SCARAMOUCHE with City Lit Theatre Company

There are theatre photo assignments I secretly hope for. Either I’m inspired by the theme or the people involved, or ideally, both.

This May, City Lit Theatre Company produced Scaramouche, with music and lyrics by Kingsley Day, book by Kinglsey Day and Jeff Glossman, directed by Beth Wolf. It’s one of those projects I yearned to do, thanks in part to the many friends and collaborators associated with the production. Here’s a blurb summarizing the play’s theme from the City Lit website:

Based on the rip-roaring novel by Rafael Sabatini. Radicalized by his friend’s brutal murder on the eve of the French Revolution, a sardonic provincial lawyer repeatedly evades disaster by taking on a series of new identities—first an insurgent orator, then a traveling comic actor, and finally a master swordsman.
Scaramouche blurb from the City Lit Theatre Company website

Scaramouche Production Photography

There’s so much color and costumery in Scaramouche, it’s better to show it than try to put it into words. Here’s a brief glimpse at a mere fraction of the onstage theatrical magic.

Scaramouche Character Portraiture

With each round of character portraiture we do, we try to improve the lighting and overall aesthetics of the portraiture. For Scaramouche, we added a third light to give our portraits more depth and a new background for variety.

Cast and Creative

Thanks to the cast and creative team of Scaramouche and special thanks to City Lit artistic director Brian Pastor for making this production photography possible. Thanks to director Beth Wolf for facilitating the portraits and for her insightful direction during that process. Finally, enormous thanks to the cast for their energy and enthusiasm during our time together. We wish you a fantastic opening and a stellar run of Scaramouche!

Cast

Most of the actors in Scaramouche play multiple parts. Check the City LIt digital program to see a detailed breakdown of each role. The cast and understudies are summarized on the Chicago Plays website as follows:

Ethan Smith, Henry Michael Odum, Kent Joseph, Laura Michele Erle, Alicia Berneche, Shea Lee, Conor Ripperford, Ed Rutherford, India Huy, Rushil Byatnal

Understudies

Ryan Smetana, Brian James, Matthew Benenson Cruz, Will Erlich, Alex Stetkevich, Emma Jean Eastlund.

Creative

Director ~~~~~~~~Beth Wolf
Playwright/Composer ~~~~~Kingsley Day
Playwright ~~~~~~~ James Glossman
Scenic Designer ~~~~~~~ Trevor Dotson
Lighting Designer~~~~~~~Jackson Mikkelsen
Costume Designer/Commedia Consultant~~~~~~~ Jennifer Mohr
Props Designer ~~~~~~Meg McGrath
Music Director/Accompanist ~~~~~ Kevin Zhou
Assistant Music Director~~~~Tyeese Braslavsky
Musicians~~~~Chad Polk, Aaron Kaplan—Cello
Matthew Beck, Adam Nigh—Flute/Clarinet
Projections Designer~~~~~~DJ Douglass
Violence & Intimacy Choreographer ~~~~ Jamie Macpherson
Assistant Director~~~~~~~~ Ray Post
Choreography ~~~ Beth Wolf, Ray Post, Maureen Yasko
Stage Manager ~~~~~Grace Elizabeth Mealey
Assistant Stage Manager~~~~~~Dylan Hirt
Production Manager~~~~~~ Alexa Berkowitz
Technical Director ~~~~~~Tseela Sokolin-Maimon
Production Electrician ~~~~~Sara Johnson
Scenic Charge~~~~~~~ Bruce Bennett
Production Carpenter~~~~~Aubrey Pierce
Casting Director ~~~~~~ Becca Holloway

steven Latest posts

Steven Townshend is a fine art/portrait photographer and writer with a background in theatre, written narrative, and award-winning game design. As a young artist, Steven toured the US and Canada performing in Shakespeare companies while journaling their moments on paper and film. In his transition from stage to page, Steven continued to work as a theatre photographer, capturing dramatic scenes while incorporating elements of costume, makeup, and theatrical lighting in his work. Drawn to stories set in other times and places, Steven creates works through which fellow dreamers and time travelers might examine their own humanity or find familiar comfort in the reflections of the people and places of a distant era.