October 18-November 22, 2009
Extended through December 20

Directed by David Heimann
Music Direction by Ethan Deppe
Choreography by Maggie Portman
Book by Dale Wasserman
Lyrics by Joe Darion
Music by Mitch Leigh

The original musical, Man of La Mancha, about gallantry, chivalry and hope takes place in a Spanish prison, where Miguel de Cervantes (novelist of The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) tells and performs the story of Don Quixote with his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.  The Theo Ubique version updates the set in a contemporary mental institution, where a person thinking she is Cervantes is admitted and tells the story of Don Quixote, making it a play within a play within a play.  The Impossible Dream from the musical’s song list became a classic.

This production is partially sponsored by a grant from The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

Danielle Brothers as Don Quixote. Photo by Photo by David Heimann

Director’s Comments:

I have always viewed storytelling as a powerful mechanism for liberation, and if you are going to be involved in telling stories, why not tell stories about how telling stories is transformative?  That is what has always struck me in the role of Cervantes in Man of La Mancha.  He is a fellow prisoner—not judge, teacher or doctor—who invites his fellow inmates in the telling of a story.  By this collective ac tion, they are collectively transformed.  They learn, without didactic pretense, how to break the confines of their prison, how to dream impossible dreams. — David Heimann

Background

Man of La Mancha first appeared as a Broadway musical in 1965, running 2,328 performances and winning five Tony Awards.  Hal James, the father of Michael James who owns the No Exit Café, was one of the original co-producers and received the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1966.  The musical has been revived numerous times and the song, The Impossible Dream, is a standard in the American musical repertoire.  It started life as the teleplay, I, Don Quixote, written by Dale Wasserman, and appeared on Dupont Show of the Month in 1959.

Cast

Danielle Brothers as Cervantes/Don Quixote

Sarah Hayes as Aldonza

Anthony Apodaca as Sancho

Kent Joseph as Pedro/Govenor

Dan Waters as Padre

Kyle Greer as Anselmo9/Housekeeper

Jennifer Young as the Captain

Trisha Ditsworth as the Barber

Micahel Hershberg as Innkeeper/Innkeeper’s wife

Maggie Portman as Antonia

Tom Moore as the Duke/Dr. Corasco

Cast Replacements in Extension

Raymond Cleaveland as Govenor/Pedro

Courtney Freed as Antonia

Michael Harnichar as the Duke/Doctor Corasco

Kevin Scheuring as the Innkeeper/Innkeeper’s wife

Maxwell Burnham as Anselmo/Housekeeper

Andriana Pachella as the Barber

Crew

Scenic and Lighting Design by Kyle Land

Costume and Properties Design by Carrie Colden

Stage Management by Christopher Pazdernik

Fact Sheet
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