LOVED An Iliad! BRAVA!!!

–Nancy, Audience Member

...not at all what we were expecting...This production was brilliant and devastating; and neither of us can figure how Patty Gallagher can do that once a day, much less twice.

–Marcia and Ty, Audience Members  

An outstanding piece of storytelling. Best evening of theatre I’ve experienced in many moons. Don’t miss it, Tucson.

—John, Audience Member

Compelling direction by Cynthia Meier.

—Chuck Graham, Let the Show Begin

An epic evening of masterful storytelling.

—Hannah, Audience Member

A brilliantly realized anti-war polemic.

—Mark, Audience Member

Breathtaking.

—Molly, Audience Member

Let’s hope that [Gallagher] finds her way her more often. And that The Rogue continues to bring us such compelling theater.

—Kathleen Allen, The Arizona Daily Star

Supporting Materials

Free “Open Talk” Video

Click here to see the video

A Modern Glimpse into Homer’s Iliad

A Free Open Talk presented on Saturday, February 17 at 2:00 P.M.

UA Professor Emeritus Bella Vivante presents a deep dive into Homer's tale of the Trojan War.

This open talk is supported in part by a generous gift from
Jordan & Jean Nerenberg.

Trailer

Watch a brief video of the play in action, with notable quotes from audience members who have seen the show.

Click here to see the trailer.

Interview

Click here to see the video

We sat down with Rogue Artistic Associate Patty to discuss her clown and actor training, what it means to be a "non-genue," and her thoughts on what Homer's Greek epic has to offer a modern audience with Rogue's upcoming production of An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare.

Essay

For more background on the play, check out Jerry James’ essay

The Way to Windy Troy:
 How the Greeks Got Themselves Into This Mess

Poster

View the full-sized poster for the play

Reviews

War, rage on display on The Rogue stage
Review by Kathleen Allen on February 27, special to the Arizona Daily Star

The Rogue Theater's An Iliad creates a sense of everywar waged by everyman in the centuries of deadly violence following the nine-year Trojan War
Review by Chuck Graham on February 28 at Let The Show Begin! and TucsonStage.com

Cynthia Meier (Director) is Co-Founder and Managing & Associate Artistic Director for The Rogue Theatre and holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of Arizona. She has directed 42 of The Rogue’s 92 productions to date including The Secret in the Wings, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Galileo, Bach at Leipzig, The White Snake, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot, Betrayal, Naga Mandala, and The Four of Us for which she received Arizona Daily Star Mac Award nominations as Best Director, as well as Arcadia and Richard III for which she won Mac Awards for Direction. Cynthia has created stage adaptations for The Rogue of Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Virginia Woolf’s The Lady in the Looking Glass & Mrs Dalloway, James Joyce’s The Dead, Kafka’s Metamorphosis, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, and (along with Holly Griffith) Moby Dick. She is co-founder of Bloodhut Productions, a company performing original monologues and comedy improvisation, which toured throughout the western United States. She also directed The Seagull (featuring Ken Ruta) for Tucson Art Theatre, and she directed Talia Shire in Sister Mendelssohn and Edward Herrmann in Beloved Brahms for Chamber Music Plus Southwest. Cynthia has also been nominated for nine Mac Awards for Best Actress from the Arizona Daily Star, and in 2008, she received the Mac Award for Best Actress for her performance of Stevie in Edward Albee’s The Goat at The Rogue Theatre.

Cynthia Meier’s direction of An Iliad is supported in part
by generous gifts from Rick & Debby Apling and Lewis Roscoe

Director’s Notes (or Questions)

This is the story of the Trojan War.
And two great fighters—Achilles and Hector…

Playwrights Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare have taken Robert Fagles’ translation of Homer’s The Iliad and created a meditation on Rage. Using contemporary and ancient references, we are asked to consider: Where does rage come from? How does it dissipate? How does one end the cycle of revenge and retribution? How much longer do we add to the list of wars with more war?

“Iliad” comes from the word “Ilion”—the ancient word for the city of Troy. The definition has also come to mean “a series of miseries or disastrous events.” The events of the story of Troy’s ruin at the hands of the Greeks are indeed full of misery and disaster. The Iliad is one of the foundational texts of Western literature. Is this why we are such a violent culture? Or was Homer simply chronicling what Peterson and O’Hare call “something in our blood?”

Our friend Patrick Baliani asked us whether this script glorifies war more than it decries its horrors. It’s a question that I think about every night as I drive home from the theater after rehearsal. There’s something thrilling about rage, about the energy it creates, how it enters our minds and stirs our blood. By telling the story of the Trojan War, are we perpetuating the myth of the glory of war? Are we being asked to consider its consequences?

Like most works of art, this piece of theater asks more questions than it answers. I look forward to our discussions about the play.

—Cynthia Meier, Director
director@theroguetheatre.org

Many, many thanks to Patty and Jake for returning to Tucson to perform once again at The Rogue. They performed another version of An Iliad at The Jewel Theatre in Santa Cruz, California, directed by Kirsten Brandt, almost two years ago. They also created another version of the play, under Kirsten’s direction, for the Jagriti Theatre in Bangalore, India, last November. The work Patty and Jake did with Kirsten on the production is the basis and part of the DNA of this version we have built together at The Rogue. We are extremely grateful to Julie James, Artistic Director of The Jewel Theatre, and Kirsten Brandt for their generosity in allowing our further exploration.

CAST

PATTY GALLAGHER*
The Poet

JAKE SORGEN
The Muse

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

Biographies

Patty Gallagher (The Poet) is Professor of Theatre Arts at University of California Santa Cruz where she teaches movement, mask, Balinese dance, clown traditions and Shakespeare. With The Rogue, she was last seen as Morta, The Severer in Moby Dick. Other roles at The Rogue include: Allerleira in The Secret in the Wings, Siobhan in Curious Incident, Fool in King Lear, B in Three Tall Women, the White Snake in The White Snake, Mrs. Kilbride in By the Bog of Cats, Rosencrantz in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Mabel in The Lady in the Looking Glass, Madame Moiselle in Dante’s Purgatorio, Hannah Jarvis in Arcadia, Kali in Mistake of the Goddess (Hayavadana), Red Peter in Kafka’s Monkey, Mrs. Samsa in Metamorphosis, Monkey King in Journey to the West, Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, Player 1 in Shipwrecked!, Alibech in The Decameron, Ariel in The Tempest, Rani in Naga Mandala, Emilia in Othello, the Player in Act Without Words, Orlando in Orlando, Sonnerie and Scarron in Red Noses, Winnie in Happy Days, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard and Shen Te in The Good Woman of Setzuan. She was recently named an Artistic Associate at Santa Cruz Shakespeare. She has also worked with The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, The Jewel, EnActe, The New Pickle Circus, Ripe Time Theatre, Two River Theatre, RangaShankara, Jagriti, Teatro Cronopio and Grupo Malayerba. She has performed, choreographed and directed workshops in Asia, South America, Europe, and the US. She served as a Fulbright Scholar in Quito, Ecuador, and in 2014 she was awarded a Chair in Creative Studies at UCSC’s Porter College. She holds a doctorate in Theatre from University of Wisconsin–Madison and a BS from the University of Arizona. From 2002 to 2010, she was Director in Residence at Circus Center San Francisco.

Patty Gallagher’s performance is supported in part by generous gifts from Katherine Jacobson,
Sally Krusing, Brock & Chantal McCaman, Todd Hansen and Sally Gershon

Jake Sorgen (Music Director and Composer) is a Chicago-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer. Jake’s works often merge text, music, and movement, owing much to his years as Resident Composer and Music Director of The Rogue Theatre from 2014-2019 with some highlight productions including Hamlet, Angels in America, The Secret in the Wings, Penelope, Waiting for Godot, and many more. He has composed scores and performed in Chicago at Steppenwolf Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, The Story Theatre, Trap Door Theatre, 2nd Story, Haven Theatre, A Theatre in the Dark, Oakton College, and others. His concert works have been performed by the Invoke String Quartet, Kite Saxophone Quartet, Loadbang Ensemble, Outlet Trio, Ashley Bathgate, and other groups featuring Jake as an instrumentalist and narrator. Jake is the cofounder and member of the interdisciplinary collective The Small Giants Band (with actors Matt Bowdren and Sarah Grant). Small Giants recently debuted their original work Notes on Nothing at IndyFringe 2023 and are slated to perform at Steppenwolf Theatre in summer 2024. Jake was named the “Maverick Prodigy Composer” by The Maverick Concert Hall in 2018 and awarded a 2020 Composer's Fellowship and 2022 Audio Fellowship from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, from where he holds an MFA in Music Composition.

Jake Sorgen’s music direction is supported in part by generous gifts
from Paul Winick & Ronda Lustman and Jill Ballesteros

Music Director’s Notes

I have been on this journey as the Muse to Patty Gallagher’s Poet for two years now, but it is this production with our director, Cindy Meier, and for this Rogue audience that I feel we have unearthed how the Muse and his music relates to the Poet and how they carry the load of the story of humanity’s lust for violence and war. The music in this production is not born of a specific tradition or style. Elements of western classical, modernist minimalism, and contemporary improvisation are utilized to create themes for Hector, Achilles, Patroclus, the city of Troy, as well as the burden and devastation of rage and violence. The preshow features extended improvisations on these themes. What I hope you find, dear audience, is not an actor being underscored by a musician, but two Travelers aching to tell you their story (as it becomes your story) and longing for a time when their cries are no longer needed.

—Jake Sorgen, Music Director, Pianist and Composer

Designers and Production Staff

Cynthia Meier (Costume Design) worked her way through college at Eastern Michigan University by assisting in the costume shop. Most of what she knows about Costume Design, she learned from Katie Holkeboer, the costume designer and professor at EMU. After graduating with her MA in Speech & Theatre, Cynthia stayed on at EMU to teach Costume Design, Costume Construction, Stage Makeup, and Introduction to Technical Theatre while designing the university mainstage plays and supervising the costume shop. She has designed costumes for each and every one of The Rogue plays since 2005. 

Cynthia Meier’s costume design is supported in part
by a generous gift from Peggy Houghton & Paul Garner

Joseph McGrath (Scenic Design) worked in the scene shops at West Virginia University and the Juilliard School of Drama while he was studying to become an actor. He served as Technical Director for Arizona Theatre Company from 1987–88, and opened his own scene shop, Sonora Theatre Works, in the 1990s. Joe has designed and built scenery for Ballet Tucson for most of their ballets for over 20 years, as well as various projects with UA Opera Theatre. He has designed each and every set for The Rogue since its inception in 2005.

Joseph McGrath’s scenic design is supported in part
by a generous gift from Meg & Peter Hovell

Deanna Fitzgerald (Lighting Design) is a member of United Scenic Artists whose lighting design credits include theatre, dance, opera, circus-themed, puppets, architectural lighting and more. She is a yoga and meditation teacher, and conducts classes and workshops focused on using these and other “quietive” practices to aid creative process. Deanna is the author of The Heart of Light, published in January 2022. At the University of Arizona, she is the Vice-Dean for the College of Fine Arts and a Professor in the School of Theatre, Film, and Television. She serves on the Western Region Exam Committee of United Scenic Artists, the Boards of Directors for URTA (University Resident Theatre Association) and USITT (United States Institute of Theatre Technology), and as a general editor for the Theatre Design and Technology magazine. Deanna has been smitten with her Rogue family since 2014 when she designed their extraordinary creation, Jerusalem, and has since designed a couple dozen Rogue productions, including some of these favorites of hers: The Left Hand of Darkness, Sweat, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Penelope, The Secret in the Wings, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Celia A Slave, Tales from the Jazz Age, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. She is grateful for every moment she gets to spend making things with The Rogue, and for the very talented associate-LD Shannon Wallace and ME Peter Bleasby whose collaborations make it possible for her do that.

Deanna Fitzgerald’s lighting design is supported
in part by a generous gift from Clem & Sharie Shute

Shannon Wallace (Production Stage Manager, Associate Lighting Design) first came to The Rogue in 2015 to stage manage The Picture of Dorian Gray, and now serves as their Production Stage Manager and Operations Manager. She has worked on over 30 shows with The Rogue, some of her favorites include: The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Grapes of Wrath, King Lear, Curious Incident, Much Ado About Nothing, Secret in the Wings, The Crucible, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, focusing on both stage management and lighting design. During her time in school she worked on over 25 productions with Arizona Repertory Theatre. She has also worked for Arizona Theatre Company, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. She spent a year living in Chicago and worked as the Operations Assistant for Mudlark Theater Company. She is grateful to be working full-time as a theater artist in her hometown.

Shannon Wallace’s production stage management is
supported in part by a generous gift from Kristi Lewis

Christopher Pankratz (Stage Manager, Property Master) has acted onstage at The Rogue since its 13th season and was overjoyed to join the production team full-time as Production Artisan last season. Christopher has stage-managed Rogue productions including Death of a Salesman, Sweat, Babette’s Feast and Heartbreak House. Christopher has also worked as a scenic designer and/or property master for numerous plays and musicals at Arizona Onstage Productions including Les Miserables, Tell Me on A Sunday, Songs for a New World, The Story of My Life, and Sunday in the Park with George. Christopher has interned at Arizona Theatre Company in Literary Management and worked as the archivist for the Peter Wexler Scenic Design collection at UA Library Special Collections. Highly critical, he served for several years as the Arts and Entertainment Editor for The Observer Weekly, where he even reviewed several Rogue Productions before joining the theatre. A certified K-12 teacher, Christopher also taught Theatre and Stagecraft for seven years at Flowing Wells High School where he directed and designed over fifty productions. He has written over a dozen plays, including three recently published originals: The Longest Day of April, The Story Seller’s Tale, and You Can’t Make Wine from Raisins, which are now available for licensing and performance. When not acting onstage or calling cues from the booth, he can be found sewing in the costume shop, building in the scene shop, or tending to the flower garden out front.

Christopher Pankratz’s stage management is supported
in part by a generous gift from an anonymous donor

Peter Bleasby (Master Electrician) lit his first show at 13. Professionally, he was with BBC Television for several years, and was an assistant to the UK lighting designer Richard Pilbrow during the inaugural production of the National Theatre (Hamlet, directed by Olivier.) Although his career was in architectural lighting, he maintained some theatre lighting involvement on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2009, he volunteered for The Rogue’s initial season at the Historic Y. He has been master electrician at The Rogue for every show from 2013 to the present, supporting our lighting designers. He devised the system that enables lights to be quickly re-arranged, allowing more time for the creative process. Elsewhere in Tucson, he directed the technical and logistical aspects of fundraisers for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, including the fashion show Moda Provocateur.

Susan Collinet (House Manager) earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Arizona in 2008. Decades before returning to college as a non-traditional student, Susan spent twenty years in amateur theater, mostly on the East coast, as well as in Brussels, Belgium in the American Theater of Brussels, and the Theatre de Chenois in Waterloo. She has worked in such positions as a volunteer bi-lingual guide in the Children’s Museum of Brussels, the Bursar of a Naturopathic Medical school in Tempe, Arizona, an entrepreneur with two “Susan’s of Scottsdale” hotel gift shops in Scottsdale, Arizona, and as the volunteer assistant Director of Development of the Arizona Aids Project in Phoenix. Susan continues to work on collections of poetry and non-fiction. Her writing has won awards from Sandscript Magazine, the John Hearst Poetry Contest, the Salem College for Women’s Center for Writing, and was published in a Norton Anthology of Student’s Writing. In addition to being House Manager, Susan serves on the Board of Directors for the Rogue.

Matt Elias (Assistant House Manager, Sound Engineer) is constantly seeking out art whether it be theatre, music, television or video games. He became enamored with live performance at The Rogue Theatre in 2014 while joining his wife, Shannon, as an usher. His experience as a touring musician, his penchant for audio production and his general obsession with how stuff works, makes him useful in all sorts of tight places throughout the production process. Nowadays you’ll see him as Assistant House Manager, trading off shows with Susan Collinet and you won’t see him sneaking a peek at each of those shows from the couch in the hallway or the back hallway behind the curtains. Matt has experience as a Master Bicycle Technician, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire/EMS 911 Dispatcher, and most recently a Production Brewer at Dragoon Brewing Company.

Woods Fairchild (Assistant House Manager, she/they) first met the Rogue by assisting their installation of “The Object” art piece in preparation for The Left Hand of Darkness. The Object’s designer, John Farrell, is a dear friend of Woods’ through her work with his wife, Carol Farrell, in costume design. John’s invitation to Woods to help assemble the art kindled an immediate friendship between Woods and the Rogue team. Woods formally joined the Rogue family in October 2023. In overlap with performance arts, Woods has an artistic background in dance and movement practice studies, as well as sewing and costume design. Woods also worked as a Project Manager with the Arts Foundation who manage public art projects, as well as distribute funding to support artists and arts organizations in Southern Arizona, including the Rogue Theater! Woods is a photographer, crafter, biker and her little old pickup truck is her true love. Grateful to be with the Rogue!

Thomas Wentzel (Box Office Manager, Program, Website) is a Scientific Programmer for the National Solar Observatory and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Arizona. Previously he has worked as a Data Manager for several prevention programs in the Arizona Cancer Center and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health. He has served on the Board of the Tucson Men’s Cooperative, editing its newsletter for five years, and on the Executive Committee of Sons of Orpheus—The Male Choir of Tucson. He has sung with Furry Day Singers, Sons of Orpheus, AwenRising and Arizona Repertory Singers, and has performed with Tucson Art Theatre in Viktor Slavkin’s Cerceau and Clifford Odets’ Waiting for Lefty. Thomas has designed and built The Rogue Theatre Web site (with great assistance from Bill Sandel and Bryan Falcón in creating the 2020 Website update), and serves as Webmaster and Business Manager. He has also served on The Rogue’s Board of Directors since the founding of the theatre.

Shannon Elias (Box Office Associate, Volunteer Coordinator) got her first big break in theatre at age 11 when she was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz in school. After that first applause, she was hooked. She began at The Rogue Theatre as an usher in 2008, and volunteered in various roles until she was hired to the box office in 2018. She made her debut on The Rogue stage in The Oresteia in 2020 and has since appeared in Babette’s Feast, The Left Hand of Darkness, and the staged-readings of Everybody and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. She also worked backstage with The Rogue as Assistant Stage Manager for The Awakening, Mrs Dalloway and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shannon holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from the University of Arizona with a minor in Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology.

Our Thanks

Performance Schedule

Performance run time of An Iliad is 1 hour 35 minutes. There is no intermission.

AN ILIAD was originally developed as part of the New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspects Program, Off-Broadway premiere produced by New York Theatre Workshop (Jim Nicola, Artistic Director; William Russo, Managing Director) in 2012.

AN ILIAD was originally produced by Seattle Repertory Theatre (Jerry Manning Producing Artistic Director; Benjamin Moore, Managing Director). It was subsequently produced by McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ (Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director, Mara Isaacs, Producing Director).

AN ILIAD was developed in part with the assistance of the Sundance Institute Theatre Program.