Boston Globe: In Russian or English, Arlekin Players hope audiences feel the weight of ‘The Stone’

Marius von Mayenburg is a playwright, translator, dramaturg, director and one of the most widely produced German playwrights. His plays receive regularly productions at the Schaubühne/Berlin, the Royal Court Theater/ London, and other major theaters around the world.

Marius von Mayenburg’s new play examines the reverberations created by sixty years of German history.

IMPORTANT BACKGROUND INFO – The Stone (by permission from Royal Court Theatre)

“This is our house underneath all this mildew and junk. I know every stone.”

1935: A young couple buys the house from a Jewish family, and so the myth begins

1953: The couple’s daughter discovers the stone

1978: The family returns to claim what’s rightfully theirs

1993: The house is back in their possession

As a house passes from owner to owner, and from generation to generation, the secrets buried in the garden and seeping from the walls reveal themselves.

Cast (in order of appearance)

Production Team

Theater Review: “The Stone” — Nobody is Innocent

Media Contact: Joanne Barrett/JBPR 

 jbpr@comcast.net 617-834-6021 @jebpr

ARLEKIN PLAYERS THEATRE REMOUNTS

GERMAN PLAYWRIGHT MARIUS VON MAYENBURG’S 

THE STONE 

New Dates Added September 13 – 29 (performed in English)

“This is our house underneath all this mildew and junk. I know every stone.”

Arlekin Players Theatre will remount German playwright Marius von Mayenburg’s The Stone September 13 – 29 performed in English at their theater at Studio 368 in Needham.  Directed by Arlekin Players Theatre’s Artistic Director Igor Golyak  (Elliot Norton Award-winning A Dead Man’s Diary), the production was performed in Russian by the same cast in May and June. Arlekin will be offering unique pre-show and post-show talks for interested groups. *See the performance schedule below. Tickets range from $45 – $65.  Arlekin will be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. For more information and tickets, visit arlekinplayers.com or call 617-942-9822.

“It’s a kind of theatre that not only crosses borders but also draws from a number of performance traditions: dance, spoken word, performance art, and modern music arrangement harmoniously intertwine in our performances to create unique and memorable productions.” Igor Golyak, Artistic Director 

In 1935, a young couple purchases a house from a Jewish family in Dresden, Germany. The play follows the lives of the house’s residents, who must grapple with their own identity while experiencing the reverberations created by 60 years of German history. As the house is passed from owner to owner, and generation to generation, the secrets buried in the garden and within the walls reveal themselves.

Marius von Mayenburg is a playwright, translator, dramaturg, director and one of the most widely produced German playwrights. Born in Munich in 1972, he studied Old German at University in Munich, before moving to Berlin in 1992, where he did a course in playwriting at the Hochschule der Künste from 1994 to 1998. In 1995 he completed a placement at the Münchner Kammerspiele. In 1998, he became a member of the artistic direction team at the Baracke, the studio theatre of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. In 1999 he went with Thomas Ostermeier to work as artistic director and playwright-in-residence at the “Berliner Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz”. His plays receive regular staging at Schaubühne/Berlin, Royal Court Theater/London, and other venues around the world.

The Stone Production design team features David R. Gammons (scenographer), Nastya Bugaeva (costume design), Jeff Adelberg (light design), Jakov Jakoulov (original score), Vladimir Gusev (video designer) and an eight-member cast including Jenya Brodskaia (Conductor #1), Misha Tyutyunik (Conductor #2 ), Olga Sokolova (Hannah), Viktoriya Kovalenko (Heidrun),  Darya Denisova (Witha), Rimma Gluzman (Mieze), Anna Kovalenko (Stefanie), and David Gamarnik (Wolfgang).

Arlekin Players Theatre was created in Boston in 2009 and has since toured to New York, Chicago, and Hartford, as well as to several international festivals. Arlekin takes strong pride in their emphasis on self-identity; they are a company of immigrants performing works that play on the ideas of cross-culture, home, and traditions, challenging the idea of nationality, and finding common themes that unite us all. Performances are in Russian, with simultaneous translation into English. The company makes its home in Needham, MA.  For more information, visit www.arlekinplayers.com.