The American Theatre of Actors continues its 40 year tradition of classical works in the summer. This season, it first begins with Ibsen’s last: When We Dead Awaken, opening July 17, directed by John DeBenedetto and featuring Sam Hardy, Mackenzie Robin Krestul, Charles Meckley, Humza Mian, Matt Moschella, Brody Rogers, and Natasha Sahs. Tickets available HERE

When We Dead Awaken is the last play written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN, following Ibsen’s ongoing mission to explore the inner evolution of women, this play is a poetic portrait of a woman, Irene, and her fight against the lingering feeling of internal existential dread. In this era of rediscovery of oneself, a play of this nature is especially important. 

Director, John DeBenedetto — a 20 year veteran of all forms of stage work — spoke briefly about the play and his own rediscovery. 

“The reason for this project is we have been wanting to do an Ibsen play for a while and When We Dead Awaken, which is rarely done, seemed like a good choice because it will be fresh for the audience, rather than doing the usual plays like “A Doll’s House.”

Why the ATA?

I enjoy working at ATA because there is a chance to direct a variety of types of plays and the freedom that James Jennings gives directors to choose plays, casts, and concepts. It allows me to use my approach of dealing with casts to create a sense of collaboration so that each actor feels he/she has the freedom to experiment and try various approaches to finding their characters. Our challenge now is more technical as we wish to use technical sound effects. We are trying to be innovative by doing the sounds live rather than using recorded sounds.”

John will be at the Equity Library Theater in August.