I never really liked Molière.
Hold on, don’t leave, this is going somewhere.
In early 2016 I was approached by Benita de Wit, a friend and talented director I’d met during graduate studies at Columbia. She wanted a Misanthrope. Maybe not THE Misanthrope. I’d whacked up a bit of street cred as a go-to for punch-ups of classic texts, but I balked at Molière. To me, this was puff and fluff, something I associated with Period Movement and broad, splashy commedia stylings. It also felt, dare I say, too surface—a lot of moralizing on a set of easy themes. Fake.
I was wrong. But we’ll get there. First, a field trip.
Oscar Wilde wrote, “We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces.” This was in The Importance of Being Earnest, about two centuries post-Misanthrope, but Molière would’ve had some thoughts. Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Molière became Molière to save his family the shame of having an actor in the family, and dove into a world of surfaces headfirst.
See, French comedy at the time was mostly surface, based on Italian commedia dell’arte with stock characters and wacky hijinks.
Molière was having none of it. His characters existed in that Marx Brothers world of big schtick but displayed, in their exquisite language and action, an individualism that startled his bewigged and bodice’d audiences out of their wigs and bodices. It seemed that Molière was straddling two worlds in his work—the playful province of pure theatre and that of the squirmy all-too-real. Comedy was supposed to be just unreal enough to laugh at, expressions of le vraisemblable (a semblance of truth) but not just vrai. Some, like Jean Donneau de Visé, were miffed at Molière’s rule-breaking mix of the realism reserved for tragedy and the bawdry of farce: “When you paint heroes, you can do what you want.… But when you paint men, you must paint from life.”
But Molière made the critics eat their enormous feathered hats—his plays were real and funny. Audiences, it turned out, loved to laugh at the truth.
Now let’s be clear, when I say Molière understood surfaces, I also mean that he could play the surface game with the best of them. He loved to rouse a rabble, and his plays attacked the aristocracy, the church, the medical profession, academia, he had a whole (S)Hit List. But he never went after the monarchy, knowing that his best bet was to keep His Majesty batting for his team. Louis Quatorze (he of the gaudy furniture and frequent wars with everyone else in Europe) was a Molière stan of the first degree, and kept him from the teeth of detractors. Molière’s work brought him to verbal blows with a host of other writers and critics, some who attacked his style for being vulgar and inelegant, some who attacked his personal life. Molière sorta walked into that by marrying a famous actress 20 years younger who was also the daughter of a woman he might’ve had an affair with, so.
But Molière was a success! And unlike some writers who slipped into the canon after living obscure, Molière was #trending in his own lifetime. He went out in a fitting blaze, collapsing onstage during a performance of his own play The Imaginary Invalid—about a man who thinks he is dying of countless diseases. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin died on a punchline, and with his final breath he merged art and truth one last time.
So, let’s bop back to 2016 for a second.
I’m sitting in my closet-sized apartment in Upper Manhattan. I skim a few translations. Richard Wilbur’s is famously delightful and sparkly, if very old-fashioned. In-yer-face Brit dramatist Martin Crimp penned a ’96 adaptation that updated the setting to a world of media-slathered 20th Century showbiz, with Misanthrope Alceste as a playwright dating an actress (Celimene-now-“Jennifer”) who has barbs ready for contemporary politicians, news networks, and other Real Life playwrights (including “Tom F*cking Stoppard”). Crimp’s version, scathing in the extreme, felt however like it had dated itself.
For a moment, I despaired that this was the only way in. It had to be about something REAL. Then Benita had some pretty sound advice (which I’m paraphrasing because this was three years ago probably over a beverage): “Just make it about real people, and make it fun.”
Oh. Alright?
Suddenly it was all, as Shakespeare says, “an art as lawful as eating”—the words flowed and the rhymes danced and, wow wow wow, I was having fun. No longer trying to figure out what the characters stood for, I fell in love with each of them. No longer panicky to freight each line with some Big Issue I wanted to take down, the sheer mastery of Molière’s words became a playground. The characters stumbled and bumbled over iambs and rhymes in a way that felt real. Or rather, it felt like real people faking it. Real people trying to sound like heroes.
The Misanthrope is about a world in which we all low-key follow the Kardashians on Twitter. It’s about how we watch those two Fyre Festival documentaries with horror and think: “That couldn’t be me. Could that be me? That’s not me. Is it me?” The reality is that Molière’s characters have the verve, intellect, wealth, and laissez-faire lives that we wish we had, but their foibles are our own magnified. We see in them both our ideal self and our worst iteration. They’re the High Comedy version of our own surfaces, our Insta handles and curated SoulCycle/juice cleanse selves and the masks we wear to apologize for being late to coffee or a meeting or not replying to a text.
And in this realism Molière takes pure joy. The satire may be as sharp as a set of stainless steel Cuisinart knives, but it’s also equal opportunity. No one is safe, so we might as well all laugh together.
By the time I was finished, I liked Molière. We did a few loosey-goosey “salons” of the adaptation by having friends assemble in apartment living rooms and serving French wine as actors blazed delectably over the words. It was joyful. The surface between Molière and me had gently crumbled.
I’ll admit, at mine own peril, that I still seldom see productions of Molière that tread this twanging tightrope effectively. Like a lot of the other classics, I think there’s a lot to be said for versions that embrace the vraisemblable (remember?) of Molière, big wigs and brocade coats and wide skirts and facing out and speechifying to the middle distance. But some of the vrai is what I miss. The truth under the surface. The us under the them.
When Martin Crimp’s adaptation was remounted in 2009 (with Keira Knightley fresh off Atonement), Crimp wrote a piece for The Guardian about his own crisis moment with Molière. In the article (you can find it here, it’s fun!), Crimp interviews Molière himself, who is bustling around modern London reading about David Cameron and staying at a budget hotel in Covent Garden. Crimp-as-Molière is worried that his play isn’t relevant. He’s worried that now people tell the truth too much, that the age of surfaces is over. He’s worried that there’s nothing for Alceste to be mad about. Crimp-as-Crimp reassures him. No there’s plenty to be pissed about. Politics. Social media. Theatre critics.
But the age of surfaces isn’t over. It might never be. I think Crimp probably would disagree with, oh, everything I’ve said? Good for him, he’s quite well-known. He and many others might argue that Molière was a man whose plays were angry shish kebabs of the things he hated in the world. They’d say that Molière himself was The Misanthrope who hates society, but I think a fella doesn’t write a play that tells people what’s wrong with the world because he hates it. I think he writes that play because he loves the world, and wants everyone to look at themselves and make it better.
Matt Minnicino’s work has been developed around the country. Besides Molière, he has adapted Chekhov (three times), Strindberg, Ibsen, Gorky, Genet, Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Homer, The Book of Genesis, poems by Rilke, art by Magritte, and more. He is an alumnus of Pipeline Theatre’s PlayLab, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, and SPACE on Ryder Farm and is the winner of the Arts & Letters Prize.
A Misanthrope begins previews May 30, 2019, and runs through June 30. Performances are at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206.
Tickets are $40 and available online or by calling 703-418-4808. Advance-purchase Pay What You Will tickets are also now available online for previews, and will be on sale online for all other performances beginning the Monday before.
Matt Minnicino is a playwright, actor, teacher, and incorrigible tale-teller based in Manhattan. His work has been developed around the U.S. (and in Ireland). Along with Molière, he has adapted Chekhov (three times), Strindberg, Ibsen, Gorky, Genet, Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Homer, The Book of Genesis, poems by Rilke, art by Magritte, and more. He is an alumnus of Pipeline Theatre’s PlayLab, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, and SPACE on Ryder Farm and is the winner of the Arts & Letters Prize. MFA: Columbia. 
Jenna Berk (Philinte) was previously seen at Avant Bard in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She most recently appeared in 4615 Theatre Company’s Separate Rooms by Joe Calarco. She has performed across the DC region, including at the Folger Theatre, Taffety Punk Theatre Company, Constellation Theatre Company, Imagination Stage, and Brave Spirits Theatre (Artistic Associate). Jenna is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia and LAMDA.
Erik Harrison (Oronte understudy) is an actor/writer and cofounder of The Coil Project. Acting credits include Sing to Me Now (Rorschach); Adult Entertainment (The Klunch); ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, A King and No King (Brave Spirits); King Kirby, Completely Hollywood (abridged) (Off the Quill); Dead Dog’s Bone, A Bright Room Called Day (Nu Sass); #sexts, It Will All Make Sense in the Morning (Coil). His play A Slow Bullet was a 2018 DCMTA Best of Fringe.
Patrick Joy (Clitandre) is thrilled to be joining Avant Bard for the first time! He was last seen as Dylan Klebold in columbinus at 1st Stage. He’s also worked with Keegan Theatre, Rainbow Theatre Project, 4615 Theatre Co, and more. He holds a BA in Theatre and a BSc in Physics for some reason. 
Elliott Kashner (Alceste) is pleased to return to Avant Bard, having previously appeared as Pentheus in The Bacchae. Recent favorite credits include The Burn at The Hub Theatre and The Book of Joseph at Everyman Theatre. He is a grants writer and manager currently working for Everyman Theatre. He holds a BS in Economics from George Mason University.
Thais Menendez (Celimene) is a bilingual Cuban-American actress from Miami. Recent area credits include columbinus (1st Stage); Things That Are Round (Rep Stage); Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company, u/s); Don Cristobal (Pointless Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination Best Adaptation); Óyeme, the Beautiful (Imagination Stage); Señorita y Madame, Volcano, New Adventures of Don Quijote (GALA Hispanic Theatre); Neverwhere (Rorschach Theatre); What Every Girl Should Know, Dry Land (Forum Theatre); Abortion Road Trip (Theatre Prometheus). Thais received her BA in Theatre and English from Boston College.
Chloe Mikala (Eliante) is excited to be working with this crazy group of people! She was just recently seen in The Burn with The Hub Theatre. Locally she’s worked with Second City (Kennedy Center and Woolly Mammoth Theatre), Rorschach Theatre, NextStop Theatre Co., The Welders, Keegan Theatre, Pointless Theatre Co., Single Carrot Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Everyman Theatre, and others. When she’s not acting, you can be sure to catch her at an open mic doing stand up. She may or may not be funny. No promises. Training: Towson University, iO Theatre Chicago. Instagram: @chloe_mikala. 
Tendo Nsubuga (Acaste) is thankful to make his debut at Avant Bard. His previous credits include Native Son (Mosaic Theater Company of DC), The Farnsworth Invention and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1st Stage), and Looking for Roberto Clemente (Imagination Stage). Tendo holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland.
Matthew Sparacino (Oronte) is thrilled to be back at Avant Bard after playing the mustachioed club owner Orsino in Illyria, or What You Will earlier this season. A native of the DC area, Matt has performed with many local theaters over the past decade. Select credits include The Farnsworth Invention (HHA nomination – Best Ensemble) and Lobby Hero (1st Stage); Six Degrees of Separation (Keegan Theatre); Don Cristóbal, Hugo Ball, Doctor Caligari, and A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular (Pointless Theatre, with whom he is an artistic associate); The Winter’s Tale and Antony & Cleopatra (Folger Theatre); and Fever/Dream (Woolly Mammoth). Special thanks and lots of love to Kyra for sharing me with the stage in the month before our wedding! 
Hannah Sweet (Basque/DuBois) was most recently in Avant Bard’s remount of A Two Woman Hamlet as a part of its 2019 Scripts in Play Festival. Local credits include Faction of Fools’ Henry V (Dauphin, Boy), Don Juan (Charlotte, Don Louis), and Pinocchio! (Cat); Brave Spirits Theatre’s The Bloody Banquet (Roxana) and Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 in rep (Lady Percy, Warwick, etc.); Nu Sass’s A Bright Room Called Day (Zillah); Naked Theatre Company’s Bitch: A Play About Antigone (Antigone); Theatre Prometheus’ Twelfth Night (Maria); and Lean and Hungry’s Taming of the Shrew (Bianca). She is an artistic associate with Brave Spirits and a company member of Faction of Fools.
Megan Holden (Set Designer) is a longtime theatre lover from Harrisonburg, VA. She studied theatre design and film production at James Madison University. Recently, she has moved to Washington, DC, and been involved with several theatre companies, including Studio Theatre, Anacostia Playhouse, and Scena Theatre Company, either painting or designing scenery.
Alison Samantha Johnson (Costume Designer) is super pleased to be working with Avant Bard for the first time! Some previous area designs include Heisenberg at Signature Theatre, Hands on a Hardbody at Keegan Theatre, Cyrano de Bergerac at Synetic Theater. Up next: Little Shop of Horrors with ArtsCentric. 
Elizabeth Roth (Lighting Designer) is a DC transplant from Ohio. Elizabeth is currently the resident lighting designer for Washington International School, and some of her favorite designs were Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth and Treasure Island. Her selected credits include designs for Catholic University (Suor Angelica), Séber Method Academy, and the Welders (Switch). In her free time, Elizabeth also crochets tiny animals. 
Liz Long (Properties Designer) returns to Avant Bard having recently worked her magic for Topdog/Underdog and Ilyria, or What You Will. Other recent designs include Puffs, Coraline, and 1776 (Landless Theatre Company), The Man Who, The River, and Happy Hour (Spooky Action Theatre), and Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche (Monumental Theatre). When not making theater magic, Liz is the Production Manager for Encore Decor Event Design and Production.
Abigail Wasserman (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working on her first show with Avant Bard! She is a Freelance Stage Manager in the DC Metro Area with a BA in Theatre from The University of Maryland College Park. She has worked with Monumental, Brave Spirits, Solas Nua, and Rorschach.
Ralph Derbyshire (Technical Director) is an Arlington native. He has worked throughout the DC region for the last 15 years, though most notably with The Smithsonian Folklife Festival (2002-08, 2010-15), GWU’s Lisner Auditorium (2007-12), as well as many local crewing companies setting up special events. He has held the titles Master Carpenter, Master Flyman, Assistant Stage Manager, and Shop Foreman. He also works and volunteers with the National Folk Festival as well as several other festivals locally and around the country. This is his fifth show as Technical Director with Avant Bard—following The Gospel at Colonus (2018), The Tempest, Illyria, or What You Will and Topdog/Underdog—and he is excited to bring his skills back to real theatre.
Louis E. Davis (Booth) was a member of the Helen Hayes Award-winning ensemble in the Theater Alliance production of Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s hip-hop choreopoem Word Becomes Flesh. His other credits include Solas Nua’s The Frederick Douglass Project (Helen Hayes Award nomination, outstanding supporting actor in a play), Taffety Punk’s Don Juan, Avant Bard’s King Lear, Imagination Stage’s The Freshest Snow Whyte, Mosaic Theater Company’s Charm, and Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play. He recently appeared in Constellation Theatre’s The Master and Margarita.
Jeremy Keith Hunter (Lincoln), making his Avant Bard debut, is one of the dopest artists you’ll ever meet. Hailing out of the DMV, Jeremy is a multidisciplinary artist with a strong focus in theatre and film acting, writing, and graphic design. His previous theatre credits include The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek (Metrostage), The Farnsworth Invention (1st Stage); Rabbit Summer (Ally Theatre Company); Word Becomes Flesh (us) (Theater Alliance); Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies, Milk Like Sugar, When January Feels Like Summer (Mosaic Theatre Company); Arabian Nights (Constellation Theater); and The Effect (us) (Studio Theatre).
DeMone Seraphin (Director) is founding artistic director of The New American Theatre Co. in New York City and is excited to return to Avant Bard, after appearing as Singer Oedipus in its hit production of The Gospel at Colonus (2017). Selected directing credits include The Exonerated, Dutchman, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Jitney, Split Second, Endangered Species (world premiere), The Mountaintop, Runaways, Winter’s Tale, and Barnum. DeMone is the recipient of a regional Emmy Award and the Joseph Jefferson Award.
Nephelie Andonyadis (Set Designer) has been designing scenery and costumes (and sometimes puppets) from coast to coast for more than twenty-five years. She is an ensemble member of Cornerstone Theater Company and has worked with Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, SITI Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Repertory, and South Coast Repertory among many others. She has recently returned to Washington, DC, the city of her birth, after a long hiatus. Upcoming projects in the area include designs with Studio Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Urban Arias, and Theatre J. Nephelie earned her BS from Cornell University and her MFA from Yale University’s School of Drama and was a recipient of the NEA/TCG Design Fellowship. www.nepheliemaria.com
Danielle (Danie) Harrow (Costume Designer) is excited for her first show with Avant Bard. Recent designs include Mystery of Love and Sex, The Laramie Project, and The Rocky Horror Show, all for Iron Crow Theatre. When not focused on costuming, Danie also designs custom clothing for special events. www.seaminglydanie.com
John D. Alexander (Lighting and Projections Designer) is excited to return to Avant Bard. His recent designs include A Civil War Christmas by Paula Vogel (1st Stage), American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb (Anacostia Playhouse), the national tour of The Migration: Reflections of Jacob Lawrence presented by Step Afrika!, the national tour of Anne and Emmett by Janet Langhart Cohen, Marie and Rosetta by George Brant (Mosaic Theater Company), and Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau (TheatreSquared). Upcoming designs include HERstory by Goldie Patrick (The Kennedy Center).
e’Marcus Harper-Short (Composer and Sound Designer) received the Helen Hayes Award (2015) for Outstanding Musical Direction for Black Nativity by Langston Hughes (Theater Alliance); a Grammy Award nomination (1998) for Best Traditional Gospel Recording as Conductor for Love Alive V: Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Choir; and a Hollywood NAACP Theater Image Award Nomination (2004) for Best Musical Direction for Da Kink in My Hair by Trey Anthony. He was Musical Director and played Creon in Avant Bard’s 2017 production of The Gospel at Colonus (nominated for a Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Ensemble) and its 2018 revival. Other credits include Musical Arranger for Three Mo’ Divas (PBS Special National) conceived by Marion J. Caffey, and Musical Direction for Invisible Life (Apollo Theater, New York) based on a book by E. Lynn Harris. In 2017 he was named a United States Arts Envoy by the U.S. Department of State.
Liz Long (Properties Designer) returns to Avant Bard having recently worked her magic for Ilyria, or What You Will. Other recent designs include Puffs, Coraline, and 1776 (Landless Theatre Company), The Man Who, The River, and Happy Hour (Spooky Action Theatre), and Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche (Monumental Theatre). When not making theater magic, Liz is the Production Manager for Encore Decor Event Design and Production.
Casey Kaleba (Fight Choreographer) returns to Avant Bard having worked on previous productions of King Lear, Othello, Night and Day, and Lulu. Recent work includes productions at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (Henry IV), Signature Theatre (Billy Elliot, The Scottsboro Boys), and Rorschach Theatre (Reykjavic). 
Keta Newborn (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be joining Avant Bard for her fourth production, having been the Stage Manager on King Lear and both the 2017 and 2018 stagings of The Gospel at Colonus. As a freelancer, Keta has worked in the world of theatre for over 10 years. She has held several titles including Stage Manaager, Assistant Stage Manager, Venue Manager, Production Assistant, Light & Sound Board Ops, and now Production Manager. Her past credits include The New Play Festival (Young Playwrights’ Theater), Little Thing, Big Thing (Solas Nua), Yellowman (Anacostia Playhouse), Black Nativity and Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (Theater Alliance), Leto Legend and Failure: A Love Story (The Hub), Disgraced, Secret Garden, and Gidion’s Knot (Next Stop), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, How We Got On, and Gidion’s Knot (Forum), The Flick and How We Got On (Company One). Keta would like to thank the whole Avant Bard cast, crew, and the Gunston Theatre for being a part of amazing shows! She thanks G_d for the opportunity to be used as one of His vessels, working to bring His work of art into the hearts of many while doing what she loves. 
Andrew Wilkinson (Rehearsal Stage Manager) is extremely grateful for this opportunity to participate in Topdog/Underdog. This is Andrew’s first show with Avant Bard. Previous credits include Catch Me If You Can, Side Show, and Les Miserables at Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Alluvion Stage Company; Young Frankenstein, Newsies, Momma Mia, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Little Mermaid, and Gypsy at Toby’s Dinner Theatre; and Hairspray, Honk Jr., Blueberries for Sal, Pirates!, and Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas at Adventure Theatre.
Krysta Hibbard (Associate Director) is a New York–based director and self-proclaimed “artist wrangler.” She is currently an Artistic Associate for Shrunken Shakespeare Company and previously served as the Associate Producer for the nonprofit organization Throughline Artists, producing the Summer Shorts festival at 59E59, as well as Stage to Screen. Past works include The Exonerated, Arrabal, For Hope, Acolyte, Seafarer, Dark Clothes of Night, Love Letters to a Dictator, Everybody Dies, Certifiable. Upcoming projects: Origin Stories, Belle of Amherst. 
Ashley D. Buster (Assistant Director) is a DC Metro native from Silver Spring, MD. She is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and is currently School Programs Manager at Shakespeare Theatre Company. She excited to be back at Avant Bard but this time as an Assistant Director! Ashley’s area credits as an actor include The Gospel at Colonus (Avant Bard), The Wiz and Freedom’s Song (Ford’s), Elmer Gantry (Signature), and Godspell (Infinity). She is excited to have her first experience as an Assistant Director with this team!
A. Lorraine Robinson (Dramaturg) is a freelance Director/Dramaturg. She received the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Award: Best Director & Production in 2002 (The Laramie Project, Contemporary American Theatre Company) and 2017 and 2018 Tony Awards: Excellence in Theatre Education — Honorable Mention Awards for her directing work at Sitar Arts Center. She was formerly Co-Founding/Artistic Producing Director of MuseFire Productions. 
Victor Vazquez (Casting Director) serves as the Casting Director/Line Producer at Arena Stage in Washington DC. Previous employment includes Center Theatre Group, The Pasadena Playhouse, Cornerstone Theatre Company, and DAQRI. Originally from Los Angeles, he now splits his time between DC, New York, and London.
Noa Gelb is a Washington, DC, native and a graduate of the University of Michigan. She is a local theatre artist and writer, working primarily as an actor and freelance dramaturg. She has lived in Dublin, Ireland, and Athens, Greece, and loved every minute of it. She enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, eating Chinese food, and being with her friends and family. 
Quill Nebeker (Director of Audience Engagement) is a community builder, connecting Avant Bard with local groups to create artistic space for community-driven dialogue. Quill has previously worked with Creative Cauldron, The Hub Theatre, Forum Theatre, Capital Fringe, and The Wolf Trap Foundation. Quill is also a creative with a fascination for interactivity and the intersection between reality and mythology. With Avant Bard, he was theAssistant Director on King John (2013) and King Lear (2017), and he curates Avant Bard’s Scripts in Play series. Quill also created and produces The Tarot Reading, an interactive
