Handcart Ensemble ~ Two Yeats Plays

The Cat and the Moon and The Only Jealousy of Emer

by William Butler Yeats

“MoonStorm” © Dmitry Zaltsman

The towering poet of the 20th century was also a great and innovative dramatist. Yeats drew upon Irish myth and the conventions of Japanese Noh drama to create plays that wove language, music, and spectacle into powerful narratives. In so doing, the critic Katherine Worth observed, Yeats “amazingly anticipated all that is most original in the European theatre.”

In The Cat and the Moon, a lame beggar and the blind beggar that carries him as a guide must choose whether to be healed or receive something greater in the distant future. In The Only Jealousy of Emer, the wife of a beloved warrior-king must choose whether to lose her husband to death or surrender something almost equally precious. In these plays, one comedic and the other tragic, a moment’s call to sacrifice and its conflicting pangs of desire are given startling, poignantly human treatment. New, live music and choreography will be featured in a production directed by Sam McCready of the Belfast Lyric Theatre.

Location

Independent Theater
52-A West 8th Street, between 6th Ave and MacDougal St
New York, NY 10011

Tickets

$15 General admission
$12 Seniors & students
$12 Groups of 6 or more, only via SmartTix phone, 212-868-4444
$10 Monday, April 10

All tickets are general seating. We recommend buying tickets in advance through SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or smarttix.com. SmartTix is the only method of purchasing advance tickets or of buying tickets with a credit card. We will also accept cash at the door on a first-come first-served basis. Please purchase advance tickets.

Cast

Ron Bopst*
David D’Agostini*
Marin Leggat
Jane C. Pejtersen
Brittany Pixton*
Javen Tanner*
Jjana Valentiner

Director

Sam McCready

Set and Costume Design

Elena Zlotescu

Original Music

Nathan Bowen

Choreography

Andrea Homer-Macdonald

Lighting Design

David Kniep

* AEA Member. Equity Approved Showcase.

Schedule

Opens Thursday, March 30, 2006

Calendar links take you to SmartTix, our ticketing service. Once there, use the pulldown menu on the left-hand side to select the date and time you want. You can also buy tickets with SmartTix via phone at 212-868-4444.

March/April 2006
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
26	27	28	29	30 8:00†	31 8:00	1 2:00 8:00
2	3	4	5 8:00‡	6 8:00	7 8:00	8 2:00 7:00*
9 4:00††	10 7:00**	11	12	13 8:00	14 8:00	15 2:00 8:00

	Special Post-show Discussions!
†	Dr. Maureen Murphy, Hofstra University
	Irish Folk Tradition in The Cat and the Moon and The Only Jealousy of Emer
‡	Anita Feldman, NYU
	A Body of Air: Autobiography, Allusion, and Construction in The Only Jealousy of Emer
††	Dr. Samuel L. Leiter, Brooklyn College, CUNY
	From Nō to Kabuki: A Bird’s-eye View of Traditional Japanese Theatre
	Notes
*	The 7pm start time is in conjunction with a Yeats Society event. (Sold out)
**	Tickets are only $10 on Monday, April 10. (Sold out)
	Reviews
“	The members of Handcart Ensemble get Yeats. Those in search of something a little different will be amply rewarded!” nytheatre.com

Two Yeats Plays