Molière in the Park returns to BRIC Stoop Share with A Very Modern Classical Evening
Starring Emmy Award Winner Michael Emerson and Lakisha May
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
BRIC House (647 Fulton Street)
The event is now at capacity!
MIP returns to BRIC with a special Stoop Share double-bill presentation featuring The Regulars, a tragedy written and directed by rapper, actor, and playwright Le’Asha Julius about lovers torn apart by political bloodshed, paired with Molière's legendary comedy of manners The Ludicrous Ladies, directed by Lucie Tiberghien. This special staged reading stars Emmy Award Winner Michael Emerson (LOST, SAW, PERSON OF INTEREST) and Lakisha May (JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING, WINE IN THE WILDERNESS, GINGER TWINSIES), among others.
In his one-act comedy The Ludicrous Ladies, Molière takes aim at the performance of “refinement”, exploring the desperation behind social climbing through the wildly comic downfall of three aspiring sophisticates. Both Julius’ contemporary tragedy and Molière’s 17th century comedy center impassioned women navigating complex desires shaped by the social constraints around them, offering a layered reflection on how those struggles have evolved, or persisted, across time.
Past performances at the Prospect Park Picnic House & BPL
Photo credit: Russ Rowland
Produced by Molière in the Park, in partnership with BRIC.
Meet Le'Asha Julius
Le'Asha Julius is an Actor, Writer, Director, & Music Artist from Washington D.C. Her most recent credits include an appearance on Tiny Desk with The Lox, and making her Off-Broadway debut in the New York premiere of Slaughter City by Naomi Wallace. Currently Le’Asha spends her days creating new projects in music and film. You can find her on social media under the handle @Leeocious, or visit her website at www.LeAshaJulius.com
"...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
Brooks Brantly, Michael Emerson, Luca Fontaine, Naomi Lorrain, Lakisha May, Daniel Pearce, Anne-Sophie de Villeroy.
Team
The Regulars, directed by Le'Asha Julius
The Ludicrous Ladies, directed by Lucie Tiberghien, translated by Maya Slater
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.
$20,000+: The Auchincloss Foundation
$15,000+: The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., The Achelis and Bodman Foundation, The Evelyn Sharp Foundation, Samira Wiley
$10,000+: Bloomberg Philanthropies, The American Society of The French Legion of Honor, Jon and Elizabeth Weiswasser, Veronica Bulgari and Stephan Haimo, Daniel Klingenstein, Paul and Alicia Brill, Danai Gurira
$5,000+: The Araca Group, Mary Vines, Anne Sophie de Villeroy, Bill and Judy Steul,
$1000+: The Richenthal Foundation, The Double R Foundation