The UC San Diego Department Of Theatre And Dance Presents PEER GYNT

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Peer Gynt, written by Henrik Ibsen, and directed by Charlie Oates.

About the play: The young Peer Gynt, cocky, rebellious, and sharply irreverent, leaves his family's home to strike out on his own. His journey becomes a quest and a lifelong pursuit of.... himself. On the way he meets up with a host of characters, commits crimes, travels to North Africa and eventually as a middle aged man, returns home. Though he doesn't deserve it, the woman who loves him is waiting for him.

Peer Gynt runs June 6-9 at 7:30pm, with a 2pm matinee on June 9. Performances are at the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on UC San Diego's campus: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA. For information about parking, please see the website.

Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at (858) 534-4574.

The cast features Elizabeth Blackwell (Steward, Ingrid, Troll Maiden, Anitra, Fuchs, Stranger), Jalani Blankenship (Ase, Hussein), Isabella Calabrese (Mad's Mother, Old Man of the Mountain, Begriffenfeld, Helmsman), Vanessa Fitzpatrick (Helga, Schafman, Eberkopf, Button Moulder, Herdgirl), Jingtao Lei (Aslak, Guest Mikkel, Ship's Captain), Brennen Mahon (Young Peer, Boatswain), Andrew Olson (Mads, Troll Child, Ballon, Lunatic Thin Person, Herdgirl), Toshiaki Ono (Middle Aged Peer, Ingrid's Father), Tatiana Quiapo (Solveig, Huhu), August Robinson (Old Peer, Solveig's Father), Jamie Scangarella (Woman in Green, Herdgirl, Watch), Hailey Schneider (Solveig's Mother, Troll Chamberlain, Cotton, Priest), Simrandeep Singh (Mads's Father, Voice (The Great Boyg), Trumpetblast, Mads' Father, Cook), and Jane Yao (Kari, Egyptian, Crewman). The company also plays various other roles including Narration, Young Men/Women, Guests, Men/Women, Girls, Troll Women, Trolls/ Troll Children, etc.

The creative team includes Charlie Oates (Director), Nancy Chao (Scenic Designer), Evan Kwong (Costume Designer), Hazel Hyunjung Park (Lighting Designer), Justin Livengood (Sound Designer), Kristin Leadbetter (Dramaturg), Louis Chen (Production Stage Manager), Blake Ramirez (Assistant Director), Beren Yildirim (Assistant Director), Biying Ding (Assistant Scenic Designer), Michael Wogulis (Assistant Scenic Designer), Samantha Englander (Assistant Costume Designer), Teagan Rutkowski (Asisstant Stage Manager), and Charlie Dichen Cui (Production Assistant).

About the playwright: Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and by the early 20th century A Doll's House became the world's most performed play.

About the director: Charlie Oates has performed on the streets in the U.S. and Europe, collaborated on new performance events with dancers and musicians, developed site specific performances for museums and unusual architectural spaces, created many performances for young audiences and performed his original solo works at theatres and festivals around the world.

Most recently, he has developed and directed several new projects including Save You, Hate Me in Berlin, directed Around the World in 80 Days at the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado, Fool for Love for Chalk Rep in Los Angeles and arranged the fights and movement for Herbert Siguenza's Steal Heaven at the San Diego Rep. During the past year, he directed a physical theatre adaptation of War of the Worlds at UCSD and Ben Fisher's new play, Damascus for the Wagner New Play Festival. His production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels played at the Creede Repertory theatre in the summer of 2016.
As a movement coach and fight choreographer Oates has worked at many theatres including the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse, San Diego Rep and the Denver Center Theatre Company. He has been a guest artist and teacher in many leading actor training programs in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Senegal, Sweden and China.

He was a recipient of the 2016 Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award at UC San Diego.