Evening Star Productions will present Samuel Beckett’s existential masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, at Sol Theatre in Boca Raton, from April 21 – May 7, 2017. (There will be a preview performance on April 20.)
On a barren stretch of road, near a single nondescript tree, two vagabond men wait for someone or something named Godot. Their hope seems to be that the mysterious Godot will change their lives for the better. Two strangers arrive, one man at the end of another’s rope. A boy also appears and disappears.
The simplicity of the play’s description belies its depth and complexity. Critics, scholars, and audiences have read numerous interpretations into Beckett’s work – philosophical, religious, political, and social references have been cited and discussed since the play’s world premiere in Paris in 1953 – it was Beckett’s first professionally produced play – and its North American premiere at Florida’s Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1956. In a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1990, Waiting for Godot was voted the ‘most significant English language play of the 20th century.’
Evening Star Productions’ Artistic Director Rosalie Grant will direct the production, with Sara Grant as assistant director, Waiting for Godot will feature Lito Beccera as Vladimir, Seth Trucks as Estragon, Skye Whitcomb as Pozzo, Christopher Mitchell as Lucky, and Carsten Kjaerulff as a boy.
“There are so many reasons I chose Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece Waiting for Godot for Evening Star’s fourth season … and why I chose to direct it,” she explains. “The primary reason is that Beckett’s genius lay in creating a work that still speaks to audiences, particularly in troubled times. Waiting for Godot seems to have a unique resonance during times of social and political crisis. As a modernist existential meditation it can at first appear bleak: “They give birth astride of a grave,” Pozzo says. “The light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.” It is funny yet poetic, and reveals humanity’s talents for stoicism, companionship, and keeping going. There is no drama more stripped down and essential than Godot, whose mysteries Beckett refused to elucidate beyond “the laughter and the tears”. I love the notion that after our Godot closes in another hundred years Vladimir and Estragon will still be on a stage somewhere – still waiting for Godot.”
“Since first discovering Waiting for Godot as a high school sophomore, I’ve been fascinated by the simple and profound message behind both what is said and what is left unsaid in this unsettling and timely work,” says Skye Whitcomb. “Its examination of the human experience, and its fierce critique of the mental and spiritual chains which bind us, make this work one that needs to be seen and read by anyone wishing to step beyond the banal and mundane.”
Waiting for Godot will run from April 21 – May 7 at Sol Theatre in Boca Raton. (There will be a preview performance on April 20 at 8 pm.) Tickets are $30 and $20 for students and seniors. Group rates are also available. Tickets are on sale now, and can be purchased by calling 561-447-8829 or on line at www.eveningstarproductions.org.
