Theatre of Yugen presents a fresh adaptation on Voltaire's cautionary tale
Untitled #4, by Megan Wilson
April 30th, 8 pm - Gala opening
$30 each includes post performance reception
May 17th - A Moving Production
doors open at 5:30 pm, show at 6:30pm
$75
Come join us as we travel the perimeter of our neighborhood with a special performance while eating a four-course dinner (with paired wines) at local eateries Coffee Bar and the Slow Club.
May 23rd, 8 pm - 30th Anniversary Celebration
$60 each includes gala reception after the final performance
Candide, or Optimism was funded by the Mitchel Kapor Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, Zellerbach Family Fund and in part by Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Special Thanks to our culinary partners Coffee Bar and Slow Club.
Theatre of Yugen is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area, Project Artaud, Theatre Communications Group and the Network of Ensemble Theaters.
Candide, or Optimism
April 30th - May 23rd, 2009
Thursday - Saturday at 8pm
Returning to its theatrical roots while branching out to reach new heights, Theatre of Yugen celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a modern Kyogen-style adaptation of Voltaire's Candide, or Optimism (which is celebrating its 250th anniversary). Stylized gesture, social critique, and an endearing archness are trademarks of Kyogen. Classic Japanese comic tradition sheds a "kinder, gentler" light on Voltaire's classic European satire.
In Candide, a bright young man grows up in a castle under the tutelage of the ever-optimistic Dr. Pangloss, but soon circumstances drive the hero out into a hostile, frightening world. Can his innocent faith survive? In a world in which the aristocracy is beyond reproach and religious zealotry rampant, is a reasonable life beyond reach? Jubilith Moore's inventive adaptation poses these questions, fluctuating between humor and pathos, drawing its audience into a space where love and laughter, suffering and death are all equally mysteries to be lived.
Symposia . . .
Join us as we dig beneath the surface of one of Western literature’s most scathing and delightful satires. Theatre of Yugen hosts four concurrent events to our presentation of Candide, or Optimism.
April 18th 11 - 1pm
Lecture - presentation on Voltaire’s Europe, the intellectual and cultural climate, and Voltaire’s place. (Participants are invited to observe a rehearsal afterwards, starting at 1:30pm.)
April 25th 11 - 1pm
Shared Inquiry™ discussion of Voltaire’s “Poem on the Lisbon Disaster,” considered an introduction to Candide. (Participants are invited to observe a rehearsal afterwards, starting at 1:30pm.)
May 2nd 3 - 5pm
Shared Inquiry™ discussion of Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism. Receive a 2-for-1 ticket to this evening’s performance.
May 9th 11 - 1pm
A Shared Inquiry™ discussion of our production, for people who have already seen it.
Shared Inquiry™ is collaborative and question-driven. Some basic guidelines for discussion are:
•Read the selection carefully before participating.
•Support your ideas with evidence from the text.
•Look to the leader for questions, not answers.
Shared Inquiry is a trademark of the Great Books Foundation.
For more information, visit: www.greatbooks.org
Text utilized for discussions:
Penguin Classics Candide, or Optimism
Translated and edited by Theo Cuffe
with an introduction by Michael Woode