The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt

Written by Michel Marc Bouchard

Directed by Myriam Cyr

Starring Lee Mikeska Gardner as Sarah Bernhardt

Saturday, June 11 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, June 12 at 4 pm

Reception to follow the Saturday performance

Sponsored by the Government of Quebec

“A blaze of light!”

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

“Bouchard’s play is both big and small in scope, reminding the audience, in a rousing denouement, of the power of the arts in our lives. . . . .‘The Divine’ is a play rich in character and story, featuring plenty of comedy and a healthy smashing of social mores throughout.” — New York Theatre Guide

STAGE284 BLACK BOX LAB, 284 BAY ROAD, Hamilton, MA

Stage284’s Black Box Lab announces the launch of the second event in its new performance season “The Greats” with the U.S. Premiere Reading of The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt. Artistic Director Myriam Cyr directs this fable about the meeting between this brilliant, mythical, actress and a young man whose innocence is shattered by his growing awareness of the iniquities of his time.

Stage284 Black Box Lab’s production features both Boston area professional and regional actors. Elliot Norton and Helen Hayes Award Winning Actress Lee Mikeska Gardner takes on the role of Sarah Bernhardt. The reading runs for a limited engagement of 2 performances June 11 and 12, 2016. The Stage284 Black Box Lab fosters a vision for new works as well as little known classics from around the world to enrich, entertain, and educate our community.

ABOUT THE PLAY

Written as Homage to George Bernard Shaw, The Divine is based on Sarah Bernhardt’s visit to Quebec City in December 1905 while on her world tour. Two young seminarians are sent to ask The Great Sarah Bernardt (Lee Mikeska Gardner) to cease and desist. In the process they will uncover a scandal that lies hidden in the heart of their director Brother Casgrain (Ken Cheeseman). Sarah Bernardt will expose the dangers of intellectual and artistic backwardness when of a culture is ruled by religion and the need for art in society. Inspired by the three-night stand that the “grand, extravagant” French actress Sarah Bernhardt spent in what was then conservative, Catholic church-controlled Quebec the play is not to be missed.

About the Author Michel Marc Bouchard

Michel Marc Bouchard has written more 25 plays that have been translated into several languages and performed in the most prestigious theatres and festivals worldwide. His best known works are: Lilies (les Feluettes) The Orphan Muses (Les Muses orphelines); The Coronation Voyage( Le voyage du courronenment); Heat Waves(Les grandes Chaleurs); Tom at the Farm(Tom a la ferme); Christina, the Girl King (Christine, la reine-garcon); and The Divine, a Play for Sarah Bernhardt (La divine Illusion). Numerous awards including: the National Arts Centre Award (Ottawa); Le prix de la SACD(Paris); the Lambda Award (New York); and the Primo Candoni (Italy). Many of his works have been adapted for film.

ABOUT THE ACTRESS

Lee Mikeska Gardner is in her third year as the Artistic Director of The Nora Theatre Company. In that time she has directed Her Aching Heart, Grounded, Saving Kitty (with Jennifer Coolidge) and Arcadia and performed in Emilie: The Marquise de Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, earning an Eliot Norton award for Lead Actress, Small Theatre. She also played Claudia in the IRNE nominated Chosen Child at Boston Playwrights Theatre. Hailing from the Washington, D.C. region, her work ranges from plays in development to the classics. As a performer, Lee earned a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for the role of Mary in A House in the Country with Charter Theatre.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Myriam Cyr’s career spans journalism, writing, theater, and film. She starred opposite Al Pacino in the title role of his theatrical production of Salome, and was part of Steven Berkoff’s acclaimed theater company at the Royal National Theater in London. Myriam portrayed Ultra Violet in I Shot Andy Warhol. Her lead role in the French Canadian film, Le Secret de Jerome, won her numerous awards including the Baillard d’Or at the Namur Film Festival. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Letters of a Portuguese Nun that has been translated into eight languages. Boston audiences will recognize Myriam’s extraordinarily creative work in directing the World Wide Premiere of Jack Beatty’s new play, The Battle Not Begun, Munich 1938, Little Women, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins, the Musical at STAGE284. She also directed a new work, Simon Says at the Boston Center for the Arts.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE

STAGE284 BLACK BOX LAB, 284 BAY ROAD, Hamilton, MA

Stage284 and Stage284 BlackBox Lab programs brought to you by The Community House, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Sarah Bernhardt - Lee Mikeska Gardner - Arlington, MA

Brother Casgrain - Ken Cheeseman - Boston, MA

Mrs. Talbot - Eve Passeltiner - Wheelock, VT

Talbot - Ryan Winkles - Brighton, MA

Michaud - Jake Namaroff - Hamilton, MA

Leo Talbot - Jack Cormier - Shrewsbury, MA

Emma Francoeur - Patricia P. Jamison - Topsfield, MA

Therese Desnoyers - Kerry Anne Kilkelly - North Andover, MA

The Boss - Doug Brendel - Ipswich, MA

Meyer, Manager - Francis Hauert - Wellesley Hills, MA

Madeleine - Samantha Flahive - Hamilton, MA

Narrator - Sharon Mason - Andover, MA

Photographs -

1. Lee Mikeska Gardner
2. Director, Myriam Cyr and Lee Mikeska Gardner as Sarah Bernhardt confer on the production of "The Divine".
3. Ken Cheeseman to play Brother Casgrain