QUOTES
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…”Director Alison Moritz’s smartly refined production of Charles Gounod’s 1859 mainstay proved immediately transportive, casting the opera in an alluring new light and concentrating its grandeur into a potent potion” (Washington Post)
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“This version, directed to perfection by Alison Moritz, does not disappoint.” (MD Theatre Guide)
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“The delightful twist to this production is the setting. No longer set in medieval or even Enlightenment Germany, the story plays out in the Cajun society of 1800s Louisiana.” (MD Theatre Guide)
From Alison
In creating Wolf Trap’s new production of this epic morality story, I wanted to find a way to engage with the topics of faith and family through a uniquely American lens. Our creative team has therefore transposed the action to French-speaking Louisiana at the turn of the 20th century. The tight-knit community surrounding our heroine Marguerite is influenced not only by French Catholicism, but also by cultural and religious traditions of the West African diaspora. Faust himself is a man questioning the central promises of the Industrial Revolution – is “progress” the panacea we made it out to be? As for Marguerite, we took great inspiration from the example of Marie Catherine Laveau – a free woman of color in colonial New Orleans. A renowned practitioner of Voodoo, Marie Laveau was known within her community for her contribution to women’s causes, acts of service to prisoners, and care for the sick.
