Love is a mess. Matrimony is deadly. Fifty sisters flee to an Italian villa to avoid marrying their 50 cousins. In an irreverent and chaotic adaptation of Aeschylus' The Suppliant Women, Big Love tackles relationships with mayhem, rage, heartache, and bloodshed Sept, 24 - Oct. 4 in the Black Box Theatre. A thunderous opening to NCTs 26-27 season. Tickets are available here.

Playwright Charles L. Mee says of his own work, “I like plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable. My own plays are broken, jagged, filled with sharp edges, filled with things that take sudden turns, careen into each other, smash up, veer off in sickening turns.That feels good to me." His preferences are quite evident in Big Love, as the plot is almost unrecognizable when compared to the original tale. 

Director Kirsten Brandt states, “Big Love tackles big issues in a very personal way. The themes range from domestic violence, body autonomy, asylum, and of course love in all its beauty, complications, and mess.” She goes on to say “Big Love is also highly stylized which makes it a delight to direct. It juxtaposes high opera with low-brow humor and realism with expressionism.”

Content advisory: adult language and themes, talk of suicide, murder, death, domestic violence, war, sex, and sexuality. The show is intended for mature audiences. 

Charles L Mee (Playwright) was born in Barrington, Illinois in 1938. At 14, he was diagnosed with polio and his perspective was forever changed. After graduating from Harvard in 1960, he dabbled in New York’s experimental theatre scene for a bit before settling into a career as an editor and historian. He returned to playwriting in 1990 and has been the recipient of several awards for his works. Currently, you can find Mee teaching at Columbia University.

Kirsten Brandt (Director Big Love) For NCT: Mr. Burns and A Christmas Carol. Brandt is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. An award-winning playwright and director, she served for six seasons as Artistic Director of the experimental theatre company Sledgehammer Theatre where she directed over a dozen plays and musicals and wrote Berzerkergäng, The Frankenstein Project and NU.

She was the associate artistic director of San Jose Repertory Theatre, where she directed Dr. Faustus, Next Fall, The Big Meal, Legacy of Light, Rabbit Hole, and Groundswell, among others. As a director, Ms. Brandt’s work has been seen at The Old Globe, TheatreWorks, La Jolla Playhouse, Utah Shakespeare Festival, African-American Shakespeare Company, San Diego Repertory, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, City Light Theatre Company, North Coast Repertory, Marin Theatre Company, Jewel Theatre, and Arizona Theatre Company. She is the co-adapter of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (with AC Harvey), which had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre. Her telematic, multi-site play The Thinning Veil was produced at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The world premiere of her play about women in computer gaming, CODED, opened at City Lights in 2021. She is the co-author of the rock musical The Snow Queen (available through Stage Rights). Her play BLid Fury premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She is currently the Executive Director of Nevada Conservatory Theatre and the chair of the Department of Theatre. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, The Dramatists Guild of America, and the National Theatre Conference. Ms. Brandt is an extramural affiliate at the Center for Monster Studies and a Public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed Project. She has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Creative Team and Cast List

Production Team

• Kirsten Brandt — Director 
• Momo Sugawara — Scenic Designer 
• Judy Ryerson— Costume Designer 
• Andee Roby — Lighting Designer
• Cailin Fiedler — Sound Designer 
• David Shouse — Technical Director 
• Sean Boyd— Intimacy Coordinator and Fight Director
• William Netherly — Stage Manager 
• Christian Martinez Marquez*— Assistant Stage Manager / Prop Coordinator

Cast

• Nicole Van Orman - Lydia
• Vandalayn Homes - Olympia
• Savannah Libatique - Thyona
• George Preston*- Piero
• Maurice Harris - Giuliano
• Jordan Wellington Smith - Nikos
• Camyrn Moody - Constantine
• Riley Stannard - Oed
• Sadie Dayley - Eleanor
• George Bentley Lagason - Leo
• Ari Moreno - Bella
• Paula Dione Ingram+ - Opera Singer

Ensemble

• Amber Wisley        
  • u/s Elenor and Bella
• Jazz Moore             
  • u/s Lydia
• Shyla Calloway       
  • u/s Thyona
• Tsi Hailu                  
  • u/s Olympia
• Ryan Peralta           
  • u/s Constantine
• Jesus Ramos           
  • u/s Nikos and Oed
• Wyatt Troxell          
  • u/s Giuliano
• Rydia Freeman       
  • u/s Leo and Piero

About the UNLV College of Fine Arts

The College of Fine Arts educates, empowers, and engages creative people to become visionary change-makers in the arts through acts of imagination. At UNLV we believe the arts are an essential good for society. We make education relevant and accessible through our programs and outreach. We create new knowledge in the arts. We celebrate independent thought and the power of bringing people together to foster creativity.