WAITING FOR GODOT (National Tour)
By Samuel Beckett
Directed by Christopher McElroen
Set Design: Troy Hourie
Costume Design: Kimberly Glennon
Lighting Design: Aaron Black
2009 Touring Cast: J Kyle Manzay, Billy Eugene Jones, Christian Rummel, Glenn Gordon & Jeffrey Glaser
About
In May 2006, Christopher McElroen staged, to tremendous reviews, a production of Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT, which inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was set on a rooftop amidst a 30-foot swimming pool.
In November 2007, McElroen revisited WAITING FOR GODOT in a partnership with renowned visual artist Paul Chan and New York public arts organization Creative Time to reach out into the devastated post-Katrina community of New Orleans and stage free site specific performances of GODOT in the Lower 9th Ward and Gentilly neighborhoods of New Orleans. The project received universal praise including being named "one of the top ten cultural events of 2007" by The New York Times.
McElroen’s post-Katrina inspired production of WAITING FOR GODOT gives a powerful immediacy to a classic that has often been perceived as remote. This acclaimed production fully realizes the agony of waiting while simultaneously celebrating the irrepressibility of humanity, imagination and the humor of man. It is a production Beckett himself would surely have admired.
2009 Tour Engagements
Duke Performances, Duke University | Boston Institute of Contemporary Art | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Purdue Convocations, Purdue University | Fairfield University | Earlham College | Middlebury College | The University of Tennessee
Presenter Quotes
It was an enormous pleasure to have the company at Duke. The residency was amongst the best we’ve hosted since I took the reigns at Duke Performances. The company’s ability to talk about a practical, immediate and activist GODOT to both English Literature and Theater Studies courses made for a hugely rewarding engagement and changed the way a whole cadre of students and community saw the piece. It was a great joy to be able to watch the production three times – the play became simultaneously more hilarious and morally devastating with each viewing. Like good art ought to, the experience just got deeper and deeper.”
- Aaron Greenwald, Director, Duke Performance
I want to let you know how memorable our recent presentation of Waiting for Godot was. Chris McElroen’s version of the play rang true with the utter conviction of an artistic viewpoint that goes beyond a faithful representation of a classic play (though that was there, too). Our residency experience with the actors and Chris was a total delight, as well. Each member of the group was articulate about his or her own perspective not only as artist, but as a thinker and feeler. Their residency brought them to classrooms, religious groups, even student living spaces. They were energetic, and welcomed it all. And we watched as, one by one, students pricked up their ears, got engaged by the discussions, and then experienced the power of the performances. I might add that the performances, both of which sold out, were absolutely terrific! I'd highly recommend this production to other presenters.
- Margaret Lawrence, Director of Programming, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College
Chris and crew were great throughout and the load in and staging went without a hitch. As advertised, the show is great. I've loved GODOT for 35 years now but never laughed so much. Boston is talking!
- David Henry, Director of Programs, Boston Institute of Contemporary Art
We had a terrific engagement... I've had great feedback from the audience and I thought this was this most readily accessible GODOT ever.
- Todd Wetzel, Director, Purdue University Convocations & Lectures
Godot was a huge success. Great performance. We had a full house!
- Lynn Knight, Events Coordinator, Earlham College, Richmond, IN