We are thrilled to announce that our next development cycle will be a new adaptation of Moliere’s comedie-ballet, Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. M. de Pourceaugnac is a wild combination of Commedia dell’Arte style farce, ballet and live music. M. de P promises to be a unique, strange and very funny evening of theater.

Katharsis plans to hold two workshops in the 2007/08 season to develop Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. The first, in November 2007, will focus on the adaptation of the script which we plan to develop primarily through improvisation. The second, in March 2008, will focus on the live music and dance. We plan to produce the full production of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac in the fall of 2008.  

I will post items that discuss the script, the music and the dance in greater detail in the coming weeks.  I hope you’ll check back here periodically to learn more about this exciting project.

Jacques Callot (1592-1635) engraving of a Commedia dell’Arte scene

Costume design for Louis XIV as The Rising Sun, from the final entrée of Le Ballet de la Nuit (1653).