American Repertory Theatre
 

Full CircleFULL CIRCLE

by Charles L. Mee
directed by Robert Woodruff
set design by Riccardo Hernandez
costume design by Catherine Zuber
lighting design by Michael Chybowski
sound design by Christopher Walker
movement by Doug Elkins
puppet design by Ruth Pongstaphone
stage managed by Chris De Camillis

Performed in repertory with Loot
at the Loeb Drama Center,
February 11 - March 25, 2000

Buy the poster for just $5 + S&H.

Cast - Synopsis - Reading List - Reviews/Links

A hilarious bravura vaudeville romp! Out of the chaos of high speed capitalism and crashing economies emerges a hapless single woman caring for an abandoned baby. Based on an ancient Chinese fable, Charles Mee's Full Circle is set in turbulent 1989 East Germany after the fall of Communism. Part uproarious spectacle, part touching fairy tale, the play captures the heartbeat of a world up for grabs. Acclaimed director Robert Woodruff returns to the A.R.T. to stage this ironic, often hilarious romp.

Running time is approximately three hours and fifteen minutes, including one intermission.

Full Circle was originally produced under the title The Berlin Circle as a world premiere by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Martha Lavey, Artistic Director, Michael Gennaro, Executive Director.

Cast

Translator/Ursula

... Karen MacDonald

Herman

... John Douglas Thompson

Honecker

... Alvin Epstein

Modrow/Cook

... Jonathan Hova

Heiner Müller

... Will LeBow

Christa

... Laura Knight

Pamela Dalrymple

... Mary Schultz

Dulle Griet

... Mirjana Jokovich

Warren

... Stephen Rowe

Mr. Market/Werner

... Remo Airaldi

with:

... Frank Avoletta
... Boni B. Alvarez
... William Church
... Evan Zes

Synopsis

The year is 1989, the place East Berlin. A performance at the Berliner Ensemble is drawing to a close, watched by Erich Honecker, First Secretary of the Communist Party, and Pamela Dalrymple, a wealthy American tourist.

A group of students burst into the theatre and announce that the revolution has begun and the Berlin Wall is falling. Honecker and his wife are rushed from the building, leaving Pamela with their newborn baby.

Pamela employs one of the students, Dulle Griet, as her au pair and childminder. The two women wander through the chaotic streets of Berlin, visiting first the celebrations at the Wall, then the State Museum, where Pamela takes possession of the famous Pergamon Altar. Soon they attract the attention of a pair of guards who identify the baby as Honecker's and resolve to chase Pamela and Dulle Griet across the rioting country.

Reading List

  • by Charles L. Mee
    • History Plays, Johns Hopkins University Press
    • A Nearly Normal Life, Little Brown and Co.
    • Meeting at Potsdam, Franklin Square Press
  • Berlin Wall: How it Rose and Why it Fell, by Doris Epler, Millbrook Press
  • Generation Divided: German Children and the Berlin Wall, by Thomas Davey, Duke University Press

Book - History Plays, by Charles L. Mee

Reviews and Related Links

American Repertory Theatre
This page updated March 27, 2000
webmanager@amrep.org