Rogue Theater to Premiere “Policy”

Lola DeVillers

Rogue Theater is honored to announce the English premiere of Policy, a Spanish play written by Antonio Muños De Mesa of Madrid, Spain. The play, La Vista, was translated to English by Phyllis Zatlin and is being brought to the stage of The Depot Performing Arts Center in Sturgeon Bay.

Policy (La Vista) premiered in Spain in April 2013. Since then it has been translated to English, French and Italian, among other languages. Rogue Theater will be the first in the world to bring its English translation to the stage.

Phyllis Zatlin is delighted that Rogue Theater is presenting her translation of Antonio Muñoz De Mesa’s Policy. Born in Green Bay, Zatlin has been coming to Door County all her life and resides part of the year in Jacksonport. She wrote her doctoral thesis at the University of Florida on contemporary Spanish comedy. At Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, she was coordinator of translator/interpreter training. Her play translations from Spanish and French of various authors, including José Luis Alonso de Santos, Jean-Paul Daumas, Eduardo Manet, Itziar Pascual and Paloma Pedrero, have been performed in professional and university theaters across the United States as well as in the U.K. and Australia.

Policy will be directed by Henry Timm, and includes a cast of two: the priest, Father Damián (Stuart Champeau), who is in charge of a Catholic school for boys and a summer camp; and a female insurance agent, Esther (Lola DeVillers), who for some dozen years has handled policies for the diocese. Father Damián reviews the school’s insurance policy with Esther, whose son attends the school. In their episodic cat-and-mouse game, the priest wants to add two new clauses to the policy: confidentiality and a definition of sexual abuse of children as a work-place accident.

Champeau and DeVillers, co-founders of Rogue Theater and The Depot Performing Arts Center, will perform Policy on The Depot stage Nov. 13 – 30. Opening night is Nov. 13 at 7:30 pm. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 pm, and Sunday performances begin at 4 pm, except for the Nov. 30 show which begins at 1 pm. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Greco Gallery, 24 N. 3rd Ave. in Sturgeon Bay or by calling The Depot at 920.818.0816. Reservations are strongly recommended.