PlayLab Readings 1999-2000

THE TRIAL OF JOAN THE MAID

by Jim Helsinger

Long before mass communication made celebrities of such defendants as O J Simpson and Bill Clinton, a young French farm-girl stood trial for treason and heresy. The tale of her courage and faith is movingly told in a new dramatic adaptation by Jim Helsinger, The Trial of Joan the Maid..  The play will receive its first public reading on Monday Feb 21 at 7 PM as the fifth event in the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival's PlayLab series.

Working from original trial transcripts, the playwright has fashioned an energetic, yet probing account of the events that still capture the imagination:  Jehanne Romée, a 14-year-old unschooled girl growing up in rural France, was guided by the "voices" of the saints to lead her ailing nation¹s army against the usurping English.  Captured at Compiégne, the girl-soldier is abandoned by the French royalty, and tried and convicted by a court of Burgundian clergymen, puppets of the English crown.  Careening back and forth from courtroom to battlefield, this exciting piece of theatre sheds new light on the intriguing story that culminates in Joan¹s martyrdom at the stake.

Playwright Jim Helsinger's work is well known to Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival audiences: both on stage and off.  Jim has written two one-man shows: Dracula: the Journal of Jonathan Harker (which he also performed), and Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus.  Jim recently had leading roles in the Festival's Gross Indecency, the Three Trial s of Oscar Wilde  and Henry V.   The Artistic Director of the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, he also serves on the faculty of the Theatre Department at UCF.

The Trial of Joan the Maid will be directed by the playwright. Members of the Festival's professional company, including Richard Width, Suzanne O'Donnell, Mandi Moss,  and Michael Dressel, will take roles in the production.

The Trial of Joan the Maid will be read on February 21 at 7:00 PM.  The Orange County Historical Museum is located at 812 E. Rollins St., in Orlando-Loch Haven Park. There is free parking, and the theatre is handicapped-accessible.  Reservations are not necessary.  The PlayLab series continues monthly through April.  For a detailed calendar listing all events, please call Eric Hissom (407) 893-4600 extension 242.

CAST
A.D. Cover, Michael Dressel, Holly McCall, Mandi Moss, Suzanne O'Donnell, Tom Taylor, Richard Width

Directed by Jim Helsinger

                                                                 Last Updated: 05/06/2007                    Copyright Orlando Shakespeare Theater