Moliere's final play, The Imaginary Invalid targets the medical quacks of 17th-century France. The eccentric and wealthy hypochondriac Argan decides to marry his strong-willed daughter Angelique off to a doctor, so that he'll always have a physician around. But Angelique loves another man, and her attempts to persuade her father to let her marry him lead to outrageous tricks and disguises. Moliere's keen wit and hilarious characters take center stage in this knockabout farce.
The Imaginary Invalid is sponsored by the HRH Foundation. Media partner DC magazine provides promotional support throughout the run.
"The Imaginary Invalid is arguably Moliere's most famous play. It is also unique among his other works in that it begins with an homage to Louis XIV and features three commedia dell'arte interludes," director Keith Baxter explained. "Producers and directors often remove these elements, but we have tried to capture the spirit of the original production by recreating the environment in which the play was first seen."
PLOT SYNOPSIS
Eager to have a doctor in the family to treat his supposed ailments, Argan informs his daughter Angelique that she is to wed a medical student named Thomas Diafoirus. Angelique, however, loves Cleante, whose lack of medical training takes him out of the running as a potential mate. Cleante and the family maid Toinette devise an outrageous scheme to win him the hand of Angelique and to knock Argan's money-grubbing wife out of the picture in the process.
THE IMAGINARY INVALID CAST
Rene Auberjonois makes his STC debut as Argan in The Imaginary Invalid. At the start of his acting career, Auberjonois spent three seasons in Washington, D.C., at Arena Stage. Since then, the Tony Award winner has performed at American Conservatory Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Mark Taper Forum and on Broadway in productions of Sly Fox (Outer Critics Circle nomination), City of Angels (Tony Award nomination), Coco (Tony Award), Big River (Drama Desk Award, Tony Award nomination), The Good Doctor (Tony Award nomination), Metamorphosis opposite Mikhail Baryshnikovand Dance of the Vampires. Auberjonois has been a series regular on Boston Legal, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Benson (Emmy nomination), and made appearances on Frasier, Judging Amy and The Practice (Emmy nomination). His film roles include M*A*S*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Feud, Inspector Gadget, Batman Forever and The Patriot. Auberjonois voiced the roles of the Chef Louis in Disney's animated The Little Mermaid and The Skull in The Last Unicorn and narrated portions of NPR's 18-hour series Jewish Stories from the Old World to the New.
Helen Hayes Award winner Nancy Robinette returns to play Toinette. Robinette last appeared as Lady Bountiful in Michael Kahn's production of The Beaux' Stratagem and as Duchess of Berwick in Keith Baxter's production of Lady Windermere's Fan. Additionally, Robinette performed in the Company's productions of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, The Rivals, The Silent Woman, The Little Foxes and Sweet Bird of Youth. Her many Washington theatre credits include productions at Arena Stage, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth and Studio Theatre, where her recent role in Souvenir earned her a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Play. Off-Broadway she appeared in New York Theatre Workshop's Finally Flannery and Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and Roundabout Theatre Company's Give Me Your Answer, Do!
The Imaginary Invalid also featuresGia Mora as Angelique, Kaitlin O'Neal as Beline and Tony Roach as Cleante, with Drew Eshelman, Vince Eisenson, Levi Ben-Israel, Peter Land, David Manis, Ian Pedersen, Kara Quick, Todd Scofield, Anne Stone, John Robert Tillotson, Emily Whitworth, and ensemble members Leslie Sarah Cohen, Danielle Davy, Chris Dinolfo, Marissa Molnar and Keith Scott McDonald. -- www.shakespearetheatre.org
