Join us this holiday season for a FREE staged reading of Le'Asha Julius' The Regulars + Molière's The Ludicrous Ladies
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Friday, January 17th, 7PM @ Brooklyn Public Library
Tuesday, December 17th @ Prospect Park's Picnic House
Photo credit: Russ Rowland
Produced by Molière in the Park, in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance and The Brooklyn Public Library.
Meet Le'Asha Julius
As an actor, Le'Asha Julius is known for her role as Wendy in HBO's Random Acts of Flyness and Jasmine in Still Here which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Le'Asha is also a theatre educator and production manager who has worked with The Public Theater, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Howard University, and Carnegie Hall. As a rapper/songwriter, Le'Asha has performed at Black Thought's School of Thought and has opened for several artists including Kendrick Lamar, Salt 'n' Peppa, Noname, and Talib Kweli.
"...Molière has always stood out to me for his brilliant use of language and fun characters. As I began to create more music, I learned the value of storytelling through verse, a skill that affected me mostly through hip-hop and Molière."
Cast
Waymon Arnette, Sheldon Best, Quentin Bruno, Gil Charleston, Le'Asha Julius, Naomi Lorrain, Lakisha May, Anne-Sophie de Villeroy.
Team
The Regulars, directed by Le'Asha Julius
The Ludicrous Ladies, directed by Lucie Tiberghien, translated by Maya Slater
Associate line-producer: Gabrielle Scott
Maya Slater
Maya Slater's verse translations of Molière, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and Other Plays, are published by Oxford Word’s Classics. She has published other translations of French plays and, in collaboration with her husband, Nicolas Pasternak Slater, of Russian literature. Their Anna Karenina is currently in press. She is now translating a selection of Molière’s prose plays for Oxford World’s Classics. A Senior Research Fellow of Queen Mary, University of London, she has written several books on French writers, and a novel, The Private Diary of Mr Darcy.
The Regulars
"Almost two years ago... I was inspired to write a story based on forbidden love and challenged myself to use language in a classically heightened style. Out birthed The Regulars, a story of lovers separated by animosity and bloodshed, obstacles that we are still battling today." - Le'Asha Julius
The Ludicrous Ladies
Les Précieuses ridicules is a biting comedy of manners that brought Molière and his company to the attention of Parisians, after they had toured the provinces for years. The play received its Paris premiere on 18 November 1659 at the Théâtre du Petit-Bourbon. It was highly successful and attracted the patronage of Louis XIV to Molière and company.
About this pairing
"Pairing The Regulars, a short tragedy in verse by rapper, actor, and playwright Le’Asha Julius with The Ludicrous Ladies, a one act comedy in prose by Molière might appear at first as an exercise in contrast. New versus old, serious versus farcical, political versus domestic… but in content and in form the plays, of course, are neither fully one nor the other. More importantly, despite the time and space that separates their authors, both plays center two impassioned women with complex desires. Desires they fight for, and that may or may not be born exclusively out of the limitations imposed on them by their place in the world. Will this pairing open up an angle of reflection on women’s struggles and how they’ve evolved or persisted? We hope you’ll join us to find out!"
- Lucie Tiberghien
WE THANK ALL OUR MAJOR SUPPORTERS!
THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.
This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Thank you to all of our donors!
Including: Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation,
The American Society of The French Legion of Honor, The Richenthal Foundation.
Angel Producer: Thomas Kail. Season Producer: Samira Wiley. Visionary Producers: Jon and Elizabeth Weiswasser, Sybilla and Alex Balkanski, and Carter Redwood. Executive Producers: Puth Family Foundation, Stephan Haimo and Veronica Bulgari, Nikola and Dana Duravcevic, Mimi O'Donnell, Producers: Mary Vines. Bill and Judy Steul, Associate Producer: Jenny Allen
Sponsors: The Araca Group, The Ryan and Ryan Team
We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions: ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS, AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS, SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.
