Upcoming: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, The Broccoli Project (Plan 2), University of Texas, November 6 - 13

UPDATE: Feature by Christopher Nguyen about The Broccoli Project, Daily Texan, November 9

Found on-line:

The Broccoli Project Presents

The Master and Margarita

by Mikhail Bulgakov

Nov 6 & 7; Performances w/ Professorial Panel: Nov 11, 12 & 13 7:30 pm Calhoun 100 $5.00 @ the door.

Directed by: Victoria Hopper
Assistant Directors: Helena Stark & Reagan Tankersley

Welcome to the bustling streets of 1930's Moscow.

Mikhail Bulgakov's devastating satire of Soviet life under the boot of Stalin and his informants combines two distinct yet interwoven parts-one set in ancient Jerusalem, one in contemporary Moscow-the novel veers from moods of wild theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a Satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of J...udas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to the substanceless, circus-like reality of Moscow. Its central characters, Woland (Satan) and his retinue-including the vodka-drinking, black cat, Behemoth; the poet, Ivan ; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as The Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita-exist in a world that blends fantasy and chilling realism, an artful collage of grostesqueries, dark comedy, and timeless ethical questions.

The second weekend of performances will be accompanied by a professorial panel from the Eurasian studies department to give background and context for the play. There will be a brief Q&A session following with Dr. Thomas Garza, University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor and Director, Texas Language Center.

Performance dates are:
Saturday 11/6, Sunday 11/7 7:30 p.m.

PERFORMANCES WITH PROFESSORIAL PANEL:
Thursday 11/11, Friday 11/12, Saturday 11/13 7:30 p.m.

Reviews from Elsewhere: Chaoses, The Broccoli Project, UT, reviewed by The Daily Texan

Found on-line:

Plan II players engage complex plot

By Gerald Rich
Daily Texan Staff
Thursday, November 19, 2009


Photo: Jordy Wagoner/The Daily Texan
In the picture Kyle Evora plays the character Felipe in The Broccoli Project’s latest production, “Chaoses,” written and directed by Plan II Honors student Hannah Bisewski
[click photo to view larger version]

As audience members slowly trickled into the Burdine auditorium early Saturday night and chatted before the show, suddenly, and without any change in stage lighting, a planted cast member jumped up from the audience and began prefacing the play.

The audience is left to wonder where reality stops and the fiction begins in “Chaoses,” the latest play by Plan II student organization The Broccoli Project.

“Not only is it a play within a play, it’s like a play within a play within a play. There are plots crossing over, bending and interweaving,” said writer/director and Plan II junior Hannah Bisewski. “It speaks to how immutable that line is between reality and fiction. The characters in pieces of fiction, whether it’s a conscious effort or not, are always trying to transcend the limits of their own fiction.”

The play begins with a present-day journalist wishing to move away from the stark realism of news reporting. He sets out to write a slightly fictionalized yet reality-based memoir. The journalist then visits an elderly couple and begins to listen to the husband’s hilariously risque ramblings about his princess falling in love with a pirate. Although these ramblings initially seem like pure fantasy, the audience slowly learns that the stories actually lie somewhere in between fiction and reality.

Read more at the Daily Texan Online. . . .