Doctor Faustus Plays The Modern Theatre 11/17-20

The Suffolk University Theatre Department presents Christopher Marlowe's drama Doctor Faustus, directed by David R. Gammons, from November 17 - 20, 2011 at the Modern Theatre.

Elliot Norton award-winning director David R. Gammons takes the helm of this Suffolk University student production of a haunting adaptation of the classic thriller about a demented genius who strikes a terrifying bargain with the devil. "The story of the notorious Doctor Faustus -- a mysterious figure of history, legend, and literature for more than five hundred years -- feels as relevant today as ever: a man driven by desire and determination to seek an ultimate understanding of himself and the universe, a quest that forces him to grapple with profound questions of morality, identity, and fate, a journey that leads him toward exquisite pleasure and torturous madness" says Gammons. The adaptation exists in both the past and present, within the ruins of an abandoned insane asylum and in the imagination. Gammons adds, "It has been an inspiring creative adventure to explore this world with the cast: untangling the dense poetic language, teasing apart meaning and imagery, bringing characters to life with truthfulness and playfulness, and collectively inventing a bold and beautiful landscape to inhabit with words, movement, relationships, and breathtaking spectacle."

Doctor Faustus opens Thursday, November 17, and runs through Sunday, November 20, 2011. Tickets are $15 for the general public and are available through online at www.moderntheatre.com/calendar or by calling 1-800-440-7654. Discounted $10 tickets are available for students and seniors. The Modern Theatre is located at 525 Washington Street in Boston's Theatre District.

David R. Gammons is a director, designer, visual artist, and theatre educator. His most recent directing work in the Boston area includes The Farm and The Salt Girl at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Cherry Docs and The Lieutenant of Inishmore at The New Repertory Theatre, The Hotel Nepenthe and The Dutchess of Malfi at Actors' Shakespeare Project, among many others. He won the 2007 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director for Titus Andronicus at Actors' Shakespeare Project. Mr. Gammons is a graduate of both the Directing Program at the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, and the Visual and Environmental Studies Department of Harvard University. He has been the Director of the Theatre Program at Concord Academy since 2000.

The scenic designer on the production is Richard W. Chambers. Mr. Chambers is the recipient of two Elliot Norton Awards and three Independent Reviewers of New England awards. He has designed over 150 productions in the Northeast and holds an MFA from NYU. Mr. Chambers is an associate professor of Theatre at Suffolk University. Elisabetta Polito is the costume designer. Her work was most recently seen in 1001 at Company One, and Rimers of Eldritch at Stoneham Theatre. Lighting Designer Kimberly N. Smith is a Suffolk University senior and recently completed an internship at the Santa Fe Opera. Music and sound design is by David Wilson whose most recent work includes sound design and music for Neighbors and Book of Grace, at Company One, The River Was Whiskey at Boston Playwrights Theater, and A Comedy of Errors at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company for which he won the Elliot Norton Award.

The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University will host two panel discussions in conjunction with the production of Doctor Faustus on Saturday, November 19, 2011. Following the 3pm matinee performance, Suffolk University Professor of German and Humanities, Dr. Jay JulIan Rosellini and Mr. Gammons will lead a discussion about the legendary German character Faust, entitled Faustian Bargains: Then and Now. Following the 8pm performance, audience members will be invited to participate in a question and answer discussion with Gammons and the Suffolk University student performers.

This is the second season of the Modern Theatre at Suffolk University, the newest performance space in the Washington Street Theater District. The grand facade of the historic theater, Boston's first designed specifically for showing movies, has been painstakingly restored and reconstructed as part of the Modern Theatre and residence hall development. Inside, an intimate jewel-box theater showcases central design elements that are a modernization of some of the most distinctive historic features of the 1914 theater. The state-of-the-art, 185-seat venue is ideal for live performances, conversations, readings and film screenings and will promote excellence and innovation through all of its programming. For more about these and other programs at the Modern visit: www.moderntheatre.com.

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