New England Youth Theatre's Senior Company Presents: "The Caucasian Chalk Circle"

Photo credit: "Courtesy of New England Youth Theatre" New England Youth Theatre's Senior Company Presents: "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" By Victoria Chertok New England Youth Theatre's (NEYT) Senior Company presents a parable play, "The Caucasian Chalk Circle," by Bertolt Brecht from April 10 through 12. According to publicity materials, the story takes place in ancient times of the Caucasus Mountains region, when two stories converge. One story is about Grusha, the kitchen maid who goes through many ordeals to save an infant of an overthrown governor; and the other revolves around Azdak, the corrupt judge who is charged with deciding whether or not Grusha must return the child to the woman who abandoned it. Directed by Sandglass Theater Co-founder Eric Bass, Assistant Director Ben Stockman, with Music Director Magda Sharff and musical collaborator Ralph Denzer "who provides Eastern European-inspired arrangements of Brecht's lyrics," and Sandglass Theater's Artistic Director Shoshana Bass who lends her talents as choreographer. The Senior Company is comprised of 15 student actors ages 14 to 18. "It's amazing that 25 years after my first NEYT show, Brecht's 'Good Person of Szechwan,' it seemed like a good time to bring Brecht back to NEYT. He is, after all, one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century," says Eric Bass in a phone call with The Keene Sentinel. He continues, "Chalk Circle is probably my favorite play. It's basically about the very difficult choices that people often make between doing the good thing and surviving." Bass talks about how "some people would call it the moral thing, but very often it puts our survival on the line. It's saying that goodness and morality are not necessarily compatible with survival, especially during trying times like times of war." "Brecht is delightfully entertaining, but at the same time, he's challenging us with one of the most profound choices that we have to make. We all make these choices on very small levels, almost every day," Bass adds. "The marvelous thing about Brecht is that he takes these extraordinarily profound themes and he makes them entertaining without diminishing them," he adds. Bass says that the play is filled with humor and song. "It's in many ways a musical, except that it's not a Broadway culture one," he adds. A very unusual part of the actor's costumes will be 30 intricate masks which NEYT Scenic Director Dave Regan designed for the production. Actors will wear masks for much of the production and will also change costumes on stage. "Acting through a mask is different from acting with your own face … your whole body is part of the mask. For the young actors, it's learning a new style of acting which is really exciting," says Bass. "I also want to give a shout out to NEYT lead costumer Sandy Klein and NEYT alum Phoebe Martel, who have been having a lot of fun costuming the show." The fascinating story line is basically from the book of Solomon. "It's an old story which exists in many different cultures." The play was written in 1944 while Brecht was living in the United States. Ben Stockman wrote in an email to The Sentinel, "I'm honored to be presenting this piece, but far more excited to have a front row seat to the process as Eric's (Bass) assistant." Stockman continues, "It's been clear to me in my time as NEYT's artistic director that our Senior Company of performance students crave challenging text and emotionally driven music. 'Chalk Circle' manages to fulfill those criteria while expanding horizons even further with heightened style and mask work. I remember working with Eric as an NEYT student more than two decades ago on Brecht's 'The Good Person of Szechuan' and having one of the most engaging and rigorous experiences of my life as an actor up to that point. I can't wait for the cast and crew to share their incredible work with our audiences!" Bass concludes, "As a theater goer, if you don't know Brecht, seeing it done by these young actors is a great introduction to the joy and the energy and the profoundness of his work." "For me, one of the real pleasures of this has been tackling this kind of material with these young actors." IF YOU GO: WHAT: The Caucasian Chalk Circle, a play by Bertolt Brecht WHEN: April 10 at 7 p.m.; April 11 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and April 12 at 2 p.m. WHERE: New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro, Vt. TICKETS: www.app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=316317 MORE INFO: Visit neyt.org or call 802-246-6398 THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE CAST LIST: Alex Aither – Grusha Vachnadze Elsa Anders – Lavrenti Vachnadze, The Old Dairy Man, Doctor (Scene 5)), Very Old Woman (Scene 6) Malika Anthes – Prince Kazbecki and his Nephew, Aniko, Fisherman 1 (Scene 3), The 2 Lawyers (Scene 6) Lila Armour-Jones – Governor Georgi Abashvilli, Yussup, Shauva (policeman), Fisherman 2 (Scene 3), Older Lady (Scene 3) Rei Carpenter-Ranquist – Yussup's Mother, Peasant Woman, (Scene 3) Invalid, Very Old Man (Scene 6) Veronica Cottrill – Corporal (Ironshirt) Huxley Dove – The Grand Duke (a fugitive), The 2 Doctors (Scene 2), Boy #1, The Lame Man Remy Flood – Azdak, The 3 Architects Indigo Goldman – The Singer Desi Grace – Simon Chachava, Landlord Bibi Johnson – "Blockhead" (Ironshirt) Luca Mnookin – Aide-de-Camp, Peasant Man (Scene 3), Boy #2, Blackmailer Matrix Petrask - Musician Abby Sharff – Natasha Abashvilli, Younger Lady (Scene 3), Monk