The Dictator

As the coup rages on, the leader of the great revolution, simply known as The General sits in solitude away from the violence. His only confidant, the lowly assistant Saadoun, struggles to control the erratic and often illogical nature of The General who thirsts for the blood of The King at all costs. As time drags on the and the Revolution succeeds, the motivations of The General and Saadoun begin to muddy. Reality warps in a manner that draws questions to the identities of both our “heroes.” Why does the General seek revolution? And who truly is the guilty party?

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The Dictator was originally written by Issam Mahfouz in 1969, and later translated by Nada Saab and Robert Myers. This play was first brought to Shackleton Theatrics' attention by director Hunter Mahmoud Abal, who desired to bring more Arab stories and voices to the Los Angeles region. The Dictator would mark the official non-academic collaboration between Hunter Abal and Park Lytle, who prior had successful academic collaborations with their productions of Herakles and Danton's Death at California Institute of the Arts. Sam Millette was quickly brought on to stage manage, as she had been the stage manager on both of Park and Hunter's past collaborations and was an important voice to the logistical and organizational matters ahead.

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Hunter was quick to grab actors Luca Jarosz and Karo Dzghalian to star in his production, neither men had ever worked with Hunter before but had impressed him frequently in the productions he had seen them in to that point. Hunter was also quick to bring Elly Golterman, who served as assistant scenic designer on his production of Herakles, as well as Cathleen Conte-Marrero and Lia Tsur, veteran designers of the workshop sphere this production would be staged in.

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The rehearsal process lasted over just a month, though rehearsals were often infrequent and intense due to conflicting actor schedules and prior commitments from the cast. This led to an electric production still fresh due to Karo and Luca avoiding over-rehearsing their roles. This resulted in a weekend of humurous and evocative theatre highly lauded by each audience who attended. Park Lytle and Hunter Abal would continue to collaborate on future productions, with continued talks to remount the Dictator to a larger audience.