The Fisher Center at Bard Presents the World Premiere of Elevator Repair Service’s Ulysses, Which Brings the Epic James Joyce Novel to Wild Theatrical Life, June 20 – July 14, as Part of SummerScape 2024
Directed by John Collins, with Codirection and Dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd and Text by James Joyce, the Production Features Dee Beasnael, Kate Benson, Maggie Hoffman, Vin Knight, Scott Shepherd, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, and Stephanie Weeks
The Fisher Center at Bard kicks off its 2024 SummerScape festival with the world premiere of Ulysses, from Elevator Repair Service (ERS), which The New York Times has called “one of New York City’s few truly essential theater companies.” Directed by ERS Artistic Director John Collins, with codirection and dramaturgy by Scott Shepherd and text by James Joyce, Ulysses runs June 20 – July 14 in the Fisher Center’s LUMA Theater, having been rescheduled from last fall due to COVID.James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. ERS takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature having staged modernist works including Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises—all with highly acclaimed results.
In the world premiere at the Fisher Center, seven ERS ensemble members—Dee Beasnael (7 Daughters of Eve), OBIE Award-winner Kate Benson (Fondly, Collette Richland), Maggie Hoffman (founding member, Radiohole), Vin Knight (Gatz, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)), OBIE Award-winner Scott Shepherd (Gatz, The Wooster Group), Christopher-Rashee Stevenson (Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge), and Stephanie Weeks (The Whitney Album)—sit down for a sober reading but soon find themselves guzzling pints, getting in brawls, and committing debaucheries as they careen on a fast-forward tour through Joyce’s funhouse of styles. With madcap antics and a densely layered sound design, ERS presents an eclectic sampling from Joyce’s life-affirming masterpiece.
John Collins says, “One of the reasons we like working with literature is because it gives us a big problem of form that we have to grapple with, while also coming with the gravity of these great novels. We love trying to figure out what to do with this collision of theater and literature, and the challenge is a little different every time. I had always wanted us to take on something that was big and intimidating, something that would require a new and unique approach. I think I got my wish.”
Scott Shepherd said, “Part of the answer to why we're doing this might also be because it’s ridiculous. When we were doing Gatz a frequent joke was ‘What’s next? War and Peace? Ulysses?’ Something we didn’t know how to imagine, that seemed impossible. That’s what was intriguing about it.”
Adds Collins, “‘Why would you ever do this?’ was a great reason to do it.”
Ulysses features set design by dots (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Public Obscenities), costume design by Enver Chakartash (Stereophonic, Is This A Room on Broadway) and Assistant Costume Designer Caleb Krieg, lighting design by Marika Kent (ERS’s Seagull) and Assistant Lighting Designer Matt Lazarus, sound design by OBIE Award-winner Ben Williams (The Whitney Album), sound engineering by Gavin Price, projections by Matthew Deinhart (El Amor Brujo, ANIMUS ANIMA//ANIMA ANIMUS) and Assistant Projections Designer Alessandra Cronin, and props by Patrícia Marjorie (Wolf Play, Flex) and Assistant Properties Designer Ned Gaynor. Maurina Lioce (Fondly, Collette Richland; Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge) is the Assistant Director and Stage Manager, and Kelsey Vivian is the Assistant Stage Manager. Hanna Novak of ERS is the producer.
Daphne Gaines, April Matthis, and Mark Barton contributed to the development of the work.
Bard SummerScape, deemed by The New York Times a “hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure,” brings eight weeks of live music, opera, dance, and theater to the Hudson River Valley. It also serves as an incubator for adventurous works that often go on to have extended lives and make significant impacts on the performance landscape in New York City, across the country, and around the world. This season, the Fisher Center presents work from two iconic New York companies: Elevator Repair Service’s Ulysses and Urban Bush Women’s SCAT! The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar (June 28–30). With these milestone performances—both theatricalizations of staggering journeys—Elevator Repair Service and Urban Bush Women continue to push their distinct styles to new heights.
Every production at SummerScape has been commissioned, developed, and is premiering at the Fisher Center, giving audiences an opportunity to catch pivotal works in the idyllic setting where they originate. Praised by The New York Times as “a hothouse for the creation of uncompromising, cross-disciplinary hits,” in recent years, the Fisher Center has developed large-scale works whose momentous journeys were launched from their SummerScape birthplace, including Justin Peck’s arresting music theater interpretation of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise, currently running on Broadway; Pam Tanowitz and David Lang’s Biblical poem-inspired Song of Songs, which recently was presented at New York City Center, and Tanowitz’s take on T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece Four Quartets, which traveled to the Barbican Centre, CAP UCLA, and BAM; and Daniel Fish’s universally acclaimed reconsideration of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, whose life continued at St. Ann’s Warehouse and on Broadway and the West End, as well as a U.S. national tour.
See a full calendar of SummerScape programming, also including the 34th Bard Music Festival Berlioz and His World, a new production of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le prophète directed by Christian Räth, Spiegeltent performances curated by Caleb Hammons, and more.
Performance Schedule and Ticketing
Performances of Ulysses take place in the LUMA Theater at the Fisher Center:
June 20 at 8 pm
June 21 at 8 pm
June 22 at 8 pm
June 23 at 2 pm
June 26 at 2 pm
June 27 at 7:30 pm
June 28 at 7:30 pm
June 29 at 1:30 pm
June 29 at 7:30 pm
June 30 at 2 pm
July 5 at 7:30 pm
July 6 at 1:30 pm
July 6 at 7:30 pm
July 7 at 2 pm
July 10 at 1:30 pm
July 10 at 7:30 pm
July 11 at 7:30 pm
July 12 at 7:30 pm
July 13 at 1:30 pm
July 13 at 7:30 pm
July 14 at 2 pm
Critics are welcome as of June 22 for an official opening on June 23.
There will be a post-performance talk on Wednesday, June 26; a Summer Kick-Off celebration on Sunday, June 30 at 4:30 pm; and a pre-performance talk on Sunday, July 14 at 1 pm. Round-trip coach transportation from NYC is available for the Sunday, July 14 performance.
For complete information regarding tickets, series discounts, and more, visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call the Fisher Center’s box office at (845) 758-7900.
Funding Credits
Lead funding for the Fisher Center at Bard’s production of Ulysses was provided by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. Major commissioning and development support was provided by Fisher Center LAB, which receives funding from members of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and additional funding from The William and Lia G. Poorvu Family Foundation.
This performance by Elevator Repair Service is made possible, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Ulysses was commissioned by and developed at Symphony Space. On June 16, 2022, Symphony Space presented an early iteration of the piece for its annual one-night-only “Bloomsday on Broadway” event.
Elevator Repair Service is also supported with funds from The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Howard Gilman Foundation, The J.M. Kaplan Fund, Jockey Hollow Foundation, Lucille Lortel Foundation, The O’Grady Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Select Equity Group Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.
Elevator Repair Service is a member of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York.
The Fisher Center is generously supported by Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, Felicitas S. Thorne, the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center at Bard and Bard Music Festival, Fisher Center and Bard Music Festival members, the Educational Foundation of America, the Ettinger Foundation, the Thendara Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. Projects developed through Fisher Center LAB receive funding from members of the Live Arts Bard Creative Council, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and the Fisher Center's Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and additional funding from The William and Lia G. Poorvu Foundation.
About Elevator Repair Service
Elevator Repair Service (ERS) is a New York City-based company that creates original works for live theater with an ongoing ensemble. The company’s shows are created from a wide range of texts that include found transcripts of trials and debates, literature, classical dramas, and new plays. Founded in 1991, ERS has created an extensive body of work that includes upwards of 20 original pieces. These have earned the company a loyal following and made it one of New York’s most highly acclaimed experimental theater companies. The company is best known for Gatz, its award-winning verbatim staging of the entire text of The Great Gatsby. ERS has received numerous awards and distinctions, including Lortel awards, a Bessie award, and an OBIE award for Sustained Excellence, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship and Doris Duke Performing Artist Award for Artistic Director John Collins.
About John Collins (Director)
John Collins founded Elevator Repair Service in 1991. Since then he has directed or codirected all of the company’s productions while also serving as its Artistic Director. John is also an experienced sound designer and has worked for The Wooster Group, Richard Foreman, Target Margin Theater, and others. Other recent projects with ERS include Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge and a new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a United States Artists Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.
About Scott Shepherd (Performer, Codirector, Dramaturg)
Scott Shepherd has been a member of ERS since 1994, when he played a drunk passed out on a radiator in McGurk: A Cautionary Tale. Other ERS appearances include Measure for Measure; Gatz (Obie Award); No Great Society; Total Fictional Lie; Cab Legs; and Shut Up I Tell You. He has worked with The Wooster Group since 1997, playing Hamlet in Hamlet and other roles in The Town Hall Affair; Vieux Carré; Poor Theater (Obie Award); To You, The Birdie!; Brace Up!; and others. His screen credits include Killers of the Flower Moon, The Last of Us, First Cow, El Camino, True Detective, The Young Pope, and Bridge of Spies.
About the Fisher Center at Bard
The Fisher Center develops, produces, and presents performing arts across disciplines through new productions and context-rich programs that challenge and inspire. As a premier professional performing arts center and a hub for research and education, the Fisher Center supports artists, students, and audiences in the development and examination of artistic ideas, offering perspectives from the past and present as well as visions of the future. The Fisher Center demonstrates Bard’s commitment to the performing arts as a cultural and educational necessity. Home is the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Frank Gehry and located on the campus of Bard College in New York’s Hudson Valley, soon to be complemented by the Maya Lin-designed Performing Arts LAB (opening 2026). The Fisher Center offers outstanding programs to many communities, including the students and faculty of Bard College and audiences in the Hudson Valley, New York City, across the country, and around the world. Building on a 164-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders.
The Center presents more than 200 world-class events and welcomes 50,000 visitors each year. The Fisher Center supports artists at all stages of their careers and employs more than 300 professional artists annually. The Fisher Center is a powerful catalyst for art-making regionally, nationally, and worldwide. Every year, it produces 8 to 10 major new works in various disciplines. Over the past five years, its commissioned productions have been seen in more than 100 communities around the world. During the 2018–2019 season, six Fisher Center productions toured nationally and internationally. In 2019, the Fisher Center won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Daniel Fish’s production of Oklahoma!, which began its life in 2007 as an undergraduate production at Bard and was produced professionally in the Fisher Center’s SummerScape Festival in 2015 before transferring to New York City.
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This event was last updated on 05-14-2024
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