Nov 20—24, 2019
An Iliad
HOMER'S COAT / NYC
When one man tells his war story, glory is the furthest thing from his mind.
An Iliad unfurls the final weeks of a legendary, decade-long siege where Greek legends mercilessly battled over the fall of Troy. This Obie Award–winning adaptation of Homer’s epic poem places one man on a bare stage with a simple question to ask: Has anything really changed since the Trojan War? Directed by Lisa Peterson and starring Tony Award–winning actor Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story, True Blood, Dallas Buyers Club and This Is Us), An Iliad is a sweeping account of humanity’s unshakable attraction to violence.
This encore performance brings An Iliad back to Boston after six years, giving audiences a chance to discover an astonishing, award-winning play The Boston Globe called “nothing short of mesmerizing.” Described as wrenching, visceral, breathtaking, and formidably powerful by critics, it’s an experience not to be missed.
Info
Venue
Emerson Paramount Center
Robert J. Orchard Stage
559 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02111
Dates
Nov 20, 2019 - Nov 24, 2019
Details
100 minutes, no intermission
Tickets from $25
Ages 14+
Access
Open Caption Performance
Sat, Nov 23 8:00 pm
American Sign Language Performance
Sun, Nov 24 2:00 pm
Audio Described Performance
Sun, Nov 24 2:00 pm
Artists
Company
Homer's Coat
HOMER’S COAT – Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson are founding members of Homer’s Coat, a creative collective that explores foundational literature. An actor and a director respectively, they both develop, write and edit the pieces they make together. The creative process differs according to subject matter but the lens through which they view the theatrical medium makes for unique, energetic, imaginative performative experiences. Together they created the stage piece, An Iliad, over a period of 5 years, utilizing video, video transcriptions, improvisation, original music, and diligent research. Their latest work, The Good Book, examines faith and the creation of the Christian bible over centuries, and is currently running at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. They are also working on a commission from the McCarter Theatre in Princeton called The Song of Rome, which is a solo for a female performer, and picks up where An Iliad leaves off, with the destruction of Troy, and follows Aeneas through the founding of Rome, examining the idea of government and empire, both the rise and the fall.
Co-Creators:
Denis O'Hare and Lisa Peterson
Actor:
Denis O'Hare
Director:
Lisa Peterson
Bassist:
Brian Ellingsen
Scenic Design:
Rachel Hauck
Costume Design:
Marina Dragichi
Lighting Design:
Scott Zielinski
Composer/Sound Design:
Mark Bennett
Producer:
Mara Isaacs/Octopus Theatricals
DENIS O’HARE
DENIS O’HARE (Actor, Co-Creator) is the co-author, along with Lisa Peterson, of the award winning Solo Performance Play, An Iliad (Obie, Lucille Lortel awards) and The Good Book which premiered at the Court Theatre and recently had its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Rep. Denis wrote and starred in his first feature length film, The Parting Glass, directed by Stephen Moyer. Denis most recently starred in Tartuffe at the National in London.
His Broadway credits include Elling, Inherit the Wind, Sweet Charity (Drama Desk award) Assassins (Tony nom), Take Me Out (Tony Award, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards), Major Barbara, Cabaret and Racing Demon.
His off-Broadway credits include Helen, Silence, Cunning, Exile and Into the Woods (The Public Theater), Vienna Lusthaus and An Iliad (New York Theatre Workshop – Obie award) and Pig Farm (Roundabout).
His film credits include The Goldfish, Late Night with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, The Day Shall Come, Private Life, Lizzie, Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive, Novitiate, From Nowhere, The Normal Heart, Dallas Buyers Club, C.O.G., The Eagle, 5,000 Feet is the Best, Edge of Darkness, The Proposal, An Englishman in New York, Duplicity, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Milk, Changeling, Baby Mama, Charlie Wilson’s War, Michael Clayton, A Mighty Heart, Rocket Science, Half Nelson, Garden State, 21 Grams, The Anniversary Party, Sweet and Lowdown.
Denis has also appeared in a number of television series including 5 seasons on American Horror Story, 2 seasons on True Blood and 2 seasons on This is Us. Some of his other television work includes When We Rise, The Good Wife, The Comedians, Banshee, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, CSI: Miami, Brothers and Sisters, Bored to Death, and 100 Centre Street.
LISA PETERSON
LISA PETERSON (Director, Co-Creator) is a two-time OBIE award winning director and writer. She created and co-wrote An Iliad, with Denis O’Hare, based on Homer’s epic poem. She also recently directed their second collaboration, The Good Book, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Last summer she reimagined and remounted her musical adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, with music by David Bucknam and Adam Gwon, at New York Stage & Film.
In addition to many classic plays, Lisa has directed the premieres of new works by Donald Margulies, Tony Kushner, Beth Henley, Naomi Wallace, Caryl Churchill, Janusz Glowacki, Marlane Meyer, Culture Clash, Jose Rivera and many others at theaters including NYTW The Public, Vineyard, MTC, Primary Stages, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, Guthrie, Actors Theater of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, McCarter, Arena Stage, OSF, and many more.
Gallery
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
“Funny, stirring, and thought provoking. YOU WILL BE MOVED.”
— Boxing Over Broadway
“This is no ordinary dramatic experience. It is a magic carpet ride into the deepest power and charm that theater can offer.”
— Theater Mirror
“Pure theatre. Shocking, glorious, primal, and deeply satisfying… fills the eye with astounding sights — almost more than our hearts can bear.”
— Time Out New York
“The strength of AN ILIAD resides in the combination of a naturally exciting narrative and the engaged, virtuosic performance of…Mr. O’Hare…a supple, gifted and engaging performer.”
— The New York Times
“A mesmerizing play…a wrenching theatrical experience”
— SF Gate
“The show is a sweeping, visceral theatrical event that not only commands attention from start to finish, but can prove to be a touching ode to the tradition of storytelling and an excursion into the magic of simple stagecraft.”
— TheaterMania
“Listening to An Iliad in a manner that could be breathtakingly close to the way its first audiences heard and saw it is a treat too good to miss.”
— The Huffington Post
“A starkly powerful experience that leaves you with not just a sense of the horror and absurdity of war, but also — and this part makes the heart sink — its inevitability.”
“Theatrical storytelling at its most vital.”
— The Boston Globe
“I’ve never seen anything like it”
— Audience Member
“Denis O’Hare is one of our greatest living theatre treasures.”
— Audience Member
“Extraordinary. One of the best things I’ve seen in years!”
— Audience Member