Crossroads Repertory Theatre
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A THOUSAND AND ONE ARABIAN NIGHTS


Adapted by Jonathan Golembiecki and Rachelle Martin Wilburn

Directed by Brandon Wentz


OPENS FRIDAY, JULY 8th



Step back in time and witness the captivating (and captive) Scheherazade as she weaves tales to earn her freedom from the tyrannical Sultan. But when things go awry, how can she win him back? She’ll have to think fast if she wants to see the light of day again.  With spellbinding characters ranging from a singing prophetic bird to the brave Aladdin and his magical lamp, veteran CRT actor/director Brandon Wentz spins his story-telling magic into a production that every member of the family can enjoy.

Design Team Director .............................................................................................................................. Brandon Wentz Scenic Designer ..................................................................................................................Dana M. Harrell Scenic Artist ........................................................................................................................Elizabeth Goble Costume Designer .................................................................................................................. Clair Hummel Lighting Designer .....................................................................................................................Justin Renner Sound Designer ....................................................................................................................... Jeff O’Brien Property Designer ...................................................................................................Rachelle Martin Wilburn THE CAST Scheherazade ......................................................................................................................Ashley Dillard Sultan ................................................................................................................................... Jason Bowen Magician ............................................................................................................................ Preston Dildine Dancer ...................................................................................................................................... Besty Baer Artist .......................................................................................................................................Whitney Kos Actor ............................................................................................................................... Michael Finchum Actress ............................................................................................................................ Carolyn Conover Muse ...................................................................................................................................Ryan Niemiller Musician ................................................................................................................................ Eric Wilburn Place The Sultan’s Palace; later, a dungeon. There will be one 15 minute intermission. This production is sponsored by Gretchen Bauer Jennermann. The tour is sponsored by the City of Terre Haute. Join us on July 10 around 6:00 p.m. (ten minutes following the 4:00 p.m. Sunday matinee) for a Sunday Talk with Stephanie Holman, children’s librarian and professional storyteller, who will join us to discuss the art and history behind the oral tradition of storytelling. Production Staff Stage Manager ............................................................................................................Catherine Jefferson Assistant Stage Manager ....................................................................................................... Joe Wagner Lighting Board Operator ...................................................................................................... Emery Becker Sound Operator ...................................................................................................................Eli Van Sickel Wardrobe Head ................................................................................................................. Aaron Owens Dresser ......................................................................................................................... Savannah Stevens Run Crew .............................................................................................................................. Brian Kogut Tour Manager ...............................................................................................................David Del Colletti House Manager ................................................................................................................Charles Adams Scheherazade and her 1,001 Nights Like many other classic folktales, the stories of the Arabian Nights find their roots deep in the oral tradition of storytelling. Like the fairytales later made famous by Perrault and the Grimm Brothers, these ancient stories of the Middle East were also collected, translated, and distributed, this time by the French literary scholar and explorer, Antoine Galland. Galland collected tales from across the Arab world, usually from local citizens, guides, traveling companions, street performers, or other artists who used public narration as their medium. These stories from Persia, Egypt, Syria, Baghdad, and other parts of the Middle East glorify the lives of heroic characters and tell tales of adventure, sacrifice, and devotion. Over the centuries, there have been several different translations of the stories, each adopting the voice of their collector. Most versions contain a beautiful combination of both prose and poetry, allowing the storyteller the freedom to switch between styles in their narration. While the original versions of the tales of the Arabian Nights have been lost with their tellers, Galland’s The Thousand and One Nights, published between 1701 and 1717, is largely praised as the definitive collection. The premise of the collection – originally organized as 280 nights – tells the story of the cruel Sultan Shahryar who, seeking revenge for his wife’s infidelity, vows to marry a different maiden every night, only to have her executed the following morning. Scheherazade, the daughter of the sultan’s minister, distracts the sultan from his homicidal and misogynistic escapades by using storytelling – particularly the art of narration – to teach him about beauty, mercy, and kindness. Essentially, The Thousand and One Nights collection is a layered story, where the Scheherazade tale provides a framework for the other stories. The vast array of characters and plots, as well as the fantastic and magical nature of the tales, reveals Scheherazade’s agility and creativity as a storyteller, in which she links fantasy worlds and imaginary characters to familiar Arabic locations, religious values, and cultural ideas. The stories of the Arabian Nights have given us the heroic voyager, Sinbad, whose courageous adventures reflect a region made famous for its influence on trade routes and commerce. Stories like “City of Brass” reveal a less commercial message, using poetic homilies to connect the constancy of God’s love and the ephemeral nature of life on Earth to familiar teachings in the Qur’an. Arab readers would also easily recognize the reoccurring forces of the jinn, legendary demons rumored to have been trapped in jars by King Solomon, who would later become the genies of both Eastern and Western folklore. Interestingly, of all the characters made famous by Galland’s collection, the two most popular, Ali Baba and Aladdin, were not originally included in his work. Stories featuring these two characters were added later and were taken from the oral repertoire of an obscure acquaintance of Galland’s known only as Hanna of Aleppo. Despite their entertaining and often humorous plots and characters, Scheherazade’s tales also reveal a great deal about the values, traditions, and histories of the Arabian culture. Overall, the tales can be read as lessons, providing readers with a greater understanding of Arabic values concerning etiquette, politics, religion, and relationships. Scheherazade, as a literary figure, represents much more than just a storyteller. Given the patriarchal nature of Arab culture, Scheherazade epitomizes a strong, clever woman, a sister, a mother, a confidant, and a heroine, who uses her wit and artistic dexterity to take control of her destiny and save the lives of other innocent, young women. Outside of her gender, she is the voice of sanity and mercy in the Sultan’s court. Survival is her greatest motivation; artistic narration is her strongest weapon of protection. These stories, widely considered the greatest collection of narratives from the Arab world, have been immensely popular since they were first published; however, it is surprising to learn that the Arabian Nights stories are not generally considered among the canon of studied Arabic Literature. Roger Allen, author of An Introduction to Arabic Literature, explains that this is because, when the stories were first written down, they were done so “in the discourse practices of storytelling, rather than those of elite literature.” In other words, these classic stories have historically been considered popular rather than academic literature. This belief has only recently begun to change, as educational and cultural institutions in the Arab world become more dedicated to the study of social sciences and folklore. A Thousand and One Influences When Antoine Galland published The Thousand and One Nights over three hundred years ago, he had no way of knowing that his stories would become one of the greatest foundations for entertainment in the world. With their magical characters and fantastic voyages, these elaborate tales of mystical, far- off places offer an endless stream of artistic material, tailor-made for showbiz. Countless adaptations and interpretations of these stories exist, and their influence is seen from the silver screens of Hollywood to the stages of Broadway to the greatest art galleries in the world. Film versions of these fantastic tales appeared in Hollywood as early as 1924, with the film The Thief of Baghdad. Possibly the most famous film version of the Arabian Nights tales is offered in the Sinbad trilogy produced by Columbia Pictures between 1958 and 1977. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger were groundbreaking films of their time because they featured technological advancements in stop-motion model animation and special effects developed by pioneer effects master, Ray Harryhausen. Scenes of Sinbad fighting the Cyclops and the Cobra Woman, as well as dragons and skeletons, are some of the most popular in this trilogy. More recently, the ABC network produced an Emmy Award-winning miniseries titled Arabian Nights in 2000. The world of animation has also embraced these tales and explored their storytelling magic for young audiences. The oldest surviving animated feature film inspired by several of Galland’s stories is the 1926 German cartoon, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Paramount Pictures’ cartoon celebrity, Popeye, starred in his own animated trilogy in the 1930s, meeting Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin. Most recently, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Brad Pitt lent their voices to the 2003 cartoon, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. The most successful and popular cartoon version of the Aladdin tale is undoubtedly Walt Disney’s 1992 film, featuring the unforgettable voice talent of Robin Williams as Genie. Films are not the only venue to look to The Thousand and One Nights for artistic inspiration. As early as 1888, Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, completed his symphonic suite, Op.35, telling the story of Scheherazade in four movements. Several operas and musicals reinvent the stories of the Arabian Nights, most notably 1953’s Kismet. With their exciting adventure and heroic tales of quests and challenges, it is no surprise that The Arabian Nights tales have also inspired numerous video and board games. The first expansion set of the popular game Magic: The Gathering was called “Arabian Nights,” and images from these stories are seen throughout the Prince of Persia series. “The Magic of Scheherazade” was released by Nintendo in 1989, and Sega’s “Sonic and the Secret Rings” is also inspired by Galland’s tales. In the literary world, The Thousand and One Nights has impacted authors and playwrights alike. W. B. Yeats, H.G. Wells, Gustave Flaubert, H.P. Lovecraft, Marcel Proust, and even Lev Tolstoy have all paid homage to these classic Arabian tales in their writings. References and allusions to these tales and characters permeate popular literature from around the world, solidifying these characters as cultural and literary icons throughout the Western world. As early as 1758, Voltaire’s satirical novella, Candide, contains multiple references to Sinbad the Seaman; Edgar Allen Poe extended Galland’s collection with his story The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade, revealing Poe’s version of the eighth and final voyage of Sinbad. Since then, other popular writers, inspired by Poe’s title, have extended Scheherazade’s narrations to a current total of 1004 nights. As authors and storytellers continue to discover and reinvent the tales of Scheherazade, these stories and characters have gained an immortality that will continue to evolve, influencing popular entertainment for thousands of nights to come. Once Upon a Time: The Art and History of Oral Storytelling Until the introduction of hieroglyphics and other ancient writings around 4000 B.C.E., all forms of literature were oral in nature. Every known culture, now and in the past, has employed some kind of oral tradition, also known as folklore or folk literature. The art and practice of oral storytelling has been crucial to the preservation of histories and traditions. The earliest forms of storytelling were directly linked to the rituals and ceremonies performed in most pagan societies and predate any form of organized, presentational performance. Usually enacted by a shaman or other tribal leader, these ceremonial stories were often rooted in nature and creation, using mythological creatures and concepts to explain the world and provide understanding for what was to come. Long before early societies adopted any form of reading or writing, storytelling was the chief structure for entertainment, education, and communication, inviting every citizen to share in this communal art. With the advent of the printing press in the mid-15th Century leading to an ever-increasing rate of literacy, the popularity of these once modest and indigenous tales spread rapidly throughout the world. Characters became more elaborate and their quests became all the more adventurous. Many of the most popular and beloved folk and fairy tales, stories like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, or Aladdin, have no known authors and exist in hundreds of different versions; thus, these stories are not usually counted among literary tales. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, explorers and travelers like Charles Perrault, Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, Giambattista Basile, and Antoine Galland collected stories from local communities throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, bringing tales of the folk – or folktales – into the realm of popular literature. While often credited as the authors of these tales, the Grimm Brothers and their contemporaries were merely collectors, cataloging stories already strong in their oral traditions. In addition, these tales were often translated, adapted, and influenced by their collectors. In this sense, it is unlikely we will ever know the original versions of many of these classic tales. Today, the tales of Grimm and Perrault are most often categorized as children’s literature, but storytelling is not limited to lighthearted entertainment or children’s parlor games. In fact, some cultures have relied on storytelling to preserve traditions and ensure survival. Native American tribes still use storytelling to honor their great leaders, to pay homage to the struggles endured by their ancestors, and to show respect and gratitude for the battles lost and won by their tribes’ greatest warriors. Africans brought to America as slaves often used storytelling, both sung and spoken, to preserve cultural and religious traditions and maintain connections to their African heritages. In the years surrounding the Civil War, songs and stories were used as coded language to guide slaves to safety through the networks of the Underground Railroad, telling escaped slaves where the safest hideouts could be found or what roads and buildings to avoid. Even the popular antics of the Br’er Rabbit stories are steeped with coded language and references to the struggles of slaves at the hands of white slave owners. Now adopted by popular culture and animation, these tales once represented much more than a tricky rabbit trying to make his way back home to the briar patch. The literary genre of folk and fairytales claims a number of subcategories; fables, myths, legends, parables, tall tales, ghost stories, and even riddles and nursery rhymes all find a place in the world of folk and fairytales and are all rooted in oral storytelling rather than literary style. The lasting popularity of these stories is almost certainly due to the universal characters and themes shared by the tales, despite subtle differences. Whether it is Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty, The Grimm Brothers’ Briar Rose, or Galland’s Sun, Moon, and Talia, the themes of love, struggle, adventure, family, and humanity that weave through these stories make their connections human and universal, extending beyond their own specific contexts. Even more fascinating is the fact that, despite all their undeniable similarities, these parallel stories and characters grew up independent of one another, even as they solidify and prove humanity’s collective need for heroes, magic, adventure, true love, and the romantic peace felt in living happily ever after.