CREATIVE
Directors: George Judy & Mak Secrest
Stage Manager: Bekah Branton
Assistant Stage Manager: Andrew Branton
Scenic Designer: Drew Davis
Costume Designer: Margaret Lipscomb
Sound Designer: Klay Branton
Prop Master: Mak Secrest
Lighting Designer: Gabby Montagnino
Photographer: Matthew Walker
CAST
Alan Raleigh: AJ Sabine
Annette Raleigh: Erica Malone
Michael Novak: Andrew Evans
Veronica Novak: Libby Judice-Smith
DIRECTORS' NOTE
Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage examines the fragility of the masks we all wear in our everyday lives, revealing the primal chaos lurking beneath our civilized facades. As Veronica suggests early in the play, the question before these four parents, and all of us, becomes: “There is such a thing as the art of co-existence, isn’t there?” Not so simple a question as it first appears.
As we have explored the sharp critique Reza offers on human nature and the duplicity inherent in social constructs, we are reminded of how even the most secure individuals can quickly resort to blaming and degrading. As animalistic instincts take over, the ability to see nuance in conflict vanishes, and the desire to cling to an “us” vs. “them” mentality surges to dominance. This breakdown of civility feels strikingly relevant today, given the extreme polarization of our current political climate and the devastating scale of conflicts taking place in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Much like U.S. media coverage, political leaders in these global conflicts, and perhaps ourselves, the characters of God of Carnage, subconsciously or otherwise, manipulate narratives to justify their self-serving perspectives.
Watching Reza’s couples’ polite veneers break down in rehearsal has brought us both endless laughter and an uncomfortable awareness of our personal responsibility for the world we’ve created. God of Carnage certainly doesn’t offer clear instructions for a path toward coexistence, but it does insist that surface-level civility alone will never be enough. Like Veronica, our little band of artists is “eccentric enough to believe in the soothing powers of culture!” and, while we hope you find God of Carnage to be an entertaining night of theatre, perhaps it can also hold an unpretentious mirror to your own lives as we strive to confront the biggest threat to our shared humanity: human nature itself.
-Mak Secrest & George Judy