Molière in the Park has announced a live stream presentation of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wilbur’s translation of Molière’s THE MISANTHROPE, reimagined for our current times in quarantine, directed by Molière in the Park’s Founding Artistic Director Lucie Tiberghien.
THE MISANTHROPE will stream live on Molière in the Park’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/channel/UCRfC-quc82zcsXaLZ8AmYPA) on Saturday, May 2 at 7pm. Replays of the stream will be available through 7pm Wednesday, May 6. Viewing is free. Running time is 90 minutes. THE MISANTHROPE is co-presented with the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), in partnership with the Prospect Park Alliance.
In Molière in the Park’s virtual presentation of THE MISANTHROPE, cabin fever is setting in. Today, Alceste has decided he must put an end to hypocrisy AND win the heart of Célimène, the most adept gossip of them all!
Founding Artistic Director Lucie Tiberghien says, “The Misanthrope has survived periods of great, seemingly insurmountable human suffering for over 300 years. I can’t claim that I exactly understand what it is about Molière’s work that has continued to pierce through the darkness, across languages, oceans and history. But I do know how The Misanthrope’s poetry, humor and humanity affects me by providing solace and a sense of connection to my fellow beings. So with our virtual presentation of the play, exquisitely translated by the late Richard Wilbur, I am moved to try to share that feeling, to provide that same comfort.”
The cast, performing from their homes in New York City, Milwaukee, and Perugia, Italy, includes Heidi Armbruster (Time Stands Still on Broadway, Lincoln Center’s Disgraced), Kaliswa Brewster (Showtime’s “Billions,” Signature Theatre), Christopher Henry Coffey (Bronx Bombers at Circle in the Square & Primary Stages, Water by the Spoonful at Second Stage), Naomi Lorrain (Entangled with The Amoralists, Behind the Sheet at EST), Jared McNeill (Battlefield at BAM, The Valley of Astonishment at Theatre for a New Audience), Jennifer Mudge (The Irishman, Into the Woods at Roundabout - Lucille Lortel Award nominee), Postell Pringle (FX’s “Rescue Me,” Broadway’s A Free Man of Color at LCT) and Tamara Sevunts (Your Alice at BAM Fisher, Daybreak at Beckett Theatre).
With special appearances by Emmy and SAG Award winner Samira Wiley (Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black”) and Tony and two-time Obie Award winner Stew (Passing Strange, Resisting My Resistance to The Resistance).
Immediately following the performance Molière in the Park will be hosting a live Q&A. Attendees can submit questions directly through YouTube, on Twitter, via Facebook Messenger, or via Instagram direct messages during the event or immediately after. They’ll be answered by members of the creative team. MIP can’t guarantee that they’ll get to all the questions, but they’ll do their best.
The production team includes Garth Belcon (MIP Co-Founding Producer), Jessie Dean (MIP Associate Artistic Director), Kris Stone (Production Designer), Andrew Carluccio (Video and Tech Design) and Thomas Ariniello (Communications and Marketing Associate).
Molière in the Park (MIP) is dedicated to offering free, inclusive English language productions of Molière's masterpieces to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park annually, and bringing the community together to experience subversive and timeless theater under the stars. For more info visit Moliereinthepark.org, like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Moliere-in-the-Park-654190721696043, follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MoliereBKPark and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/moliereinthepark.
A Franco-American Brooklynite, Lucie Tiberghien was raised in France and Switzerland, and moved to New York in 1995. Specializing in the development of new plays, Lucie has directed the world premieres of plays by Katori Hall, Lee Blessing, Stephen Belber, Craig Wright, Rehana Lew Mirza, Christina Anderson, Gabriel Jason Dean, Emily Schwend, TD Mitchell, and more. It is through her work in France, as associate to acclaimed director Jacques Lassalle, that she developed her passion for Molière.
This program is made possible through the major support of Bloomberg Philanthropy, The de Groot Foundation, Samira Wiley, and Elizabeth and Jonathan Weiswasser.
