HOLLYWOOD—Seta and Aram have one thing in common: they survived. Now, this young photographer and his mail-order bride—two exiles in a foreign land—must look to their future together in order to heal the past. Olga Konstantulakis and Zadran Wali star in Richard Kalinoski’s critically acclaimed, award-winning drama, Beast on the Moon—a lyrical triumph of hope, humanity, and love.
“Yes, you are my husband, and I am grateful, but I am Armenian too, I am a dead person living too…” –Seta, BotM, Act Two, Scene Three
1920’s Milwaukee. In ordering his bride, Aram Tomasian saves a teenage girl, Seta, from a shared peril: the Armenian holocaust. His plan is to start a family, one big enough to replace the family ripped from him—the plan is to start over in America. But, as the couple struggles to redefine family amidst grief and displacement, these kindred strangers realize a love deeper than ever imagined. This sensitive, yet humorous love story has moved audiences in 17 countries, and won more than 40 awards.
“Largely the notion of a young girl making something out of almost nothing–her courage inspired me. She reminds me a little of Anne Frank…courage in the midst of despair…I was fascinated with what a young girl might do when her husband (a stranger) encounters her–the play is very much about the table–where their lives get negotiated…I have always been interested in how relationships/marriages get negotiated; handled. This is a play about how “romance” comes later–much later.” –Richard Kalinoski, Playwright
Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon won the 2001 Best Play from the Repertory prize at the Moliere Awards in Paris. The Wisconsin native has distinguished himself as a playwright by writing plays with great international appeal. Indeed, since emerging as a “triumph” (Ben Brantley, The New York Times) at the 1995 Humana Festival, Beast on the Moon has been translated into 17 languages and produced in venues all over the world, such as Athens, Brussels, London, Moscow, New York (off-Broadway), Prague, Sao Paolo, and Toronto. It has garnered a host of awards including the Osborn – “Best New Play in America by an Emerging Playwright”, awarded by the American Theatre Critics Association in 1996, and, in 2001, five Ace Awards, including Best Play, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2005, President of Armenia Robert Kachadarian awarded Kalinoski the Khorenatsi Medal for contribution to the Arts from the country of Armenia. Kalinoski also spent a year at the National Playwrights Conference, and a year as Dramaturg under Lloyd Richards at the O’Neill Center.
“My mother is a WWII Holocaust survivor and I emigrated to Canada from communist Poland when I was ten years-old, fleeing antisemitism and the suppression of basic human rights. Stories of immigrants, outsiders, the oppressed and the disenfranchised always are of interest to me, especially when they are presented in an interesting artistic context.
Director Paul Lampert has worked extensively as a director, actor, and teacher. His European directing credits include the national premiere of “Oleanna” for the Stary Theatre in Kraków, Poland; “Raised In Captivity” in Berlin, Germany; “I Claudia” in Barcelona, Shanghai and Munich; twice directing at the renowned East 15 Acting School in London, England; and, most recently, directing “Problem Child” in Munich, Germany. His many directing credits in Canada include work for the Actors Repertory Company, Globe Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Persephone Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Tattoo, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, The National Theatre School of Canada, the renowned Shaw Festival and the Blyth Festival. He has taught in Canada, England, Poland, Sweden, Cuba, Austria, Switzerland and China.
“Simply put, I fell in love with the play and its profound humanity. It left an indelible mark on me upon reading, and as many plays as I continued to read and work on since, I kept coming back to Beast on the Moon. I knew I had to tell this story.” -Olga Konstantulakis, Co-Producer, Malabar Hill Films
Olga Konstantulakis is an actor/producer based in LA, and a partner at Malabar Hill Films. Recent LA theatre credits include: Beatrice in Modigliani and Mademoiselle “Y” in The Stronger (People’s Theater), Collette in Four Dogs and a Bone (Lisa Robertson Studio/Coast Playhouse), Bess in Bury the Dead (ICAP/Union Film & Theatre Co.) and Cecily in The Importance of being Ernest (ICAP Theatre). In 2005, she produced and starred in Miss Julie, at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal, which garnered a MECCA nomination and was noted as “one of the most memorable productions of 2005,” by the Montreal Gazette.
Malabar Hill Films strives to create works of art that illuminate different facets of the world, yet speak to a global audience.
THE FACTS:
Beast on the Moon
By Richard Kalinoski
Directed by Paul Lampert – http://www.paullampert.com/
Costume Designer: Sarah Register (Behind the Gates, All My Sons)
Lighting Designer: Tom Ontiveros (Lascivious Something)
Dialect Consultant: Joel Goldes
Production Stage Manager: Shazia Malik
Assistant Producer: Rita Rani
OPENING: September 11th and running through October 17th
Thursday – Saturday @ 8pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Previews September 9& 10 (@8pm)
Can anyone please let me know the next time this play is done in California? If not, please direct me to a store or website that has access to plays for sale.
Thank you