The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing present Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, directed by Eddie DeHais. Performances run May 5 through May 15 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center on 87 Empire Street in Providence. General admission is $15 with a discounted price of $10 for seniors and $7 for students. Tickets are on sale now at Trinity Rep’s ticket office, by phone at (401) 351-4242, or online at trinityrep.com/maiden.
ABOUT THE PLAY
Laughter and lethality intertwine in this dynamic reimagining of a modern classic. After being kidnapped and tortured under a repressive regime, Paulina encounters a man she believes to be the one behind her suffering. But during her quest for justice, the lines between Paulina’s reality and fantasy begin to blur. With a biting sense of humor and thrilling original music, Death and the Maiden asks how to heal our greatest wounds when world events tear us apart, and explores the dangers in believing the lies we tell ourselves to cope.
“This play is about resilience, and how we can live full lives in spite of the tragedies that happened to us,” Director Eddie DeHais said. “With this play, I’m really invested in asking: how do we thrive, not just survive, after times of trauma? Moving forward takes honesty and forgiveness, and something this play is also looking at is why do the same kinds of people always have to forgive? We’re hoping this play also helps us process the journeys we’ve all had through the pandemic and other traumatic current events.”
Death and the Maiden will also feature original new music by composer Adeliia Faizullina created exclusively for this production, performed by a new character, The Moon.
“In much of my work there’s the personal element but then there’s also the sort of epic element,” Eddie continued. “One of the ways that we touch on doing that is by having this woman as the moon who sings and is present like a force of nature, guiding us through this ritual in a way that I think will make the audience feel held.”
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Eddie DeHais is a transgender French-American director, choreographer, writer, and visual artist, who creates space of rigorous collaboration, radical empathy, and unguarded joy to investigate the best and worst of humanity. They are Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Directing candidate where they directed Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, their own adaptation of Macbeth!, as well as many new works. Under their own production company, Eddie develops plays, dance, and installation work to showcase stories by queer, POC, disabled, and neurodivergent artists. They have worked with artists such as Anne Bogart, Annie-B Parson, Julian Boal, Claire Warden (IDI), Will Davis, Taibi Magar, and were an Assistant Director/SDCF Observer for Robert O’Hara’s Macbeth at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Seattle credits include: Director of New Works for Café Nordo, Founding Artistic Director of DangerSwitch!, The Intiman, Book-it Repertory, the 14/48 Projects, Annex Theatre, Café Nordo, Ghost Light Theatricals, ArtsWest, and Live Girls. Chicago credits include assistant directing May Adrales at the Goodman Theatre and JoAnne Akalaitis at Court Theatre, as well as creating numerous devised clown pieces in theaters and bars across the city. Eddie received their degree in Theater & Performance Studies from the University of Chicago and studied clown and physical theater at L’École Clown et Comédie Francine Côté in Montreal.
Eddie will work alongside Zoë Hurwitz (scenic design), Amanda Downing Carney (costume design), SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal (lighting design), and Broken Chord (sound design).
The cast of this production features Brown/Trinity Rep alumni Marcel Mascaró (class of 2018) as Roberto and Michael Rosas (class of 2020) as Gerardo. Joining them are guest artists Helena Tafuri as Paulina and Aliana de la Guardia as The Moon.
The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provide a three-year professional training program under the auspices of an Ivy League university and Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University’s Department of Theater and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.
AT A GLANCE
Death and the Maiden
By Ariel Dorfman
Original music by Adeliia Faizullina
May 5 – 15, 2022
Director: Eddie DeHais
Scenic Designer: Zoë Hurwitz
Costume Designer: Amanda Downing Carney
Lighting Designer: SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal
Sound Designer: Broken Chord
Production Stage Manager: Jess Brennan
Cast
Aliana de la Guardia
Marcel Mascaró
Michael Rosas
Helena Tafuri
Performances
Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 pm
Friday, May 6 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 7 at 2:00 pm
Saturday, May 7 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 8 at 2:00 pm
Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 pm
Friday, May 13 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 14 at 2:00 pm
Saturday, May 14 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 15 at 2:00 pm
Website: trinityrep.com/maiden
Ticket Office: (401)-351-4242; 201 Washington Street, Providence, RI, 02903