THE ALLEY THEATRE
www.alleytheatre.org
Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director
 

Presents the Eccentric Comedy

SUBJECT TO FITS:

A RESPONSE TO DOSTOEVSKY’S “THE IDIOT”

January 19 through February 18, 2007

Neuhaus Stage

Houston, Texas – The Alley Theatre rings in the New Year with Robert Montgomery’s SUBJECT TO FITS that will feature the Alley Company of Actors as they to life wild characterizations a comedy of outrageous proportions.  SUBJECT TO FITS is a funny, outrageous, unorthodox, highly theatrical and unexpectedly moving comedy about the misadventures of the innocent Prince Myshkin.  As Myshkin – called “an idiot” by the crass because he suffers from epilepsy – struggles to fit into 19^th century Russian society, he encounters a world of lunatic acquaintances and the black comedy inherent in Dostoevsky’s writings.  SUBJECT TO FITS is directed by Alley Theatre’s Artistic Director Gregory Boyd.  SUBJECT TO FITS officially opened Wednesday January 24^th, 2007 and runs through Sunday February 18, 2007.  Recommended for mature audiences.  Language, violence.

In response to SUBJECT TO FITS, Walter Kerr of the New York Times said, “In responding to “THE IDIOT” the author is not dramatizing “THE IDIOT”.  He is fantasizing what is left in his head of “THE IDIOT” sometime after he has put “THE IDIOT” down.  That is something that can be done with novels or other memories…What after all is “Anna Karenina” to any of us now? - a horse show, a man with a scythe in a field, a dress ball, a flash of jealousy, a child, of course a train.  How often without re-reading, do we put the shards together out of memory, elaborating, sometimes falsifying…rebuilding our please along the way…we daydream a series of signals…that have left us long after.  The consumptive reaches into the epileptic’s broad, smooth forehead and years to make a crack in it so that he can reach inside and hold the other’s brain in his hand.  This is rather like reaching into the author’s skull and holding for a moment that his brain possesses of Dostoevsky’s book.”

Subject to Fits is sponsored by Shell Oil Company Foundation, Randall Jamail and Alley Theatre’s 2006-2007 season sponsor Continental Airlines, the official airline of Alley Theatre.

The cast of Subject to Fits includes Alley Theatre Company Actors Jeffrey Bean as Myshkin; David Rainey as Paryfon; James Belcher as Lebedev; Elizabeth Bunch as Aglaya; John Tyson as Ganya; Charles Krohn as General Ivoglin; Chris Hutchison as Ippolit; and Elizabeth Heflin as Natasha.  Also featured is Josie de Guzman as Madame Yepanchin (Alley’s A Christmas Carol, Hapgood).

The design team for Subject to Fits includes scenic designer Takeshi Kata (Alley’s Orson Shadow); costume designer Fabio Toblini (Alley’s Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors);  lighting designer Kevin Rigdon (Alley Associate Director for Design, Alley’s Orson’s Shadow, The Pillowman); Lyrics by Robert Montgomery and Music and Sound Design by John Gromada (Alley’s A Christmas Carol, Witness for the Prosecution, Journey’s End).

Playwright Robert Montgomery began writing an interpretation of Dostoevsky's “The Idiot” that saw its initial staging at the Yale Workshop in 1970.  Subject to Fits, his first play, was subsequently produced by Joseph Papp for the Public Theatre's 1970-71 season, directed by A.J. Antoon.  The play earned critical acclaim and garnered a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for the Pulitzer.  In the fall of 1971, it was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (with Ben Kingsley as Ippolit).  His other plays include Electra (St. Clements's Church Theatre); Re-Arrangments (La Mama E.T.C.); Genesis: Music and Miracles (Public Theatre) along with Ezekiel; Oedipus at the Holy Place; Lotta; and Green Pond. In addition to his dramatic work, he has authored eight young adult fiction novels.  

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CAST

Jeffery Bean as Prince Myshkin

David Raney as Paryfon Rogozhin

James Belcher as Lebedev

Josie De Guzman as Madame Yepanchin

Elizabeth Bunch as Aglaya Yepanchin

John Tyson as Ganya Ivoglin

Charles Krohn as General Ivoglin

Chris Hutchison as Ippolit Ivoglin

Elizabeth Heflin as Natasha Fillipovna

Melissa Pritchett and all as Crowdpersons

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Chris Hutchison as Ippolit Ivoglin in the Alley Theatre's production of SUBJECT TO FITS: A RESPONSE TO DOSTOEVSKY'S THE IDIOT.  SUBJECT TO FITS runs on the Alley's Neuhaus Stage January 19th through February 18th, 2006.  For ticket information, visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Michael Daniel.

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FROM THE AUTHOR

SUBJECT TO FITS is neither adaptation, dramatization, nor translation of Dostoevsky’s inimitable novel, THE IDIOT.  The greatness of Dostoevsky’s masterpiece is inseparable from its novelistic form and any attempt to transpose it literally into another art form could not help but undermine its wholeness and alienate its power.  SUBJECT TO FITS is a response to THE IDIOT.  It is absolutely unfaithful to the novel, it uses the novel for its own selfish purposes; it does not hold the novel responsible.  As such, it is entirely original – smacking of THE IDIOT, dreaming of THE IDIOT, but mostly, taking off from where THE IDIOT drove it.

----- ROBERT MONTGOMERY

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James Belcher as Lebedev in the Alley Theatre's production of SUBJECT TO FITS: A RESPONSE TO DOSTOEVSKY'S THE IDIOT.  SUBJECT TO FITS runs on the Alley's Neuhaus Stage January 19th through February 18th, 2006.  For ticket information, visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Michael Daniel.

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FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

Russian novelist, journalist, short-story writer, whose intense psychological fiction – with some basis in autobiography – helped re-invent the novel, Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821.  In 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested, originally sentenced to death by firing squad, and at the last moment granted amnesty by the Tsar and sentenced to four years penal service in Siberia.

Throughout the balance of his life he was obsessed with gambling, and was plagued with debts and frequent epileptic seizures.  His works include Notes from Underground, a psychological study of an outsider, followed by Crime and Punishment, and The Idiot, depicting the Christ-like Prince Myshkin.  By the time of The Brothers Karamazov (1879 – 1880), Dostoevsky was recognized in his own country as one of its great writers. 

Dostoevsky died in St. Petersburg on February 9, 1881 and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky monastery.

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Elizabeth Bunch as Aglaya Yepanchin in the Alley Theatre's production of SUBJECT TO FITS: A RESPONSE TO DOSTOEVSKY'S THE IDIOT.  SUBJECT TO FITS runs on the Alley's Neuhaus Stage January 19th through February 18th, 2006.  For ticket information, visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Michael Daniel.

SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS

TALK-BACKS

The 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 30 and the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 13 performances Subject to Fits  will be followed by a post-performance Talk-Back with the cast, led by a member of the Alley staff.  The audience is encouraged to stay for this discussion, which occurs immediately following the performance. 

CAPTIONING

There will be an open-captioned performance of Subject to Fits 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 20.  Funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts.

TICKET INFORMATION      

Tickets to Alley Theatre productions start at $19.  All tickets can be purchased at www.alleytheatre.org, at the Alley Theatre Box Office, 615 Texas Ave, or by phone at 713-220-5700.  The added convenience of reservations by phone or Internet is available for a nominal fee.  Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at a discounted rate by calling 713/228-9341, ext. 346.

Elizabeth Heflin as Natasha Fillipovna in the Alley Theatre's production of SUBJECT TO FITS: A RESPONSE TO DOSTOEVSKY'S THE IDIOT.  SUBJECT TO FITS runs on the Alley's Neuhaus Stage January 19th through February 18th, 2006.  For ticket information, visit www.alleytheatre.org. Photo by Michael Daniel.