Hoi Polloi:
Quiet, Comfort

By Toshiki Okada, Translated by Aya Ogawa, Directed by Alec Duffy
August 11 - 28, 2016

PERFORMERS:
Julian Rozzell, Jr. (August 11 - 20)
Stacey Karen Robinson (August 23 - 28)
and Lelia Goldoni

OBIE-winning theater company Hoi Polloi presents Quiet, Comfort, a newly-commissioned text by Japanese phenomenon playwright Toshiki Okada. For the piece, director Alec Duffy fashions a dream world in which the audience joins the actors on a giant bed that fills the entire stage of JACK for a piece about travel, first-world privilege and the danger of a life lived alone.

Julian Rozzell, Jr. takes the lead role through August 20, after which time Stacey Karen Robinson takes over the role.

Please note: this production is not a traditional seated production, and may not be accessible to all individuals. The audience sits or lies down on a giant bed. If you have any questions about accessibility, please feel free to contact us at info@jackny.org.

The production includes the use of a strobe-like lighting effect.

PERFORMANCES:
Thursday, August 11 (preview)
Friday, August 12 (preview)
Saturday, August 13 (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Wednesday, August 17 at 8 pm (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Thursday, August 18 at 8 pm (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Friday, August 19 at 8 pm (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Saturday, August 20 at 5:30 pm (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Saturday, August 20 at 8 pm (Julian Rozzell, Jr. in the lead role)
Tuesday, August 23 at 8 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)
Wednesday, August 24 at 8 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)
Thursday, August 25 at 8 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)
Friday, August 26 at 8 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)
Saturday, August 27 at 8 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)
Sunday, August 28 at 6:30 pm (Stacey Karen Robinson in the lead role)​

Playwright: Toshiki Okada
English translation by Aya Ogawa
Director: Alec Duffy
Choreography: Stacy Grossfield
Set Design: Amy Rubin
Lighting Design: Amith Chandrashaker
Costume Design: Dede M. Ayite
Sound Design: Steven Leffue
Stage Manager: Laura Hirschberg
Production Manager: Drew Francis
Production Assistant: Ashlin Hatch
Assistant Director: Mitchel Civello
Production design based on a concept by Mimi Lien
​
Alec Duffy (Director) is an OBIE-winning theater-maker and founder of the theater company Hoi Polloi and of the performance venue JACK. Recent directorial work includes Our Planet, Shadows, Baal, All Hands, and The less we talk and Murder in the Cathedral. He was one of three creator/performers of Three Pianos. Duffy is a Drama League Directing Fellow. He studied at Duke University and at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq.

Toshiki Okada (Playwright) is a Japanese playwright and director, who, in 1997, founded the theater company chelfitsch to present world premieres of his work. He is known for his use of hyper-colloquial language in his plays and, as a director, for his unique choreography. In 2005, he won the prestigious Kishida Prize for Drama (the Japanese version of the Tony Award) for his play, Five Days in March. As the representative of his country, he took part in Stuecke'06 International Literature Project and in December of the same year, he presented Enjoy at New National Theatre, Tokyo. In 2007, his collection of two novels, The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed, was published, and was awarded the Kenzaburo Oe Prize. In recent years, Okada has drawn the attention of not only the theater world and the contemporary dance scene, but also the fine arts and literary worlds. His work has been presented internationally at the Nam June Paik Art Center (Seoul), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Kunsten Festival des Arts (Brussels), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), and Festival d’Automne (Paris). His stories and plays have been translated into many languages and published abroad. In 2009, his piece Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and The Farewell Speech premiered in Berlin, in co-production with Hebbel Am Ufer (Berlin). As Okada continues touring new work with his company chelfitsch, his work is increasingly produced in English-language versions by American companies, including Pig Iron Theater Company, PlayCo and Witness Relocation. His play, The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise, was produced by PlayCo at JACK in June 2014.

Quiet, Comfort is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program and is made possible in part by the Puffin Foundation and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Photo by Ryan Jensen