The UT Department of Theatre and Film will present Molière’s final play, “The Imaginary Invalid,” Friday through Sunday, Oct. 14-16 and Oct. 21-23, in the Center for Performing Arts Center Theatre.
Performance times are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Angélique (Tessa Lee, who is majoring in theatre and nursing) and her love interest, Cléante (Michael Miller, who is majoring in bioengineering), share a stolen moment under the disapproving watch of her father, Argan (Carter Makiewicz, a theatre major) in this scene from the UT production of Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid.”
The UT production will be directed by Holly Monsos, an associate dean in the College of Arts and Letters, and a professor in the Department of Theatre and Film.
The production will incorporate a mix of period and contemporary style. For example, the costuming will be contemporary, but also will include period references. She is using the online Project Gutenberg translation by Charles Heron Wall, but the play will maintain its historical — and hysterical — period medical information. In Molière’s day, techniques such as bloodletting, enemas, and other forms of bodily purging were common, and theories such as a circulatory system within the body were, in the words of one character, nothing but “pretended discoveries.”
This classic larger-than-life comedy was Molière’s last play, as well as the last performance in which he played the “invalid” himself.
“Theatre folklore has it that Molière’s lines become a self-fulfilling prophecy when he collapsed onstage and later died,” Monsos said.
In the script, his character chides the writer of the play — Molière— and wishes that in Molière’s final hours, no skilled doctors would attend him and he would die as a result, she said. Almost on cue, he is thought to have done just that.
The cast features UT students Kaitlyn Beacom as De Bonnefoi/Quartius Doctor; Danielle Hale as Beralde/Chorus; Keeyong Hong as Fleurant/Praeses; Rachel Hybarger as Diafoirus/Primus Doctor; Shaquira Jackson as Toinette/Chorus; Wonhee Kim as Beline/Chorus; Nik Lee as Thomas/Chorus; Tessa Lee as Angélique/Chorus; Carter Makiewicz as Argan/Bachelierus; Michael Miller as Cléante/Chorus; Justin Petty as Purgon/Tertius Doctor; and Amber Zuccarell as Louison/Secundus Doctor.
Tickets are $8 for students and children; $10 for UT faculty, staff and alumni, and military members and seniors; and $15 for the general public. Call 419.530.ARTS (2787) or order online at http://utoledo.tix.com. Tickets also will be available at the door.
Full season passes, which include all plays and film events for the 2016-17 Theatre and Film Department Season, are available through Sunday, Oct. 23. A full season pass is $120 for general admission; $70 for UT employees and alumni, military members, and seniors 60 and older; and $65 for students. For more information, call 419.530.ARTS (2787) or go to utoledo.tix.com.
