“An Immaculate Misconception”

by Carl Djerassi

Performance Schedule

1997

Nov. 11: Tricycle Theatre, London: staged rehearsed reading directed by Erica Whyman (with Michelle Fairley, Raad Rawi, Michael Cochrane and Alexandra Lilley).

1998

March 24: Eureka Theatre, San Francisco: rehearsed reading directed by Joe de Guglielmo (with Peter Donat, Charles Shaw Robinson, Cynthia Bassham and Carol Shoup-Sanders).

April 6: Cowell Theatre, San Francisco: workshop performance directed by Joe de Guglielmo (with Peter Donat, Charles Shaw Robinson, Cynthia Bassham and Carol Shoup-Sanders).

June 15: Jermyn Street Theatre, London: reading directed by William Archer.

August 6 – 31: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, C-too Theatre, one-act version directed by William Archer (with Saul Reichlin, Jude Allen and Michael Matus).

Oct. 6: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, special Edinburgh Fringe guest performance (directed by William Archer) at International Congress of Fertility and Sterility.

1999

March 16 – April 18: New End Theatre, London two-act version produced by David Babani (with Stephen Greif, Michael Matus, Susannah Fellows and Toni Palmer).

April 1 – May 2: Eureka Theatre, San Francisco, CA directed by Edward Hastings (with Peter Vilkin, Denise Balthrop Cassidy, Paul Sulzman, Maxine Wyman and Zach Kenney).

May 29, June 2 – 5: Jugendstiltheater am Steinhof, Vienna German premiere (“Unbefleckt”) directed by Isabella Gregor with Susanna Kraus (Melanie Laidlaw), Alexander Strobele (Menachem Dvir), Georg Schuchter (Felix Frankenthaler), and Simon Schober (Adam).

Aug. 15 – Sept. 4: Unadilla Summer Theatre, Marshfield, VT directed by Bill Blachly (with Russel Brown, Ellen Blachly, Pavel Wonsowicz and Daniel Drew).

2000

Feb. 29: Theater am Tanzbrunnen, Cologne, guest performance of Viennese production (directed by Isabella Gregor) at Bio-Gen-Tec Forum NRW-2000.

April 7: Alcazar Theatre, San Francisco, Global Stage performance for video filming directed by Libby Pratt (with Eryn Maybruck, Eric Wolfson, Mathew Dingess, and Edwin Day).

May 6 – 7: BBC World Service radio broadcast directed by Andy Jordan (with Henry Goodman, Michael Cochrane, Penny Downie and Josh Brody).

June 7 – 9: Deutsches Museum, Munich, guest performances of Viennese production of “Unbefleckt” directed by Isabella Gregor (with Susanna Kraus, Alexander Strobele, Heinz Wustinger and Simon Schrober).

Sept. 8: Teater Västernorrland, Sundsvall, Swedish premiere of “Obefläckad” directed by Tomas Melander (with Gisela Nilsson, Sören Eriksson, Per Arvdisson and Daniel Magnusson).

Sept. 10: Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, guest performance of Sundsvall production of “Obefläckad” directed by Tomas Melander.

2001

May 16: Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne, radio broadcast (WDR-3) of “Unbefleckt” directed by Claudia Johanna Leist (with Martina Gedeck, Vadim Glowna, Heinrich Giskes, and Robin Bamberg).

Sept. 15, 17: Urania, Berlin staged rehearsed reading of “Unbefleckt” directed by Isabella Gregor.

Sept. 26 – Oct. 28: Primary Stages Theatre, New York, directed by Margaret Booker (with Ann Dowd, David Adkins, Adam Rose and Thomas Schall).

Sept. 28 – May (2002): Satire Theater, Sofia, Bulgarian production (“Neprochno e Netochno”) directed by Nicolai Kalchev (with Stefan Stefanov, Albena Pavlova, Emil Marinov and D. Obretenov).

Oct. 17: Hörspielgalerie WDR-3, repeat presentation of May 16 radio broadcast of “Unbefleckt”.

Dec. 22: Swedish Radio broadcast of “Obefläckad”, directed by Tomas Melander (with Gisela Nillson, Sören Eriksson, Per Arvidsson and Daniel Magnusson).

2002

April 12 – May 5: Théâtre du Grütli, Geneva, French production (“Une Immaculée Miss Conception”) directed by Geoffrey Dyson (with Caroline Gasser, Michel Kullmann, Nathan Monney and Roberto Salomon).

Sept. 5: Kunsthalle, Krems (Austria), staged rehearsed reading of “Unbefleckt” directed by Isabella Gregor.

Nov. 14 – Dec. 1: Bridewell Theatre, London (Bride Lane, Fleet Street, EC4 8EQ): New London production directed by Andy Jordan with Denise Stephenson, Paul Moriatry, Terence Wilton and Frankie Carson.

2003

April 19-21: Seoul: Dong Duk Womans University Art Center, Deahakro, Korean language premiere (translation by Pak Hyey Sun, production by Shin Young Han, art supervision by Kim Kwang Bo).

May 20: Giessen, Germany: Performance of “Unbefleckt” (directed by Susann Reck) with Harald Schneider, Tanja Haller, and Tom Wild in “Off-Bühne”, Stadttheater Giessen im Löbershof.

June 4 - 5: Tokyo (Bunkyo Civic Hall Theatre): Japanese language premiere by C.D Project & Karura-sha and directed by Makoto Tange (co-director: Junichiro Ono) with Sachie Kudo, Makoto Tange, Toshio Inomata, Subaru Imura, and Kazuhiro Emoto.

July 26: Bad Hersfeld (Germany) Summer Festival staged rehearsed reading of “Unbefleckt” directed by Isabella Gregor (with Maria Hartmann , Heinz Wustinger, Wolfram Rupperti, and Simon Schober) in Aula of Konrad-Duden-Schule.

2004

Jan. 7 – 11: Los Angeles (LA Theatre Works): Skirball Cultural Center, directed by Jenny Sullivan with Philip Casnov (Menachem), Kevin Kilner (Felix), Kendall Schmidt (Adam), and JoBeth Williams (Melanie).

Wednesday, January 7 at 8:00 pm

Thursday, January 8 at 8:00 pm (Q&A with playwright follows this performance)

Friday, January 9 at 8:00 pm

Sunday, January 11 at 4:00 pm & 7:30 pm

The performances were recorded for the nationally syndicated radio theater series, The Play’s the Thing, which airs locally every Saturday night from 8 pm to 10 pm on 89.3 FM KPCC, and can also be heard on 94.7 FM KPFA in Northern California; 89.7 FM WGBH in Boston; 94.9 FM KUOW in Seattle; 88.9 FM WQCS in central Florida; and XM Satellite Radio

April 21 – Mai 30: Lisbon (Teatro da Trindade): Portuguese language premiere of (“Esse Espermatozóide é Meu!”) under the direction of Paulo Matos with Mafalda Vilhena, Edwin Luisi, Paulo Matos, and César Brito.

May 27: Vienna (Jüdisches Museum). Staged rehearsed reading (7:30PM) of UNBEFLECKT under the direction of Isabella Gregor.

June 5, 6, 11, 12 ( during Berlin “Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft”) & 13: Berlin Robert Koch Hörsaal, Inst. f. Mikrobiologie & Hygiene, Humboldt-Universität (20:00) by Maxim Gorky Theater Group (directed by Ole Erdmann) with Angela Fiedler, Romy Franz, Steffen Kommer, David Krause, Christine Lander, Florian Meyer, Janina Nelson, Bertram Schirr and Pauline Schuster.

Aug. 28: Waldkirchen/Thaya (Austria): 5:00PM: Summer Theatre Fratres presentation (5:00PM) at Gutshof Fratres of UNBEFLECKT (“An Immaculate Misconception”) directed by Isabella Gregor with Maria Hartmann, Heinz Wustinger, Zdenek Maryska, and Simon Schober. Piano Prof. Wolfgang Mastnak.

Nov. 17 – Dec. 10: Singapore (Singapore Repertory Theatre, DBS Art Centre): Premiere of Singapore production under the direction of Isabella Gregor with Beatrice Chia, Joe McGann, and Oliver Tobias.

Dec. 5: Palm Springs, CA: Rehearsed reading of Scenes 5, 6 and 7 by Magic Theatre (San Francisco) with Jill Eikenberry (Melanie Laidlaw) and Michael Tucker (Felix Frankenthaler) directed by Chris Smith at Bioagenda Conference.

2005

Sept. 7 - 17: Detroit: Hilberry Theatre (4743 Cass Ave.), new "Detroit version" of AN IMMACULATE MISCONCEPTION directed by Gillian Eaton with Roxanne Wellington, Tom Hoagland, and Mark Robson.

Performances at 7:30PM on Sept. 7, 8, 9,10,14,16 and 17 and matinees (2:00PM) on Sept. 10 and 17.

2006

March 13: St. Etienne: French performance (8:30 PM) in Lycée Etienne Mimard Theatre with Robinson Delaugerre (FELIX), Sophie Ranty (MELANIE), Sebastien Rambaud (MENACHEM), and Benjamin Dhont (ADAM).

March 24: Bremen: Performance (7:00PM) of UNBEFLECT in “Haus der Wissenschaft” by Bremen Shakespeare Company with Susanne Plassmann (MELANIE), Tobias Dürr (FELIX) und Thomas C. Zinke (VITALI) followed by panel discussion of play’s theme.

June 8: Bath (UK): Staged rehearsed reading directed by Andy Jordan with Oliver Tobias (Vitaly), Claudia Christian (Melanie) and Michael Fenner (Felix) at Association of Research Ethics Committees City of Bath Conference (“Codes, Conduct, Genetics, and Ethics”) followed by panel discussion with Dea Birkett, Jane Barrett, Richard Nicholson and Michael Bone.

Sept. 12: Prague: Czech Radio broadcast (21:30 – 22:25) of NEPOSKVRNÊNÍ

(“An Immaculate Misconception”) translated by Alexander Kasal, dramaturgy by Hynek Pekárek, directed by Ivan Chrz with Dana Cerná (Melanie Laidlaw), Jiři Ornest (Menachem Dvir), Jan Vlasák (Felix Frankenthaler) and Vojtêch Hájek (Adam).

2007

June 3: Los Angeles (LA Theatre Works): Repeat broadcast of Jan. 2004 Skirball Cultural Center performance on The Play’s the Thing NPR program (8:00 pm to 10:00 pm) on 89.3 FM KPCC and other NPR stations.

2008

March 14 - 15: Zurich: German staging of “Detroit “ 2005 version under the direction of Isabella Gregor on occasion of 175^th anniversary of the University of Zurich School of Medicine with Maria Hartmann (Melanie Laidlaw), Helmut Rühl (Vitali Slvaski), Heinz Wustinger (Felix Frankenthaler), Marton Götz (Ivan), and Sean Pearson (Yuri).

2010

April 16: Prague: Dramatic reading (11:30 – 13:00) of Neposkvrněni directed by Zdeněk Havlas Jr. in KLUB of Czech Academy of Sciences with Kateřina Urbánková (Melanie Laidlaw), Jaroslav Brendl (Vitali Slvaski), Zdeněk Havlas Jr. (Felix Frankenthaler), Jan Urbánek (Yuri) and Miroslav Fišer (voice at sperm bank).

April 30: Schallaburg, Austria: Staged rehearsed reading of UNBEFLECKT (directed by Isabella Gregor) at opening of Schloss Schallaburg exhibition “die 60er: Beatles, Pille und Revolte” with Maria Hartmann (Melanie Laidlaw), Merab Ninidze (Vitali Slvaski), Heinz Wustinger (Felix Frankenthaler), Antonia Jung (Ivana), and Simon Jung (Yuri).

TBA (tent.): Belgrade (Pozoriste “Kult”) of Silovanje pod Mikroskopom (Rape under the Microscope) in Serbian translation by Miroslav Pavicevic and Velimir Abramovic and directed by Miroslav Pavicevic.