Successions

Centaur Theatre /49th Season

Successions

World Premier 

Written by Michaela Di Cesare

Directed by Tamara Brown

April 10 - May 6, 2018

This is the first time that a female Italian Canadian playwright joined the ranks of two other Italian Canadian Centaur playwright luminaries Vittorio Rossi, and Steve Galluccio.

Michaela Di Cesare's play is about a family drama that takes place when the departed parent's estate has to be attended by the family survivors. Many in the audience would relate to this play since they themselves went through personal variations of the same situation.

In Successions, it is the conflict that unfolds between two second generation Italian Canadian brothers from the St. Leonard borough in Montreal. After the sudden death of their both parents, they must decide whether or not to hold on to the rundown family home, stuffed with memorabilia and worthless but sentimental junk. Their conflicting memories and emotions, overshadowed by their parent's plethora of unpaid bills, leads to a drama that unfolds - what to do with their parent’s debt ridden estate. At the end they realize they need to move forward, each deciding what they are willing to give up and at what cost to their relationship.

Successions with Gita Miller,Davide Chiazzese, Carlo Mestroni &
Tara Nicodemo, Photo Andrée Lanthier

All play's action takes place in the cluttered basement and garage of a typical St. Leonard bungalow. The home, with a palpable character in of its own, and with its hold over the brothers, makes it difficult for them to break free of their history and each other.

Michaela Di Cesare also used an interesting device: by using the house memorabilia items she brings back the brother's parents, or rather their personalities, by portraying - enacting them briefly on stage. 

Successions with Davide Chiazzese, Gita Miller & Carlo Mestroni
 Photo Andrée Lanthier

The play also elaborates in a conflict of brothers belonging to two different social spheres. Anthony Di Ciccio, the older brother, is a hard-working lawyer who is running for political office. His wife Christina put her career on hold to be his campaign manager. The ambitious couple refers to themselves as DINKs: people with “double incomes, no kids”.  Enzo, Anthony’s younger brother, is headstrong and impulsive. He is planning to embark on his latest career choice as a plumber. Whereas he is planning to have his own family, Nat, his very pregnant, a beautician and an internet savvy girlfriend, is quite content to live independently in her own condo. At the end,regardless to the social strata the brothers belong to, it is the concept of family, of a family microcosm, that synthesises all their conflicts and arguments.

Michaela Di Cesare refers to the genre of this play as "dramedy". She explained that she thought she wrote a drama. But when she attended several previews of her play, she was startled that the audience began to laugh during the scenes or monologues that she considered dramatic. It was only then she perceived the comical side of the situations she conjured on the stage.

Successions with Gita Miller,Davide Chiazzese,Tara Nicodemo &
Carlo Mestroni, Photo Andrée Lanthier

CREATIVE TEAM

Actors - Davide Chiazzese, Carlo Mestroni, Gita Miller and Tara Nicodemo

Dramaturg - Micheline Chevrier

Set & Costume Designer - Diana Uribe

Lighting Designer - Audrey-Anne Bouchard

Sound Designer - Peter Cerone

Fight Choreographer - Anita Nittoly

Stage Manager - Merissa Tordjman

Apprentice Stage Manager - Brandon Hepworth 

Successions with Davide Chiazzese &
Gita Miller, Photo Andrée Lanthier

Successions with Carlo Mestroni &
Davide Chiazzese, Photo Andrée Lanthier

Click on images to enlarge them.

All images above are courtesy of Centaur Theatre.

For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

 Playwright Michaela Di Cesare and members of the production crew

Photo Nadia Slejskova

SUNDAY CHAT-UP:

In Centaur’s Ted T. Katz Family Trust Gallery

April 15th, 2018 at 12:30pm

Montreal Gazette Editor-in-Chief, Lucinda Chodan, is joined by Successions

playwright, Michaela Di Cesare

Admission to the Chat-up is free and open to the public, with complimentary refreshments courtesy of Bonaparte Restaurant.

Successions, Centaur Theatre 2018, Michaela Di Cesareis interviewd by  Lucinda Chodan,
Photo Eloi Savoie

TALK BACKS:

Following the evening performance on Thursday April 26^th

and the matinee presentation on Sunday April 29^th

audiences are invited to stay after the show for a lively Q&A with the cast and director.