A VERY MODERN CLASSICAL EVENING AT THE PICNIC HOUSE
The Picnic House in Prospect Park
40 West Dr. behind Litchfield Villa
Thursday, December 9, and Friday, December 10, free with advance RSVP, 7:00
www.moliereinthepark.org
www.prospectpark.org
In May 2019, Molière in the Park put on its inaugural event, a staged reading of The Misanthrope by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, aka Molière, at Lefrak Center at Lakeside in Prospect Park, followed in August by a staged reading of the French playwright’s The School for Wives at the Picnic House in Prospect Park. In 2020, because of the pandemic lockdown, the troupe presented four virtual Zoom readings, The Misanthrope with Heidi Armbruster, Kaliswa Brewster, Chris Henry Coffey, Naomi Lorrain, Jared McNeill, Jennifer Mudge, Postell Pringle, Tamara Sevunts, and Samira Wiley; The School for Wives with Tonya Pinkins, Brewster, Cristina Pitter, Tamara Sevunts, Mirirai Sithole, Carolyn Michelle Smith, and Corey Tazmania; a fun adaptation of Molière’s Tartuffe, with Raúl E. Esparza, Wiley, Brewster, Toccarra Cash, Coffey, Lorrain, McNeill, Chloé Noble, Mudge, Rosemary Prinz, and Carter Redwood; and Christina Anderson’s terrific new play, pen/man/ship, which takes place in 1896 aboard a ship bound for Liberia, featuring Crystal Lucas-Perry, Kevin Mambo, McNeill, and Pringle.
The company returned to in-person outdoor shows this past May with Tartuffe at Lefrak Center, with Andy Grotelueschen, Kate Rigg, Pringle, McNeill, Lizzy Brooks, Mudge, Nicole Ansari, Redwood, Coffey, and Marjan Neshat. Next up is “A Very Modern Classical Evening at the Picnic House,” an exciting pairing on December 9 and 10 at 7:00 of Richard Wilbur’s translation of Molière’s one-act comedy in verse, The Imaginary Cuckold, and Martinique-born Gaël Octavia’s Family — which asks the question “What is the disease that spreads through us and our families when social conventions of any kind force us into hiding?” — translated by Katharine Woff and MIP founding artistic director Lucie Tiberghien, with Wiley, Brewster, Brooks, Alanna Darby, Lisa Gorlitsky, and Nate Miller appearing in both; each work will be followed by a Q&A with members of the cast and crew. Admission is free with advance RSVP.