CLICK HERE to return to DIRECTING GALLERY
The Baltimore Waltz
By Paula Vogel
The Annual Daedalus Staged Reading, an HIV/AIDS benefit
Angus Bowmer Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2015)
(direction) Eugene Ma* (stage manager) Emily Robinson (dramaturge) Madilynn Garcia
(lights) Joshua Heuertz (sound) Valerie Lawrence (projections) Benajah Cobb
(costumes) Merilee Ford Berrera & Alice Risser (photography) Jenny Graham
(composer/music arrangement) J Alexander Diaz (music director) Darcy Danielson
(musicians) Darcy Danielson, Kimberly Fitch, Joe Cruz & Reed Bentley
(ensemble)
Erica Sullivan* as Anna
Will Dao as Carl
David Kelly* as The Third Man/Doctor
*Denotes member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
“Exquisitely directed. What a moving journey, and so fully and theatrically realized. What a gift you have, and brought to our campus today.”
Siblings Carl and Anna take a whirlwind trip to Europe after they learn that Anna has a fatal illness (ATD: Acquired Toilet Disease) contracted from a toilet seat at the elementary school where she taught. On their wild odyssey in search for sex and a cure, the audience is gradually clued-in to the fact that Anna is not the one who is really sick. As it turns out, Carl is dying of AIDS and Anna is conjuring the entire journey in her imagination; this was a trip they could never share since Carl is dying in a Baltimore hospital. Anna then consciously decides to cope by waltzing back into her fantasy with Carl after reckoning with his death.
