1999

Pigoletto premiered at the Present Company Theatorium, first home to New York's Fringe Festival, in June 1999. The text was based on Victor Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse and is a sequel to the great tragedy that constitutes the theme of Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

The themes of the play, which the direction highlighted on stage, are those of greed, rivalry, helplessness vis-a-vis authority, wounded pride. At the same time, the performance was framed around the fairy-tale element of the story, since the action takes place far out in the ocean, and later on, in the heavenly island of Mantua.

The surreal dimension of the characters, some of whom share grotesquely animalistic traits, is expressed in the overall scenic imagery, as manifest particularly in the naturalistically portrayed brutality of the title role character.

Text: Mark Lee
Direction: Avra Sidiropoulou
Original musical score: Chris Lucas
Set design: Julian Hoyos
Lighting design: Douglas Filomena
Costume design: One Choi
Mask design: Nicodemus Lopez
Media design: Young B. Koh
Choreography: Melissa Kite
Stage manager/ Musical coach: Talia Yellin
Cast: Lino Alvarez, Mike Sears, Melissa Kite, David Koppel, Michael Puzzo, Matthew Mclver