Written and directed by Stephen Legawiec
Assistant Director/Movement Coach: Dana Wieluns
Costumes by Robert Velasquez
Lighting by Leif Gantvoort
Stage Manager: Arika Rena
Musical Director: Mary Kate Karr
Set Design by Stephen Legawiec
Musical compositions & arrangements by Susan Christiansen
“Carte Postale arrangement by Greg Petras
Sky drop painted by Mark Fenton and Bridget Duffy
Sound Board Operator: Manuel Nardi
Light Board Operator: Laura Young
Stitcher: Susan Stewart
Artistic Consultant: Karene Lyngholm
Publicity by Gail Matsunaga, Long Pine Communications
Cast
Britney Anne Tuba
Morgan Luci
Michael Klock
Mary Kate Karr
Lauren Clark
Helle Schoubye
Kiersten Van Horne
Dean Purvis
Sharon McMahon
Jenny Woo
Naila Azad
Fredric Stone
Matthew Smith
Colleen Kane
The play takes place in the kingdom of Aquitania.
Aquitania is based on characters from the Legends of Charlemagne, a canon of stories about the French king and his knights, narratively and thematically similar to the Arthurian legends. For Aquitania we took from the stories four of the principle characters – the virtuous Charlemagne, Roland and Fleurdelis, and the evil Gano; and one legend - that of an enchanted ring, and devised a story for them all. However, we created a story, which explores the idea of time. In Aquitania a 10-year-old girl plays a board game whose pieces are the characters of the mythical Charlemagne legends. At the same time (or perhaps not at the same time), Marguerite, a librarian has been summoned to a mythical kingdom in 1930s Europe to solve a military crisis. The characters she meets are the same characters from the board game, even though it is the 1930s. That is, they have the same names and embody the same ideals as their Carolingian counterparts. We come to discover that Marguerite is enacting with her new friends, the same plot that the little girl is working out on her board game. We also ultimately learn that the little girl is Marguerite as a child. Whether the little girl is imagining herself in an adult conflict as she plays the game, or whether the entire affair is a dream of the adult Marguerite, is not entirely clear. But the audience sets off on a strange and wonderful journey much like Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy in Oz, where the protagonist must embrace a new kind of logic. And oh yes, I forgot to mention: It’s a comedy.- Stephen Legawiec
