Thank you b Bistro

Thank you to our long-time sponsors and friends at b Bistro, where there's a wonderful atmosphere with even better food! Check them out: http://www.b-bistro.com/

 

Mark Herbkersman (Zeno)

This is Mark Herbkersman's 2nd show with Memorial Players, having appeared as Simon the Zealot in last years production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. As former long time residents of Bolton Hill, Mark, his wife Martha and five children still enjoy many friendships and ties to the community. As a youth, he considered a career in the theater and performed in Cleveland with the Southeast Summer & Bedford Community Theaters and St. Francis Players. During college he was in shows at Cuyahoga Community College, Kent State University, Canal Park, and the Cleveland Playhouse. His stage experience includes Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Hello Dolly, The Sound of Music, Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, The Roar of the Greasepaint/The Smell of the Crowd, Oklahoma, Bye Bye Birdie, Mame, Dames at Sea, Funny Girl, Grease, J. B., Gypsy and The Nutcracker. Having once hoped to be a leading man, good thing he ended up as an architect instead!

Meet our "Rea", Kaite Vaught!

Meet our "Rea", Kaite Vaught! She is a second year law student at University of Baltimore with a passion for politics. She spent a year working on the London stage and is thrilled to take part in her first performance with the Memorial Players!

THank you Park Cafe & Coffee Bar

Please show some love to our wonderful neighbors and supporters, Park Cafe & Coffee Bar. Thank you!!

The Julio-Claudian dynasty

During the play, Romulus names many of the chickens he raises – focusing almost more on his poultry than keeping the empire of Rome up and running – after emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he himself though as Rome’s last emperor, ruled long after the dynasty’s existence. This dynasty refers in particular to the first five emperors of Rome – Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero – who ruled from the second half of the 1st Century (44/31/27 BC), when the Empire was formed, until AD 68, when Nero committed suicide. A father-to-son style succession of leaders is notably absent amongst the five emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Tiberius and Claudius are the only amongst the five to have fathered sons both natural and legitimate. Tiberius’s son, Drusus, died prior to him; Claudius was the only one of the five emperors to die before his son. Even though Britannicus, his son, outlived him, he opted to promote Nero to the throne using the same method of selecting a successor to the throne that most of the emperors of the dynasty utilized: adoption.

Friedrich Durrenmatt

Born in Konolfingen, Switzerland, Friedrich Durrenmatt's father was a minister in the Protestant church and his grandfather had a low-key role in Swiss politics and also was well known for satire. Durrenmatt, began his studies in Bern and Zurich twenty years after his birth, focusing intently on literature and philosophy – he used justice as a tool in his writing taking it to an epistemological extreme. His first few plays all exhibit the same theme: the Church displaying weakness when faced with serious moral questions. A famed quote of Durrenmatt’s was, “As a Protestant, I protest;” he must therefore, have been very pleased with the fights and protests that exploded in the audience on the opening night of his first play in April, 1947. Romulus The Great, on which Romulus was based, was his first major success. In his play, Romulus hates Rome and is the only one able to see the true state in which Rome finds itself, one of degradation and corruption (hence the barnyard like nature of the court the audience sees at the beginning of the play and Pyramus and Achilles continual assertion that the Roman Empire is eternal and incapable of collapse). The calm sense of justice that give Romulus his heroism is seen in many of Durrenmatt’s main characters and can be considered one of the tools at the forefront of his arsenal. An interesting quality of his writing is how firmly he was opposed to the use of symbolism: “Misunderstandings creep in, because people desperately search the hen yard of my drama for the egg of explanation which I steadfastly refuse to lay.” Critics claimed that Vidal made frivolous Durrenmatt’s dark and majestic dramatic interpretation of the dangers of the Cold War so he felt forced to include in his 1966 hardcover publication of Romulus a translation of the original play of Durrenmatt’s from which he adapted his work.

Thank You Park Avenue Pharmacy!

Another wonderful Bolton Hill business that we love and appreciate: Park Avenue Pharmacy! Professional service with a personal touch. Thank you for your continued support.

Olivia Steinrock (Set)

We are so lucky to have Olivia Steinrock on the Romulus Crew! She has been involved onstage in Memorial's productions of Mame, Sound of Music, Annie, and Oliver. Olivia spends her time scrapbooking and running her own pet sitting business in Bolton Hill.

So who was Romulus, the Last Emperor of Rome?

So who was Romulus, the Last Emperor of Rome? Well ... he was the son of Orestes, who once had been an assistant of Attila the Hun’s. Following Attila’s death, Orestes entered the service of the Western portion of the Roman Empire and rose the ranks quickly, soon finding himself in a senior position and eventually emperor. Romulus, much like in the play itself, has historically – even in his own day -- been the subject of a good deal of ridicule and mockery. His name alone invited insults, as Romulus was also the name of Rome’s first king (a legend in his own day) and Augustus was the famed first emperor of the Roman Empire. A mere ten months following Romulus’ promotion to emperor, a serious mutiny of the troops arose, primarily a result of the dislike of Romulus that existed among the German troops (Orestes was half German and he led the army to being mostly German). One of Orestes own senior officers, Flavius Odoacer (Ottaker in the play), led the protest as is seen in the play.

Titus! (Ryan Frank)

Don't miss Ryan Frank as Titus! Ryan is making his first appearance with Memorial Players. This is his second play after a decade-long break from acting due to law school and rural employment. When not onstage, he is an attorney for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In their spare time, he and his wife foster cats and greyhounds and travel as often as they can back to Minneapolis to see friends and attend science fiction conventions.