American Corner Innsbruck
Woman at a Threshold, Beckoning
A play by John Guare; performed by the Theater Workshop (Coffee Room Amateur Players)
May 15 and 16, 2008, 7.30 p.m.
Coffee Room, 3rd floor
The Coffee Room Amateur Players
with director Linda Quehenberger
Snapshots from the play:
Woman at a Threshold, Beckoning
This universal but surreal courtroom drama, which was originally performed as a part of Brave New World, the commemoration of the first anniversary of 9/11 at Town Hall in New York, is a provocative attempt to spiritually understand and come to peace with the atrocities experienced on that day. The narrator Joan recounts her time as a juror on the grand jury: one day the monotony of testimonies and indictments is interrupted when an Arab woman suspected of terrorist ties suddenly appears to testify before the grand jury. Soon the question of whether or not she really is a terrorist pales in the face of even greater questions—the search for God and the wish to give meaning to life.
because God is there in their hearts.
They lose all connection with the earth
and with this heaviness called gravity,
And they become torches
which burn with a great fire.
Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran
About the Author
The American dramatist John Guare was born in New York City on February 5, 1938. He first debuted off-off-Broadway in 1964 with To Wally Pantoni, We Leave a Credenza. He made a name for himself as one of the initiators of the new theatre in America, frequently dealing with themes such as family relationships and people seeking to escape from their daily lives, and he often employs devices such as asides, monologues, songs and slapstick, as well as pantomime to make darkly comic attacks on American values. His highly satirical plays are the antithesis of "kitchen sink" naturalism, with the comic situations sometimes veering into violence. In his own words, Guare tries to expand the boundaries of theater "because […] the chaotic state of the world demands it."His highly praised Obie and Tony Award-winning House of the Blue Leaves (1971) put him in the front ranks of American dramatists. Other works by Guare include Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), Rich and Famous (1974), The Landscape of the Body (1977), Bosoms and Neglect (1979), and Six Degrees of Separation (1990).
Cast
Joan 1 - Janina DesnicaJoan 2 - Edith Kreutner
Joan 3 - Marie-Therese Schostal
Assistant District Attorney 1 - Ariane Schalk
Assistant District Attorney 2 - Benjamin Kremmel
Translator 1 - Katja Volgger
Translator 2 - Susanne Bargetz
Arab Woman - Vanessa Schrader
Judge - Carina Lesky
Juror 1/Vendor - Michael Maurer
Juror 2 - Bettina Rahm
Juror 3 - Christina Sturn
Foreman of the Jury/Guard/Detective/Person in Line - Katrin Seilinger
Stage Manager/Programs/Prompter - Georgia Hinterleitner
Lights - Bert Walser
Director - Linda Quehenberger-Dobbs
