City Garage presents
(La folie douce)
by Simone de Beauvoir
June 6 – July 20, 2003
Directed & Adapted by Frederíque
Michel
Production Design by Charles A. Duncombe,
Jr.
Assistant Director Paul M. Rubenstein
CAST
Cynthia Mance Murielle
Szlivi
Naray-Davey Murielle
Elizabeth
Pocock Murielle
Cheryl Scaccio Murielle
Jennifer Piehl Daughter
PRODUCTION STAFF
Set &
Lighting Design Charles A. Duncombe, Jr.
Sound Design,
Assistant Director Paul
M. Rubenstein
Costume
Design Teckla de
Bistrovlnovska
Light/Sound
Operator Eric Jung
Publicity
Photography Rick Pickman
Place: Paris,
France ; Time: New Year’s Eve, 2002
The play runs
approximately 80 minutes and is performed without intermission.
ABOUT THE TEXT
“It is in the
knowledge of the genuine conditions of our life that we must draw our strength
to live and our reason for acting.”
—Simone de
Beauvoir
In 1969 French author Simone de
Beauvoir published The Woman Destroyed, a book consisting of three
separate novellas. All of the stories deal with women who are, in different
ways, struggling with a shattered sense of self–women who have somehow been
shaken out of life and suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in.
Though de Beauvoir is best known for her philosophical writings and for her
association with Sartre and others in the Existentialist circle, the stories in
this volume are concrete, realistic depictions of ordinary, middle-class women
in the domestic sphere: how they interact with, and react to, family and
friends, and how they confront circumstances beyond their control.
This production is adapted from the
collection's middle story, The Monologue. In it, de Beauvoir executes
two strategies simultaneously. The first is feminist social commentary: the
paralyzing and dehumanizing power of the conventional female role of wife and
mother when it is accepted unexamined. The other is purely compassionate: how
does such a mother–how does any human being–face the pain of the unimaginable
loss, and how does she do it alone?
Because Murielle is alone. She is
alone in Paris on New Year’s Eve, deserted by everyone who mattered in her
life: her husband, her mother, her son, and, most importantly, her daughter,
Sylvie. She is a woman who has been trapped by her expectations of marriage and
motherhood–the only things that have defined her up to this point–and suddenly
finds herself in a horrifyingly empty space in which both are denied her. She
is angry; violently angry, and for the first time in her life she lets all the
demons out. She rants and raves against the circumstances of her life, some of
which she has created and some of which have always been out of her hands. She
vents her frustrations and hurls accusations; she rails against her husbands
past and present, her children, even her best friend. She faces the fact that
she has no other resources, no other skills, no confidence; all she has is her
needs: to be nurtured, to be found sexually desirable, to be a mother, to not
be lonely–to be loved.
The story is prefaced with a
quotation from Flaubert, “The monologue is her form of revenge.” At the point
Murielle has reached in her life, words are all she has left. She uses them as
a narcotic, clinging to the fragments of an identity she now despises, an
identity that was founded on lies. She had invested her selfhood in what she
was told to be and now she knows that this self is meaningless. She takes refuge
in an hysterical vanity, a delirious grasping at memories, emotions, ideas that
once composed a person and now no longer do. It is as if she has been broken
into pieces–and all of the pieces of her former self occupy the same space
without being able to break the spell of the silence that encloses each one. In
her hell of aloneness and unbearable pain these fragmented selves console each
other with empty emotional gestures that they know are empty. Language is her
last defense, protecting her–but less so each passing moment–from the void.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simone de
Beauvoir published Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949.
This landmark text laid the theoretical and philosophical foundation for the
struggle for equal rights for women that swept through Western Europe and the
United States in the following decades. She was also the most prominent female
voice in Existentialist circles, trading texts with Sartre (her companion of
many years) prior to publication, influencing his work as he undoubtedly influenced
hers. Simone de Beauvoir was a prolific memoirist as well as being the author
of numerous novels and a number of short stories.
CAST PROFILES
Cynthia Mance
Murielle
Cynthia was
previously seen at City Garage in Wantons, Rogues, and Libertines; Mariage
Blanc; MedeaText: Los Angeles/Despoiled Shore; The Presidents; The Skriker; The
Queens; and Cinema Stories: Ceremonies of Unendurable Bondage. She most
recently appeared in the Arden2 production of Sketches From The Memory of Bruno
Schulz and produced & performed in Birdbath at the Sierra Stage. She
received a BFA in Theater from the University of Florida.
Szilvi
Naray-Davey
Murielle
Born in Hungary,
Szilvi grew up in Budapest, Geneva, and London. After getting her B.A. in Drama
and Theatre Arts from the University of London, she went on to study acting in
New York and performed off-off Broadway. In Los Angeles she has been working in
independent films and recently co-produced and starred in The Perfect Wife, a
feature film written and directed by her husband. She is also a mom to an 18
month old boy and a fencing coach, having competed for 19 years at the national
and international levels. This marks Szilvi’s second appearance at City Garage,
having performed earlier this year in Katzelmacher.
Jennifer Piehl
Daughter
Jennifer hails
from Atlanta, Georgia, but holds a theatre degree from SMU. She has been with
the company since last fall and this is her first time on stage at City Garage.
Liz Pocock
Murielle
This is Liz’s
twelfth play at City Garage, but it marks her first time on stage since the
birth of her two-year old twins. She last appeared at City Garage in MedeaText:
Los Angeles/Despoiled Shore.
Cheryl Scaccio
Murielle
Cheryl's many
NYC appearances include La Mama Etc., Cucaracha Theatre, The Producer's Club,
The Knitting Factory, and Theatersports. She is also the mother of 15 month old
Stefan. She has appeared at City Garage in Mariage Blanc and The Skriker.
STAFF PROFILES
Frederíque
Michel, Artistic Director
Director
Frederique was born
in Paris and studied theatre at the Conservatoire. She has directed more than
seventy productions in the United States, including works by Strindberg,
Rozewicz, Vinaver, Horowitz, Fornes and Barker. She received a Dramalogue award
for her direction of Dissident, and has led the company as Artistic Director
since its founding in 1987. Her 1998 production of George Sand: An Erotic
Odyssey in Seven Tableaux was nominated for four L.A. Weekly Theater Awards,
including Best Director. She was nominated again for Best Director for
MedeaText: Los Angeles/Despoiled Shore (2000).
Charles A.
Duncombe, Managing Director
Production
Designer
Charles is a
writer, director and designer. He began his partnership with Frederique Michel
in 1985 with her production of Miss Julie, and he has designed all of her work
since then. He has won two Dramalogue awards for production design and in 1999
won the L.A. Weekly Theater Award for Best Lighting Design for George Sand: An
Erotic Odyssey in Seven Tableaux (1998). He was nominated for two L.A. Weekly
awards for MedeaText: Los
Angeles/Despoiled Shore (2000): Best Adaptation, and Best Set. He was nominated
again for two L.A. Weekly awards for Frederick of Prussia/GeorgeW’s Dream of
Sleep (2001): Best Adaptation, and Production Design.
Paul M.
Rubenstein, General Manager
Assistant
Director
Paul most
recently appeared at City Garage in Titus Tartar. He made his debut with the
company as a part of the LA Weekly Theater Award-nominated ensemble from George
Sand: An Erotic Odyssey in Seven Tableaux and received a Backstage West
Garlands Award Honorable Mention for his work in the US premiere of Ionesco’s
haunting valedictory, Journeys Among The Dead. This is his 14th production with
City Garage.
Eric Jung
Light/Sound
Operator
Eric Jung
recently graduated from San Jose State University, where he learned to act for
the stage and on film. He was twice nominated to participate in the ACTF Irene
Ryan acting competition: first for his role in Kimchee and again for his role
in Chitlins and Achievers.