CyranA
by Doug Zschiegner
In 1898, Edmond Rostand took a real 17th Century poet/duelist and adapted him for a 19th Century audience. Cyrano De Bergerac was one of France’s greatest theatrical successes and its plot has been repurposed countless times. In this adaptation, the gender of the characters is switched, without altering their behavior. We see a world where women are the soldiers, poets and Cardinals and the men fight and preen for their attention. The classic story of a poet/musketeer with a big nose begins in a theatre and ends in a Monastery. In between, Cyrana battles prejudice with wit, battles real threats with a sword and battles her own insecurities with love. Rostand’s combination of humor, poetry, romance and life threatening conflict takes on a new power with 21st Century resonance.
- Cast Size: 6M 15W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
DOUG ZSCHIEGNER is Asst. Director/Asst. Professor at Niagara University Theatre’s BFA program, where he’s directed Company, The Threepenny Opera, She Stoops to Conquer, The Real Thing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Into the Woods, Bat Boy: The Musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, She Loves Me and The Laramie Project. Besides teaching there, The Macbeth Insurgency and Pygmalion Today. As Associate Director at The Kavinoky Theatre he directed It’s A Wonderful Life, Secret Order and Rock ‘n’ Roll. He’s also a member of Road Less Traveled Production’s Resident Ensemble, directing premieres of Insidious, Very Fine Use of a Grenade and two Buffalo Stories events. Doug directed over thirty shows and ran Education/Outreach for eight years as Resident Director of Mill Mountain Theatre, an Equity company in Roanoke, VA. Acting credits include Race at RLTP, Atticus Finch at Studio Arena, Brutus with Shakespeare in Delaware Park, narration for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the film Marshall, plus over three-dozen roles by Shakespeare around the country. Doug’s guest directed and/or taught at Virginia Tech, Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson universities and Walnut Street, McCarter, First Stage, Roanoke Children’s Theatre, Indiana Rep and GEVA theatre companies. His MFA is from U of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program. That last name is pronounced CHEEG-ner.
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