Then

Don DeLillo's Valparaiso
We’re all a heartbeat away from becoming elevator music.
Directed by Ben Yalom

Exit on Taylor
April 15 – May 8, 2004

Transparent Theater
May 13 - 22, 2004

Valparaiso "forms an apt sequel to their excellent 2002 production of Martin Crimp's Attempts on Her Life." –San Francisco Bay Guardian

This searing, far-reaching play takes a scathing, ironic, and often laugh-out-loud funny look at our deepest needs for recognition and fulfillment, and the insidious way these desires are shaped by the forces of broadcast media. This is the way we talk to each other today, this is the way we tell each other things: in public, before listening millions, that we don't dare to say privately.

In VALPARAISO, a business trip gone ridiculously awry becomes the source of a media frenzy. Businessman Michael Majeski heads for Valparaiso, Indiana and instead ends up in Valparaiso, Chile. He becomes an absurd hero, an object of adulation and monomania, as his story gains national attention. Momentarily fulfilled by celebrity, Majeski reveals his most intimate and painful moments on international television, in front of millions of viewers. Directed by artistic director Ben Yalom, foolsFURY explores familiar territory with the ensemble’s distinctive energy and physical collaboration. Yalom states, “foolsFURY is on a quest to reveal authenticity - we’re looking for a flash of what’s real.”

Playwright Don DeLillo has been referred to as “the best living American writer that living Americans don’t read” and has written 10 novels including White Noise, Mao II and Underworld. A cultural critic who insists on the importance of big ideas, DeLillo creates an American landscape permeated with themes of conspiracy, coincidence and obsession.

Ensemble: Lindsay Anderson, Jason Craig, Rod Hipskind, Csilla Horvath, Jessicca Jelliffe, Alexander Lewis, Kevin Rolston*

*Member Actors' Equity Association, this is an AEA approved project

Director - Ben Yalom
Musicians -
Set Design -
Costume Design -
Sound Design - Patrick Kaliski
Lighting Design -
Graphic Design - Wendy K. Yalom
Stage Manager -
Sound Operator -
Marketing - Catherine Smith