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The Trial Directed by Charmian Creagle
Adapted from Franz Kafka's novel by Andre Gide

February 24 - March 24, 2001

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Photo from The Trial

About the Show

Guest director Charmian Creagle from The Other Side Theatre Company employed mask and choral work to theatricalize the classic story of a man tried and convicted of a crime about which he can get no information. Creagle relied on a talented cast of Cygnet regulars, including Tom Nabhan, Jamie Rea, and Michael Teufel. Bobby Bermea, most recently seen as Segismundo in Miracle Theater' s production of Life is a Dream will play K., reinterpreting Kafka' s vision of oppression in totalitarian society through the lens of an African-American' s experience in modern America. Local actors Ted Schultz and Courtney Weber rounded out the ensemble.

About the Guest Director

Charmain Creagle graduated from Southern Oregon University in Ashland with a BA in theatre. After an internship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she moved to Portland and immediately became involved with The Other Side Theatre Company. She has worked in many roles with The Other Side, but is best known for her direction. She undertook Jarry's avant garde classic Ubu Roi (earning a Drammy award for the Best Actress) and Sophie Treadwell's adventurous Machinal. Willamette Week's Steffen Silvis had this to say about Creagle, "... is fast becoming one of Portland's brightest young directors". Creagle's next move will be to New York.

Press Release for The Trial.

"...Cygnet Theatre tackles a work that bears the impress of two of the 20th century's most significant literary figures. Directed by Charmian Alisa Creagle, this production vividly captures the bizarre contours of Kafka's and Gide's nightmarish representation of an inhospitable modern world. With the able support of damali ayo's spare-but-suggestive set, Chris Balo's artful lighting, Alan Garren's vivid sound design, and Barbara Mason's stark costumes, Creagle's skillful actors (led by Bobby Bermea, who plays the protagonist, Joseph K) give the production the texture and flow of a dream within the grotesquely dehumanized world in which K lives."

The Oregonian, March 1, 2001
Group shot

The Trial was funded in part by a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).


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