Irma is the proprietress of a brothel called the “House of Illusions.” As a revolution rages outside, her clients use the prostitutes to fulfill their sadomasochistic fantasies of men who rule the military, the courts, and the church. When the leaders fall, Irma and her clients take their palce, turning a bizarre fantasy into a grotesque reality.
Photos & Videos
Credits
Creative team
By
Jean Genet
Translated by
Jean-Claude van Ittalie
Directed by
JoAnne Akalaitis
Directed by
JoAnne Akalaitis
Theater director and writer JoAnne Akalaitis (The Birthday Party) is the winner of five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and founder of the critically acclaimed Mabou Mines in New York. In addition to the American Repertory Theater — where she directed Endgame and The Balcony — she has staged works by Euripides, Shakespeare, Strindberg, Schiller, Beckett, Genet, Williams, Philip Glass, Janacek, and her own work at Lincoln Center Theater, New York City Opera, Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Court Theatre, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Guthrie Theater. She is the former artistic director of the New York Shakespeare Festival and was artist-in-residence at the Court Theatre. Ms. Akalaitis was the Andrew Mellon Co-chair of the Directing Program at Juilliard School, and is currently the Wallace Benjamin Flint and L. May Hawver Flint Professor of Theater at Bard College. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants, Edwin Booth Award, Rosamund Gilder Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre, and Pew Charitable Trusts National Theatre Artist Residency Program grant.
Set design by
George Tyspin
Costume design by
Kristi Zea
Lighting design by
Jennifer Tipton
Sound design by
Peter Michael Sullivan
Music composed by
Rubén Blades
Choreography by
Johanna Boyce
Wig and makeup by
Bobby Miller
Assistant direction by
Peter Confalone
Cast
The Bishop
John Bottoms
The Bishop
John Bottoms
Irma
Joan MacIntosh
Irma
Joan MacIntosh
Agrippina in Britannicus. A.R.T.: The Balcony (Mme. Irma). Broadway: Orpheus Descending, Our Town, The Seagull, Abe Lincoln in Illinois. New York Shakespeare Festival: Alice in Concert, Dispatches, Three Acts of Recognition, A Bright Room Called Day, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, All’s Well that Ends Well, Macbeth, 365 Days/365 Plays. New York Theatre Workshop: More Stately Mansions (OBIE Award, Drama League Award, The Herald Angel Award: Edinburgh Festival.), Alice in Bed, with Ivo van Hove and the Toneelgroep Amsterdam in New York, Holland, and Belgium. Off Broadway: Request Concert (Drama Desk Award), Night Sky, Endgame, A Shayna Maidel. Resident theater: King Lear, Hedda Gabler, Three Sisters, Plenty, Happy End, Les Liasons Dangereuses, Sore Throats, By the Bog of Cats, Elizabeth I: Almost by Chance a Woman. The Performance Group: Dionysus in ‘69 (OBIE), Commune (OBIE), The Tooth of Crime (OBIE), Mother Courage, The Marilyn Project, Seneca’s Oedipus. Ms. MacIntosh has also won the OBIE for Sustained Excellence of Performance. She has received the John D. Rockefeller III, USIA, ITI, and Spencer Cherashore grants for her work as an actress and writer, and is a Fox Fellow. She has taught acting all over the world, and has a healing practice. Television: The West Wing, Law and Order, Lincoln and Seward, Fool’s Fire, numerous daytime shows. Film: Awakenings, A Flash of Green, The Confession, Fresh Horses.
The Penitent
Christina Bynoe
The Penitent
Christina Bynoe
The Theif
Mary McCue
The Theif
Mary McCue
The Judge
Rodney Scott Hudson
The Judge
Rodney Scott Hudson
The Executioner
Eric Menyuk
The Executioner
Eric Menyuk
The General
Ben Halley, Jr.
The General
Ben Halley, Jr.
Ben Halley, Jr., was most recently seen at the American Repertory Theater as Durandarte in the summer 1995 Cambridge performances of The King Stag, Tiger Brown in The Threepenny Opera, Pistol in Henry V, and Agamemnon and Apollo in The Oresteia. He is a classical actor whose artistry has taken him from Broadway to Hollywood, to the prominent resident theaters of America, to London, and to the major festival houses of Europe. Mr. Halley made his professional directorial debut with the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, California.
The Filly
Rima Miller
The Filly
Rima Miller
The Beggar/Slave
David Cope
The Beggar/Slave
David Cope
The Woman with the Whip
Valerie Cutko
The Woman with the Whip
Valerie Cutko
Carmen
Diane D'Aquila
Carmen
Diane D'Aquila
Title role in Dido, Queen of Carthage. A.R.T.: The King Stag (created the role of Angela), The Changeling (Beatrice-Joanna), Gillette (Brenda), Six Characters in Search of an Author (Stepdaughter), Love's Labour's Lost (Rosaline), Robert Wilson's the CIVIL warS (Young Woman) and Alcestis (title role, also toured to France), and the world premiere of Paula Vogel's Hot n' Throbbing (Woman). Associate artist of the Stratford Festival of Canada, credits include: King Lear (Goneril), Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra), Richard III (Elizabeth), Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), The Alchemist (Doll Common), Oedipus Rex (Jocasta), King John (Constance), Elizabeth Rex (Elizabeth), The Swanne Parts I, II, and III (Scarecrow). Recipient of 2004 ACTRA for outstanding female performance and 2004 Gemini for best performance by an actress in a televised dramatic program for Elizabeth Rex.
Chief of Police
Harry S. Murphy
Chief of Police
Harry S. Murphy
Harry S. Murphy, who returns to play Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew and Collie Couch in In the Jungle of Cities, spent many seasons at the American Repertory Theater and appeared in over a dozen productions here, including The King Stag, Angel City, Platonov, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, As You Like It, The School for Scandal, Alcestis, The Balcony, Sganarelle, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and The Marriage of Figaro. His Broadway credits include Macbeth, Othello, Big Time, and The Good Times are Killing Me. He also appeared in such musicals as The Boys from Syracuse and Happy End (at the A.R.T ), as well as Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well . . . and Good Sport. Other resident credits include Room Service, Henry V, Hedda Gabler, Phaedre, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Mr. Murphy appeared in the feature films Calendar Girl, Eddie Macon's Run, and The Return, and his television credits include Cosby, Law and Order, Spenser for Hire, True Blue, and New York Undercover.
Rosario
June Boboian
Rosario
June Boboian
Jorgina
Brenda Woolley-Gonzales
Jorgina
Brenda Woolley-Gonzales
Chantal
Elizabeth Norment
Chantal
Elizabeth Norment
Roger
Jack Stehlin
Roger
Jack Stehlin
Luis
Jomo
Luis
Jomo
Andres
Diego Arciniegas
Andres
Diego Arciniegas
Marcos
Tim McDonough
Marcos
Tim McDonough
The Court Envoy
Jeremy Geidt
The Court Envoy
Jeremy Geidt
A.R.T. Senior Actor, founding member of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the A.R.T. Yale: more than 40 productions (including The Seagull). A.R.T.: 100 productions including The Seagull (three turns as Sorin), Julius Caesar, Three Sisters, The Onion Cellar, Major Barbara (Undershaft), Heartbreak House (Shotover), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Quince four times, Snug once), Henry IV (Falstaff), Twelfth Night (Toby Belch), The Caretaker (Davies), The Homecoming (Max), Loot (Truscott), Man and Superman (Mendoza/Devil), Waiting for Godot (Vladimir), The Threepenny Opera (Peacham/Petey), Ivanov (Lebedev), Three Sisters (Chebutkin), Buried Child (Dodge), The Cherry Orchard (Gaev) and The King Stag (Pantelone). Teaches at Harvard College, Harvard’s Summer and Extension Schools and at the A.R.T/MXAT Institute. Trained at the Old Vic Theatre School and subsequently taught there. Acted at the Old Vic, Young Vic, The Royal Court, in the West End, in films and television and has been hosting his own show “The Caravan” for the BBC for five years. Came to the U.S. with the satirical revue The Establishment and acted on and off Broadway, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and at the Lincoln Center Festival. Lectured on Shakespeare in India and the Netherlands Theatre School. Received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Boston Actor and the Jason Robards Award for Dedication to the Theatre.
First Photographer
Thomas Derrah
First Photographer
Thomas Derrah
A.R.T.: 119 productions, including R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Myster) OF THE UNIVERSE (R. Buckminster Fuller), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Endgame (Clov), The Seagull (Dorn), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Birthday Party (Stanley), Highway Ulysses (Ulysses), Uncle Vanya (Vanya), Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Richard II (Richard). Broadway: Jackie: An American Life (23 roles). Off-Broadway: Johan Padan (Johan), Big Time (Ted). Tours with the Company across the U.S., with residencies in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Moscow, and has recently been performing Julius Caesar in France. Other: I Am My Own Wife, Boston TheatreWorks; Approaching Moomtaj, New Repertory Theatre; Twelfth Night and The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.; London’s Battersea Arts Center; five productions at Houston’s Alley Theatre, including Our Town (Dr. Gibbs, directed by José Quintero); and many theatres throughout the U.S. Awards: 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, 2000 and 2004 IRNE Awards for Best Actor, 1997 Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role of Shlemiel the First). Television: Julie Taymor’s film Fool’s Fire (PBS American Playhouse), "Unsolved Mysteries," "Del and Alex" (Alex, A&E Network). Film: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther II. He is on the faculty of the A.R.T. Institute, teaches acting at Harvard University and Emerson College, and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Second Photographer
Terrie Venditto
Second Photographer
Terrie Venditto
Third Photographer
Tamara Jenkins
Third Photographer
Tamara Jenkins
Prostitutes/Clients
Remo Airaldi, James Andreassi, Eric Aufderheyde, Matt Bagadonow, Alden Jackson, Tamara Jenkins, Hafiz Karmali, Diane Wortis, Bonnie Zimering
Prostitutes/Clients
Remo Airaldi, James Andreassi, Eric Aufderheyde, Matt Bagadonow, Alden Jackson, Tamara Jenkins, Hafiz Karmali, Diane Wortis, Bonnie Zimering
Reflections in Mirrors
James Andreassi, Eric Aufderheyde, Matt Bagadonow
Reflections in Mirrors
James Andreassi, Eric Aufderheyde, Matt Bagadonow
The People
Remo Airaldi, James Andreassi, Eric Aufderheyde, Matt Bagadonow, Nina Bernstein, Sophe Geidt, Helen Gustafson, Alden Jackson, Tamara Jenkins, Hafiz Karmali, Daniela Varon, Terry Venditto, Diane Wortis, Bonnie Zimering
The People