Artistic Director Rob Melrose Translates And Directs Three Classics To Launch The Alley Theatre's 2021 Digital Season

The Alley Theatre's Artistic Director Rob Melrose has translated three classic short plays and adapted them for the Alley@Home 2021 Digital Season. Two of the new translations are August Strindberg plays: The Stronger and A Half Sheet of Paper. The other new translation is Luigi Pirandello's The Man with the Flower in His Mouth. Melrose will direct all three newly translated classics.

All plays will be available for free to all who register for tickets at alleytheatre.org. Registration is now open for all shows in the Alley's 2021 Digital Season.

The Stronger by August Strindberg and translated by Rob Melrose runs January 15 - February 7, 2021 and features Alley Resident Acting Company Members Elizabeth Bunch and Melissa Pritchett. Two rival actresses run into each other at a café on Christmas night. One seems to have everything: a husband, children, prosperity, and shopping bags laden with Christmas gifts. The other sits silently at her table not speaking a word. As events unfold, it becomes clear that things aren't what they seem, and it is perhaps the silent one who has everything...has stolen everything.

The creative team for The Stronger includes Translator and Director Rob Melrose, Scenic Design by Michael Locher, Costume Design by Erica Griese, Lighting Design by Kevin Rigdon, Sound Design by Pierre Dupree, Editor John Carrithers, Assistant Directors Emily Bohannan and Rachel Dooley-Harris, Production Assistant Rachel Piero, and Dramaturg Luke Evans.

A Half Sheet of Paper by August Strindberg and translated by Rob Melrose runs January 22 - February 14, 2021. One of Strindberg's best-loved short stories is now available for English-speaking audiences to enjoy. A man is moving out of his apartment and makes one last check through the empty spaces to make sure nothing has been forgotten. By the telephone, he finds a small sheet of paper full of notes and scribblings that calls forth a flood of memories of the highs and lows of his two years living there. Perhaps no short story better encapsulates Tennyson's maxim "'Tis better to have loved and lost / than never loved at all." Alley Resident Acting Company Member Chris Hutchison beautifully guides us through this poignant experience.

The creative team for A Half Sheet of Paper includes Translator and Director Rob Melrose, Scenic Design by Michael Locher, Costume Design by Erica Griese, Lighting Design by Kevin Rigdon, Sound Design by Pierre Dupree, Director of Photography and Editor John Carrithers, Assistant Director Rebecca R. D. Hamlin, Production Assistant Jordan Kruis, and Dramaturg Luke Evans.

The Man with the Flower in His Mouth by Luigi Pirandello and translated by Rob Melrose runs February 12 - March 14, 2021. Two strangers meet at a train station in the middle of the night. At first, their concerns seem the petty worries of the everyday, but as the two men get to know each other better, the subject turns to life, death, and the meaning of existence. It is the play that inspired Edward Albee's masterpiece The Zoo Story. Luigi Pirandello won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934 and is considered to be one of the most innovative dramatists who ever lived.

The cast of The Man with the Flower in His Mouth features Resident Acting Company Members David Rainey as An Easy-Going Customer and Jay Sullivan as The Man with the Flower in His Mouth. Alicia Beard will portray A Woman in Black. The play's creative team includes Translator and Director Rob Melrose, Scenic Design by Michael Locher, Costume Design by Erica Griese, Lighting Design by Kevin Rigdon, Sound Design by Bradley Jay Gowers, Editor John Carrithers, Assistant Directors Emily Bohannan and Rachel Dooley-Harris, Production Assistant Jordan Kruis, Dramaturg Alison Christy, and Directing Intern Laura Moreno.

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