an Anti-play by Eugene Ionesco
Translated by Donald M. Allen
Directed by Scott Osborne

Eugene Ionesco wrote his first play, La Cantatrice Chauve, in 1948 as a response to his own feelings and inclinations regarding the uselessness of conventional language for the purpose of seeking absolute truth and attempting to express the human condition. The Bald Soprano is a modern classic considered to be the quintessential example of a genre known as the Theatre of the Absurd.

Ionesco refers to his so-called “anti-play” as “anti-thematic, anti-ideological, anti-social-realist, anti-philosophical, and anti-psychological”. Despite this description, The Bald Soprano, perhaps inadvertently, endeavors to convey certain ideas and, whether or not it is apparent, serves a purpose that is both relevant and poignant. In his hilarious and incisive indictment of mediocrity, Ionesco exhorts his firm belief in total incommunicability and the futility of an unquestioned existence.

The Bald Soprano is about the constant struggle to make sense of what is going on within the immediate present. Our production will embrace this challenge and seek to create and sustain dramatic tension by constantly revealing the Mystery of the Moment. Ionesco’s work demands that its interpreters be open to the multitude of possibilities encompassed within the text. Just as the characters are unphased by the bizarre and nonsensical and taken aback by the mundane and commonplace, so should the theater artist openly experiment and renounce convention in an approach to this work.

Ionesco draws from a long line of comic tradition in his approach that reveals the influence of sources ranging from burlesque, vaudeville, cabaret, commedia dell’ arte, mime , and clowning. The Bald Soprano allows the contemporary audience a unique opportunity to see the world for what it truly is and to laugh at our own absurd predicament. This pseudo-logical and explosive piece of theater is ripe for discovery and ready to be viewed from a 21st century perspective.

Directed by one of Dallas’ rising stars, Scott Osborne, Artistic Director of Our Endeavors Theatre Collective.

About Scott Osborne...

Scott Osborne is currently in his seventh season as Artistic Director for Dallas' Our Endeavours Theater Collective (OETC). He has been instrumental in pioneering innovative approaches to many shows throughout the history of the company, including Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes or The Green Pill, What Happened A Five Act Play, Gorey Stories, Extreme Acts, The Ultra-Happy, Super Sad, Mega-Variety Revue, Caligula, and my head was a sledgehammer. Prior to founding OETC, he directed professional productions of the dreamer examines his pillow, Spring Awakening, and The Theory of Total Blame. Scott earns his living as a freelance scenic designer. Recent design credits inlude Killer joe (Hellgramite productions); Doctor Tedrow's Last Breath (Deep Ellum ensemble NYC); Antigone (Dallas Theater Center Tour); and The Artifical Jungle (OETC). His designs have also been seen onstage at Kitchen Dog Theater, SMU, and Undermain Theater. Scott's most recent project was designing the sets for the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas' Summer 2004 production of Comedy of Errors and As You Like It. His work has been recognized bt The Dallas Theater Critics Forum, Dallas Observer, Dallas Theater League, and The Taubman Scholorship fund. He received his MFA in Design for Theater from the Meadows School of the Arts.