THE PRISONER TEXT AND STAGE DIRECTION BY PETER BROOK AND MARIE-HÉLÈNE ESTIENNE

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1 October 17, 2018 For Immediate Release Contact: Steven Padla / / steven.padla@yale.edu YALE REPERTORY THEATRE PRESENTS THE U.S. PREMIERE OF THE PRISONER TEXT AND STAGE DIRECTION BY PETER BROOK AND MARIE-HÉLÈNE ESTIENNE NOVEMBER 2 17, 2018 Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents the U.S. premiere of THE PRISONER with text and stage direction by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne, at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street), November 2 17, Opening Night is Thursday, November 8. The Prisoner features lighting by Philippe Vialatte, set elements by David Violi, and costume assistance by Alice François. William Neuman is the technical director and James Mountcastle is the production stage manager. The cast includes Hiran Abeysekera, Hayley Carmichael, Hervé Goffings, Omar Silva, and Kalieaswari Srinivasan. ABOUT THE PRISONER Two-time Tony Award winner Peter Brook widely hailed as the most influential director of the 20 th Century and his longtime collaborator Marie-Hélène Estienne examine the complexities of crime, justice, and compassion in a breathtaking new international

2 production. A man sits outside a prison. Who is he, and what is he doing there? Is he free, or is he the prisoner? The Prisoner was commissioned and produced by C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord; and co-commissioned and co-produced by the National Theatre, London, The Grotowsky Institute, Wroclaw; Ruhrfestspiele, Recklinghausen; Yale Repertory Theatre; and Theatre for a New Audience, New York. Production support is provided by Yale s Binger Center for New Theatre. TICKET INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE Tickets for THE PRISONER range from $12 99 and are available online at yalerep.org, by phone at (203) , and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office (1120 Chapel Street). Student, senior, and group rates are also available. Friday, November 2 8PM Preview, Post-Show Conversation Saturday, November 3 8PM Preview, Post-Show Conversation Monday, November 5 8PM Preview All Tickets $12 20 Tuesday, November 6 8PM Preview, All Tickets $12 20 Wednesday, November 7 8PM Preview, All Tickets $12 20 Thursday, November 8 8PM Opening Friday, November 9 8PM Saturday, November 10 2PM Touch Tour, Audio Described, Talk Back Saturday, November 10 8PM Tuesday, November 13 8PM Wednesday, November 14 2PM Senior Reception Wednesday November 14 8PM Thursday, November 15 8PM Friday, November 16 8PM Saturday, November 17 2PM Open Captioned, Talk Back Saturday, November 17 8PM ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM PETER BROOK (Text and Stage Direction) was born in London in Throughout his career, he has distinguished himself in various genres: theater, opera, cinema, and writing. He has directed over 70 productions in London, Paris, and New York. His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Love s Labour s Lost, Measure for Measure, Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Marat/Sade, US, A Midsummer Night s Dream, and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1971, he founded with Micheline Rozan the International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris and, in 1974, opened its permanent base in the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. There, he directed Timon of Athens, The Iks, Ubu aux Bouffes, Conference of the Birds, L Os, The Cherry Orchard, The Mahabharata, Woza

3 Albert!, La Tempête, The Man Who, Qui est lá, Happy Days, Je suis un phénomène, Le Costume, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Far Away, La mort de Krishna, Ta mayn dans la mienne, The Grand Inquisitor, Tierno Bokar, Sizwe Banzi, Fragments, Warum Warum, Love Is My Sin, 11 and 12, Une flûte enchantée, The Suit, and The Valley of Astonishment, many of these in French and English. In opera, he directed La Bohème, Boris Godunov, The Olympians, Salomé, Le nozze di Figaro (Covent Garden); Faust, Eugene Onegin (The Metropolitan Opera); La tragédie de Carmen, Impressions of Pelleas (Bouffes du Nord); and Don Giovanni (Aix-en-Provence Festival). Peter Brook s books include his autobiography, Threads of Time, as well as The Empty Space, The Shifting Point, There Are No Secrets, Evoking (and Forgetting) Shakespeare, and The Quality of Mercy. His films include Moderato Cantabile, Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade, Tell Me Lies, King Lear, Meetings with Remarkable Men, The Mahabharata, and The Tragedy of Hamlet. MARIE-HÉLÈNE ESTIENNE (Text and Stage Direction) joined the C.I.C.T. in 1976 and since then has never left from press secretary to Peter Brook's assistant, she has worked on many shows including casting the pieces. In time, she became Peter Brook's collaborator, adapting texts, writing alone or with him, and finally participating in the staging of the shows. Their recent work includes The Suit, The Valley of Astonishment, and The Prisoner. PHILIPPE VIALATTE (Lighting Designer) started working at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in 1985 as a light operator on The Mahabharata and assisted on the light design for Woza Albert! and La Tempête, all directed by Peter Brook. Since 1993, he has designed the lights for Peter Brook s plays in the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, including The Man Who. Philippe Vialatte s work also includes Qui est là, Je suis un phénomène, Le Costume, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Far Away, La mort de Krishna, La tragédie d Hamlet, Ta mayn dans la mienne, Tierno Bokar, Le grand Inquisiteur, Sizwe Banzi est mort, Fragments, 11 and 12, and recently, A Magic Flute, The Suit, The Valley of Astonishment, and Battlefield. He travels with these plays on tour and redesigns and adapts the lights for each space. WILLIAM NEUMAN (Technical Director) is a third year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama. Previous Yale Rep credits include assistant technical director for Assassins and Kiss and associate production manager for An Enemy of the People and Field Guide. He is from College Station, Texas, by way of New York, where he was production manager for Working Man s Clothes Productions. Other credits include assistant technical director of The Culture Project, technical director at Tada! Youth Theatre, and numerous freelance credits as lead carpenter for Tinc Productions and others at New World Stages, The Davenport Theatre, 3 Legged Dog, Theatre Row, and the Kaye Playhouse. JAMES MOUNTCASTLE (Stage Manager) has been the Production Stage Manager at Yale Rep since 2004, where his credits include An Enemy of the People; Scenes from

4 Court Life, or the whipping boy and his prince; Arcadia; A Streetcar Named Desire; American Night: The Ballad of Juan José; Three Sisters; The Master Builder; Passion Play; Eurydice; and The Clean House. Broadway credits include Damn Yankees, Jekyll & Hyde, Judgment at Nuremberg, The Boys from Syracuse, The Smell of the Kill, Life (x) 3, and Wonderful Town. Mr. Mountcastle spent several Christmas seasons in New York City as stage manager for A Christmas Carol The Musical at Madison Square Garden. Broadway national tours include City of Angels, Falsettos, My Fair Lady, and Damn Yankees starring Jerry Lewis (also in London s West End). In addition, Mr. Mountcastle has worked at The Kennedy Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and elsewhere. ABOUT THE CAST HIRAN ABEYSEKERA (Mavuso) was born in Sri Lanka in Hiran studied at the Nalanda Vidyalaya School, where he discovered Shakespeare and the greater English dramatic repertoire. While there, he joined a theater group, The Play House Kotte, where he performed in Sinhala, his mother tongue. In 2007, he met acting teacher Willi Richards, who served as the first Artistic Director of RADA Business and led several theater venues in England and programs for the BBC. Their first collaboration was a trilingual version of Romeo and Juliet in Sri Lanka, which led to his enrollment at RADA, from which he graduated in HAYLEY CARMICHAEL (Visitor, Guard) is an actress and theatre director. She is cofounder of Told by an Idiot and has both devised and performed in many of their productions, including I'm a Fool to Want You, A Little Fantasy, Happy Birthday Mister Deka D, I Weep at My Piano, and Casanova. As a theater actress, she played in Crave (Barbican Centre, 2018), Cymbeline (Royal Shakespeare Company/Kneehigh), The Dispute (RSC), Mr Puntilla and his Man Matti (Almeida Theatre), Bliss (Royal Court), Zumanity (Cirque de Soleil), Street of Crocodiles (National Theatre/Complicité), and Theatre of Blood (National Theatre/Improbable). In 2009, she played in Fragments directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne. Her cinematographic and television work includes Tale of Tales, directed by Matteo Garrone (2015); Kiss Me First, Chewing Gum (C4); and the BBC s Our Zoo (2014) and The Witness for the Prosecution (2016). HERVÉ GOFFINGS (Ezekiel) is a French actor, singer, and dancer. Classically trained at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, he went on to graduate with an M.A. in musical theatre (performance) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Born in Mali, he grew up in a white family living in Africa and then moved with them to France. The extraordinary tale of his adoption was made into a one-man show titled Hervé that was nominated for a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Highlights of his theater roles include Caliban in Shakespeare's La Tempête, Horse in The Full Monty, and Poncho in Oscar Hammerstein s musical Carmen Jones (performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra). Hervé has extensive experience

5 in choral singing, performing professionally with 100 Voices of Gospel and as a full-time singer in Le Chœur de l Armée Française (French Army Choir). KALIEASWARI SRINIVASAN (Nadia, Guard) has worked with numerous theater groups in southern India and France. Her credits include performances for Indianostrum Theatre at Théâtre du Soleil, Paris; Biryani, as part of the Perth Winter Arts Festival; other venues including Ranga Shankara, Prithvi Theatre, and various theater festivals. Her film work includes Dheepan, winner of the Palme d Or at Cannes. Kalieaswari Srinivasan has also directed street plays in public spaces; and she has been a regular performer at Short and Sweet Theatre Festival in Chennai, where her work has included Statue, Never Give Up, and a series of monologues. OMAR SILVA (Man, Guard) Omar Enrique Silva Martínez studied theater and acting at Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT) in UNAM and is a member Tribu Teatro. His work in theater includes El Coro, winner of the 24th International Festival of University Theater; the Theater Show of Mexico City; International Theater Day, Mexico; and the International Festival of Dramatic Art Colleges in Rabat, Morocco. Omar is a guitarist and composer for acoustic ensemble R.I.P. Rapunzel, whose albums include Broken Tales. ABOUT YALE REPERTORY THEATRE Yale Repertory Theatre, the internationally celebrated professional theatre in residence at Yale School of Drama, has championed new work since 1966, producing well over 100 premieres including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists by emerging and established playwrights. Seventeen Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and ten Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Established in 2008, Yale s Binger Center for New Theatre has distinguished itself as one of the nation s most robust and innovative new play programs. To date, the Binger Center has supported the work of more than 50 commissioned artists and underwritten the world premieres and subsequent productions of 31 new plays and musicals at Yale Rep and theatres across the country including this season s El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith, The Prisoner by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne, Good Faith by Karen Hartman, and Cadillac Crew by Tori Sampson. ALSO THIS SEASON World Premiere Good Faith Four Chats about Race and the New Haven Fire Department By Karen Hartman

6 Directed by Kenny Leon February 1 23 Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare Directed by Carl Cofield March 15 April 6 World Premiere Cadillac Crew By Tori Sampson Directed by Jesse Rasmussen April 26 May 18 Yale Repertory Theatre is supported in part by the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development. # # # #