Gunpowder Plot...a terrorist plot to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come with 36 barrels of devilish gunpowder...and it has to have witches! The King wants witches!
But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe, under the direction of the great Richard Burbage, investigate the plot, they discover that the King's version of the story might, in fact, be a cover-up. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power - and perhaps literally lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Or...is there a third option - equivocation?
A high-stakes political thriller with biting humor and contemporary resonances, EQUIVOCATION gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and... ultimately... human mystery.
London, 1606: William Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by the King, via Sir Robert Cecil, to write a new play. The play will be the "true historie" of the recently foiled Gunpowder Plot...a terrorist plot to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come with 36 barrels of devilish gunpowder...and it has to have witches! The King wants witches!
But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe, under the direction of the great Richard Burbage, investigate the plot, they discover that the King's version of the story might, in fact, be a cover-up. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power - and perhaps literally lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Or...is there a third option - equivocation?
A high-stakes political thriller with biting humor and contemporary resonances, EQUIVOCATION gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and... ultimately... human mystery.