THE ARSONISTS to Open at Skylight Theatre, Directed by Luke Harlan
Cast member Tessa Aube joins a creative team featuring Jeff Marx and Andrew Hawkins for the Los Angeles run.
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Skylight Theatre will present a new production of Max Frisch's dark comedy The Arsonists, opening Thursday, September 3 and continuing through September 20 in Los Angeles.
Emmy-nominated director Luke Harlan, whose credits include HBO's The Gilded Age, will helm the production. Andrew Hawkins and Avenue Q Tony Award winner Jeff Marx serve as producers.
Written in the aftermath of World War II, The Arsonists, also known as The Fire Raisers, is a satirical parable about denial, complacency and the human capacity to ignore an approaching catastrophe.
Arsonists have begun setting fires in neighboring towns, but the Biedermanns are certain it could never happen to them. When a stranger arrives at their front door, the danger becomes increasingly obvious to everyone — including the play's Greek chorus — yet no one does anything to stop it.
“Frisch called The Arsonists a ‘morality play without a moral.’ That idea feels increasingly rare to me today,” Harlan said. “We live in a moment where we're constantly told what to think, who the heroes and villains are, and where we belong in the story. This play isn't interested in any of that. It just asks us to watch, to pay attention, to think.”
“What struck me most when I first read the play was just how funny it is,” he continued. “It's my favorite kind of humor: ha ha ... ouch.”
Cast and Creative Team
The cast features Tessa Auberjonois as Babette, Flor de Maria Chahua as Chorus/Mrs. Knechtling, Molly Kirschenbaum as Chorus/Dr. of Philosophy, Trevor Jonathan Lown as Schmitz, Seamus Mulcahy as Chorus Leader, Liam Rhodes as Eisenberg, Jazelle Villanueva as Anna, Brian Wallace as Biedermann and Moneer Yaqubi as Chorus/Police. Michael Lorz serves as the Eisenberg/Schmitz understudy.
The creative team includes Stephen Gifford as scenic designer, Jared Sayeg as lighting designer, Drew Sensue-Weinstein as sound designer, Joshua Quinn as Costume Designer, Nicole Bernardini as props designer and Henry Russell Bergstein handling casting.
Hawkins and Marx produce the production.
About Luke Harlan
Harlan is an Emmy-nominated director and producer whose work spans theatre, television and film. He produced three seasons of HBO's The Gilded Age, and his stage work includes productions at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Soho Rep and The Bushwick Starr.
He co-wrote and performed in home/sick, inspired by the Weather Underground, which toured nationally. Harlan has also taught and directed at The Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, Columbia University and Fordham University. He is a recipient of the SDC National Directing Award.
Performance Schedule
The Arsonists opens Thursday, September 3 at 8 p.m. and runs through September 20. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Performances take place at Skylight Theatre, 1816 ½ North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles. Tickets are $45, with $25 tickets available for seniors and students.
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