We offer Off-Broadway caliber theater with lighting, sound and top quality, actors classical theater with a new and exciting style,
providing in-house performances. Why offer your community or business anything less than the best? A wide range of shows, from the comic to the bawdy, to
the romantic, to the spiritual, is available to meet your needs. No matter which you choose, your audience will be enriched and entertained by the experience.
Chaucer is a master of his craft. He is the best.
Below you will find synopses of our current offerings, and in the navigation bar above, links to Residency activities,
information kits and press packets.
We produce and present our own work in a wide variety of venues. We often work collaboratively with guest artists, and other companies both from the
US and overseas.
If your organization is interested in working in this way, we’d love to hear from you.
Please review our technical requirements and contact either the
bookings department, or John Geist.
Chanticleer & the Fox
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"Gotcha!"
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(Monk’s & Nun’s Priest’s Tales)
A family-oriented barnyard musical
with Fortune and Flattery
4 actors – approx. 1.5 hours
(also available in a 1 hour version that
includes only the tale of Chanticleer.)
Chanticleer & the Fox (Nun’s Priest’s Tales)
An interactive, family-oriented barnyard musical
The Nun’s Priest weaves us a delightful, interactive barnyard romp in which Chanticleer dreams that a Fox is coming to eat him. Chanticleer’s
indignant wife accuses him of being a chicken (so to speak),
kicking off a fantasy journey through portentous dreams to prove
the point that we should pay attention to our dreams. At last,
to appease his sweetheart, Chanticleer throws caution to the
wind, just in time for the flattering Fox to appear. How does
the clever fox nab our Chanticleer? How will Chanticleer escape?
Find out in this tale where chicken coops are filled with dreams
and foxes filled with fowl desire.
The Knight’s Tale (A tale of chivalry, love & honor)
5 actors - 2 hours, 15 minutes
Two young knights, royal cousins held captive by Duke Theseus,
both fall in love with their captor’s sister-in-law. When one
knight is set free but banished, and the other breaks from prison,
the battle that ensues over the woman they both love draws the
attention and deep interest of all Athens, including Theseus.
The Wife of Bath Musical
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Devil Makes Plans
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(Wife’s, Friar’s & Summoner’s Tales)
A fun-filled musical, and sometimes devilish, frolic that takes a look at who’s in charge
6 actors – approx. 2 hours
The famous Wife of Bath is sometimes outrageously
outspoken regarding her marital adventures with the five husbands
she has survived. Secretly she lives with the terrible fear that
her own aging will kill her attractiveness to men. Her Arthurian
tale of rape and a knight’s redemption through the grace of a woman’s spirit frames this fear and attempts to resolve it.
After forcing himself on a young maiden, a churlish knight finds his fate placed in the hands of King Arthur’s
queen who sends him on a desperate quest to discover what all
women most desire. The Friar next tricks the Summoner into making
a deal with the Devil and loses all when he tries to blackmail
an old widow. Taking his storytelling revenge on the Friar, the
Summoner then traps the Friar into a droll dilemma: he must equally
divide the gift of an odoriferous fart with his fellow friars.
Chanticleer & the Fox
(Monk’s & Nun’s Priest’s Tales)
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The Chase!
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A family-oriented barnyard musical with Fortune and Flattery
4 actors – approx. 1.5 hours
This fun-filled
show is done with a panto style, bringing the audience into the
action with their shouts of helpful support. We start with a
host of heroic men and women such as Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar
and Zenobia who face the most momentous consequences when they
gamble with Dame Fortune. Ranging from the comic to the tender,
the Monk brings us a pageant of the prideful. The Nun’s Priest
then brings us a delightful barnyard romp in which he becomes
the cock, Chanticleer, in a tale where chicken coops are filled
with dreams and foxes filled with fowl desire. Chanticleer wakes
from a nightmare and describes a fearful fox from that dream
to his favorite chicken-wife Pertelote. Dame Pertelote is scandalized
to think her husband rooster is a coward (or a chicken, if you
will). So begins a domestic debate that takes our barnyard animals
into a surreal world of famous scary dreams from history that
came true. After winning the argument, Chanticleer regains his
courage but forgets his dream. And then, Russell the Fox, a flattering
trickster makes his fated appearance! But just when all seems
lost, who is the trickiest? The audience knows and will come
to the rescue.
Obsessions (Squire's
& Franklin's Tales)
6 actors - approx. 2 hours
Chaucer continues
his exploration of relationships between women and men in this
Arabian Nights fable filled with obsession and magic, music and
dance. In a fanciful fable of love, with flying horses and talking
birds, a tender-hearted princess becomes the confidante of a
lovelorn falcon, heartlessly abandoned by her mate. Then, the
Franklin tells of a young man obsessed with another man’s wife
who calls upon dark magic to trick her into a promise that will
violate her marriage.
The Miller’s
Tale Musical
(Miller’s & Reeve’s Tales)
A fun and bawdy
bedroom farce
6 actors – approx. 2 hours
In one of Chaucer’s most famous tales, a clever clerk tricks an old carpenter into believing Noah’s flood is returning so that the clerk can rendezvous with the carpenter’s young wife. Meanwhile, the parish clerk, also hoping to win the wife’s attentions, finds himself literally kissing her behind. Breaking wind and a hot firebrand brings this to a hilarious, ‘tail-spinning’ conclusion. In retaliation for the insult of this tale, Oswald the Reeve parries with his own tale of deception and sexual retaliation, thrusting home with a double victory of a cheating miller’s
wife and daughter. Sex is in the air, boisterous, happy and sometimes
completely unexpected!
Chanticleer & the
Fox
(Monk’s & Nun’s Priest’s Tales)
A family-oriented barnyard musical with Fortune and Flattery
4 actors – approx. 1.5 hours
This fun-filled
show is done with a panto style, bringing the audience into the
action with their shouts of helpful support. We start with a
host of heroic men and women such as Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar
and Zenobia who face the most momentous consequences when they
gamble with Dame Fortune. Ranging from the comic to the tender,
the Monk brings us a pageant of the prideful.
The Nun’s Priest then brings us a delightful barnyard romp in
which he becomes the cock, Chanticleer, in a tale where chicken
coops are filled with dreams and foxes filled with fowl desire.
Chanticleer wakes from a nightmare and describes a fearful fox
from that dream to his favorite chicken-wife Pertelote. Dame
Pertelote is scandalized to think her husband rooster is a coward
(or a chicken, if you will). So begins a domestic debate that
takes our barnyard animals into a surreal world of famous scary
dreams from history that came true. After winning the argument,
Chanticleer regains his courage but forgets his dream. And then,
Russell the Fox, a flattering trickster makes his fated appearance!
But just when all seems lost, who is the trickiest? The audience
knows and will come to the rescue.
Piety & Pleasure (Lawyer's
& Sailor's Tales)
Feminine Adventures
6 actors – approx. 2 hours
The Lawyer’s Tale is crafted around romantic love that gets caught in the grip of prejudice and religious intolerance. In this Christian romance, religions collide with painful and sometimes fatal results when young Constance is sent off to be married to the recently converted Sultan of Syria. Her powerful mother-in-law is not pleased with this turn of events and resorts to violence. Faced head-on with hatred and intolerance, young Constance’s faith and endurance are put to the test.
Driven from what was to be her home and after years adrift at
sea, Constance finds a new home, new trials of her faith, a beloved
husband, and another intolerant mother-in-law. Then to lighten
up, we have a merchant so absorbed with his money, that his poor,
lovely young wife feels neglected - until a lusty monk comes
to her rescue.
Reaper's
Toys (Physician's & Pardoner's
Tales)
A dark musical that explores lust and greed
7 actors – 1 hour 45 minutes
Judicial corruption leads to tragic end when the local judge
tries to gain possession of a knight's lovely daughter. This
short tale leads us down a path where the escape from potential
shame and abuse is death by her father's hands. This is followed
by a kind of surreal parable of the Pardoner's Tale in which
three drunken rogues seek out Death to destroy it. It is their
own greed that leads them to death in the end - death at each
other's hands.
Uncommon Sense (Tale
of Melibee & Tale of Sir Thopas)
A compelling and sometimes amusing drama poised on the brink of war
4 actors – approx. 1 hour 25 minutes
An excellent centerpiece for discussions
about world peace, the Tale of Melibee places us
on the brink of war. In the Tale of Melibee a powerful
young lord’s
family is attacked, thus instigating a potential war. In his anger he immediately sets his heart on obtaining vengeance. His wife Prudence, herself a victim of
this violence, strives to serve as the voice of reason, counseling for peace. Themes of anger, vengeance, war, peace, forgiveness and seeking and evaluating good
counsel drive the action forward within the context of a loving marriage. The very fact that it is the woman’s voice that prevails is perhaps less remarkable in
our own time than it would have been in the fourteenth century. That she is both heard and that her husband loves and respects her enough to follow any of her
counsel says a tremendous amount about the strength of their bond as well as Chaucer’s
perspective and respect for women.
Those under
this point of the page may not currently be available:
All
That Glitters (Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale)
A musical of alchemy and the desire to acquire quick wealth
4 actors, 1 keyboard artist - 80 minutes
When a
Canon who practices alchemy and his Yeoman arrive,
the Yeoman grabs his chance to escape his master’s
lack of ethics and weaves a fun but thoughtful tale
that shows us how easily we can be deceived when
we are driven by avarice. A simple nun is duped into
believing base metals can be made into true silver.
The song and dance routine of the slippery world
of alchemy keeps everyone on his/her toes. Includes
some audience participation: one of the refrains
is taught prior to the show and the audience is encouraged
to sing along during the performance. Can also be
done as a dinner theatre piece.
The Knight’s Tale
A tale of chivalry, love & honor
5 actors - 2 hours, 15 minutes
Two young knights, royal cousins held captive by
Duke Theseus, both fall in love with their captor’s
sister-in-law. When one knight is set free but banished,
and the other breaks from prison, the battle that
ensues over the woman they both love draws the attention
and deep interest of all Athens, including Theseus.
Piety and Prejudice (Lawyer’s Tale)
A tale of love in the face of intolerance
7 actors - 2 hours
The Lawyer’s Tale is crafted around romantic love that gets caught in the grip of prejudice and religious intolerance. In this Christian romance, religions
collide with painful and sometimes fatal results when young Constance is sent off to be married to the recently converted Sultan of Syria. Her powerful
mother-in-law is not pleased with this turn of events and resorts to violence. Faced head-on with hatred and intolerance, young Constance’s faith and endurance
are put to the test. This is only the beginning of her trials, however. Driven from what was to be her home and after years adrift at sea, Constance finds a new
home, new trials of her faith, a beloved husband, and another intolerant mother-in-law. In the Lawyer’s
Tale, Chaucer presents us with two sides of the same
coin by using two different storytelling levels:
the prejudice and hatred aimed at the protagonist
and a more subtle suggestion of prejudice on the
part of Sir Lawyer himself.
Nonsense & Good Sense (Tale of Sir
Thopas & Tale of Melibee)
3 actors - 3 dancers
After
a frolic through the ballad of Sir Thopas and his
love of the elf queen, the Tale of Melibee places
us on the brink of war. In the Tale of Melibee a
powerful young lord’s family is attacked, thus instigating
a potential war. Lord Melibee responds emotionally,
as most of us would: outraged at the injustice of
the attack on his wife and daughter and filled with
a desire for revenge. Surprisingly, his wife, Dame
Prudence, herself a victim of this violence, strives
to serve as the voice of reason, counseling for peace.
The ensuing debate over the appropriate political
and/or military response, set within a domestic battleground
of emotion versus reason, makes for an amusing and
deeply compelling drama laced with wisdom.
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"The
Pear Tree"
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Clerk’s & Merchant’s
Tales
7 actors – approx. 2 hours
Two tales that show
very different views of marriage. In a poignant and heart-rending
drama, the Clerk’s patient and faithful Griselda is swept into a marriage of anguished love by a powerful Marquis who goes to cruel extremes in his compulsion to test his young wife’s commitment to him. At the opposite end of the faithfulness scale, the Merchant’s Tale is Chaucer’s
bawdiest tale of all, with an old and lusty knight, his pretty
but faithless young wife, and his clever, young, love-sick squire.
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