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The Hunchback Variations
Where is the place for the uncreated in this modern world?
Where do we put the happiness that has not been forged?
Where do we store the love that has not been sculpted?
Where is the room for keeping all the nothings?
— from The Hunchback Variations by Mickle Maher
Featuring: Ian Leung as Ludwig Van Beethoven & Dave Clarke as Quasimodo
Director: Davina Stewart
Set & Costume Designer: Trevor Schmidt
Lighting Designer: Rae Dunn McCallum
Stage Manager & Sound Designer: Elizabeth Allison
Running Time – Approximately 45 minutes
Performance Dates
For the safety of our cast, crew and audiences, we have made the difficult decision to not proceed with our next show, The Hunchback Variations.
Our box office will be contacting each ticket holder directly regarding tickets. We have options including donating your ticket or having a portion of your subscription refunded.
Punctuating the final scene of The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov wrote: “Suddenly a distant sound is heard, coming as if out of the sky, like the sound of a string snapping, slowly and sadly dying away.” That one sentence — one of the greatest stage directions in western theatre — has baffled sound designers for over a century. So Northern Light Theatre has decided to confront the mystery in its own characteristically audacious fashion.
In Mickle Maher’s THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS, the playwright has developed a deft deconstruction of artistic collaboration through the absurdist conceit of pairing two of history’s most famous deaf artists, Ludwig van Beethoven and Quasimodo, the fictional bell ringer of Notre Dame. Over 11 scenes, or ‘variations,’ the story plays out the duo’s comical, and frustrating attempts to create Chekov’s famous sound effect – one doomed by their mutual deafness, unpleasant working conditions, and the fact that Beethoven has not yet finished reading The Cherry Orchard.
THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS questions the nature of music and sound and performance in a moving and fearless meditation on collaboration and the creative process.
PLAYWRIGHT
Mickle Maher
;)
Mickle Maher
Playwright
Chicago-based playwright Mickle Maher’s works have appeared Off-Broadway and around the world, and have been supported by grants from the NEA, the Rockefeller MAP fund, and Creative Capital. They include THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS; SONG ABOUT HIMSELF; SMALL BALL; AN APOLOGY FOR THE COURSE AND OUTCOME OF CERTAIN EVENTS DELIEVERED BY DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS ON THIS HIS FINAL EVENING; THE STRANGERER, JIM LEHRER AND THE THEATER AND ITS DOUBLE AND JIM LEHRER’S DOUBLE; SPIRITS TO ENFORCE; CYRANO (translator); AN ACTOR PREPARES (an adaptation of Stanislavsky’s seminal book); and IT IS MAGIC. He is a cofounder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck, and teaches playwriting and related subjects at the University of Chicago.
CAST & COMPANY
Davina Stewart
Director
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Davina Stewart
Director
Davina (she/her), is an award winning actress, improviser, director and graduate of the U of A BFA Acting program. She’s been fortunate to have worked with many of Edmonton’s theatre companies selected credits include; Sexy Laundry, Deathtrap (Mayfield Dinner Theatre) Cottagers and Indians, Vanya, Sonia, Mash and Spike (Shadow Theatre); Something Unspoken, (Northern Light Theatre); Pia & Maria (Concrete Theatre); Witch Hunt At The Strand (Workshop West Theatre) Cocktails At Pam’s, Pith, The Vile Governess (Teatro Quindicina); Marion Bridge, A Beautiful View (Theatre Network); BitchSlap! (Guys In Disguise); An Ideal Husband (Citadel Theatre).
Most recently she directed The Hunchback Variations, All In The Timing- Sure Thing, Salsa Lesson (Edmonton Fringe), Prettier Woman (Spotlight) and appeared in; It’s A Wonderful Christmas Carol (Spotlight) Woman Caught Unaware (Edmonton Fringe & Victoria Fringe).
Davina is one third of the hit info-tainment extravaganza Hey Ladies! which will be returning to live in person performances in 2022/23 find out more at Hey Ladies! on Facebook.
Ian Leung
Ludwig Van Beethoven
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Ian Leung
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ian will be making his first appearance for Northern Light Theatre as Ludwig van Beethoven in Mickle Maher’s THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS, directed by Trevor Schmidt.
Ian is an Edmonton based actor, director, independent producer, and instructor. He has directed THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POLE for Prime Stock Theatre, THE TEMPEST for the University of Alberta BFA Acting program, and PROUD, THE FEVER, and his own play U: THE COMEDY OF GLOBAL WARMING for his independent company, theatre no. 6. He regularly teaches a Shakespeare acting course at the University of Alberta.
His most recent acting credits include THE BLUE HOUR (SkirtsAfire), E DAY (The Serial Collective), SLIGHT OF MIND (Theatre Yes), EXIT THE KING (Studio Theatre), PUGWASH (Ship’s Company), STUPID FUCKING BIRD (Edmonton Actors Theatre), THE FEVER (theatre no. 6) and FATBOY (Edmonton Actors Theatre).
Dave Clarke
Quasimodo
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Dave Clarke
Quasimodo
Dave is a musician, actor and writer. He has composed music and produced sound designs for theatre, film, dance and multi-media for three decades. Watch out for the 2024 Western Canadian tour of his family musical performed in spoken English and American Sign Language, SONGS MY MOTHER NEVER SUNG ME (Concrete Theatre).
Previous designs for Northern Light Theatre include ENOUGH, THE CARDIAC SHADOW, WISH, SPACE/SPACE, THE ECSTATICS and 6.0 – HEAP AND PEBBLE. Other recent designs include AFTER FAUST (Invisible Practice), DEAFY, THE ROYALE (Citadel Theatre), and ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS I HAVE EATEN (Shadow Theatre).
Trevor Schmidt
Set & Costume Designer
;)
Trevor Schmidt
Set & Costume Designer
Trevor is the Artistic Director of Northern Light Theatre as well as a performer, designer of set and costume, a published playwright and a multiple award winner. He has been awarded twice for playwrighting (THE WATERMELON GIRLS, and CHANGE ROOM),for directing the Canadian premieres of Carol Anne Duffy’s THE WORLD’S WIFE and Sean Graney’s THE 4TH GRADERS PRESENT AN UNNAMED LOVE-SUICIDE and the outstanding production award for the Canadian premiere of Elise Forier Edie’s THE PINK UNICORN. For Guys In Disguise, where he is an Artistic Associate, he has also performed the one-man show COFFEE DAD, CHICKEN MOM, AND THE FABULOUS BUDDHA BOI, penned by Nick Green in New York as part of the FRIGID FESTIVAL for which he also received the award for Outstanding Performance, and the Outstanding New Fringe Play (co-written and created with Darrin Hagen) for FLORA & FAWNA’S FIELD TRIP (both at the Sterling Awards), and Outstanding Touring Production at the Critic’s Awards in Calgary. Also for Guys In Disguise, he received an Orlando Fringe award for his performance for Bette Davis in the much-lauded BITCHSLAP.
Rae McCallum
Lighting Designer
;)
Rae McCallum
Lighting Designer
Rae (she/her) is an Edmonton-based freelance production manager, technical director, lighting designer, and technician in Edmonton. She has been part of the Edmonton backstage community for over a decade. She is also a proud board member of the Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology (CITT/ICTS) Alberta Section, promoting professional development and advancement of the theatre community.
Liz Allison-Jorde
Stage Manager & Sound Designer
;)
Liz Allison-Jorde
Stage Manager & Sound Designer
Ruth DyckFehderau
Salon Facilitator
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Ruth DyckFehderau
Salon Facilitator
Ruth DyckFehderau (pronounced Dyke-FAY-der-ow) writes fiction and nonfiction, and teaches Creative Writing and English Lit at University of Alberta. Her shorter pieces have appeared in literary journals and anthologies; her book The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee: Stories of Diabetes and the James Bay Cree (2017 CBHSSJB, distrib WLUP), written with James Bay Cree storytellers, is being translated into five languages; and I (Athena), a novel, is forthcoming in 2023 (NeWest). Currently, Ruth is working on another commission for the James Bay Cree: Finding Our Way Home: Residential School Recovery Stories of the James Bay Cree (Vol One forthcoming 2022, CBHSSJB, distrib WLUP). She has published and spoken in venues around the world and has won many literary awards.
An Interview with Playwright Mickle Maher
With NLT’s Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt
Trevor Schmidt: When did you write THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS — and how did it come into being? Was it written for your own company, Theatre Oobleck?
Mickle Maher: Oh, wow, it was twenty years ago this year. I’d been asked to curate a show at Chicago’s Links Hall performance space, and my idea was to ask playwrights/directors to collaborate with sound designers, in teams of two, to create several short pieces around the idea of words and sound co-existing. I wrote Hunchback as my own entry, collaborating with my friend Colm O’Reilly (who played Quasimodo and designed all the sound for the piece.)
TS: It is such an unusual concept. What made you decide on these two characters — Beethoven and Quasimodo?
MM: Quasimodo was on my mind because I’d just finished writing the text for a large spectacle/puppet adaptation of Notre Dame de Paris for Chicago’s Redmoon Theatre. And Beethoven came into the mix because I was working at the Chicago Symphony (dialing for funds) and, well, he kind of looms large in that world. Victor Hugo wrote Notre Dame the same year (I believe, don’t ratio me if I’ve got this wrong) as Beethoven died, so they’re connected in that way; but of course they’re joined in the public imagination primarily as being notoriously grumpy deaf guys. They seemed a natural fit, to me.
TS: You have successfully adapted the play into an opera. How did this come about — had that always been a plan? Did you envision the play as an opera, or did someone else approach you with the idea? Are you a fan of opera, in general?
MM: Wasn’t the plan! I had the idea while mowing my lawn about ten years after writing the play. It made me laugh, so I asked my friend Mark Messing (the composer) if he’d tackle it if the NEA gave us $. He said yes, the NEA gave us some very small amount (but enough where we had to try), and then Mark pulled off the impossible.
TS: What sort of changes needed to be made in the adaptation?
MM: None. I asked Mark to try first composing with an unaltered text, and see how that went. If he found he needed me to make cuts or shape things into rhymes or whatever, I’d try to accommodate. But he didn’t. He allowed himself to repeat phrases, but nothing was cut. It’s a rare achievement in that way.
TS: The play has been produced in many other countries. Have you had a chance to see many productions? If so — have the language or cultural differences had an effect on the play, in terms of illumination (or obscuring) of the script?
MM: I haven’t seen any of those productions in the flesh, only on video. As far as I can tell, the play translates and audiences over there respond pretty well. Maybe putting Quasi and Ludwig together says something extremely profound about gallic/teutonic relations? No idea.
TS: Are you working on a new project?
MM: Yes, an adaptation of Jason Lutes’ graphic novel Berlin for Chicago’s Court Theatre. Hope to make it a musical, or at least a play with music, with Mark Messing as composer/arranger. Because of Covid delays and backlog, it probably won’t be up until 2024. Meanwhile, I’m continuing tweaking another musical, Small Ball, which was originally produced by Houston’s Catastrophic Theatre and Daryl Morey, the then General Manager of the Houston Rockets (NBA.) There should be a production of that in Denver next fall or so.
And forgive the plug, but during Covid, I had the joy of working on a couple audio pieces. Here’s a link to a short one (18 minutes), starring Guy Massey and the great Deanna Dunagan, Tony-award winner for August Osage County:
https://16thstreettheater.org/productions/it-is-always-almost-upon-us/