The Night Knights

Directed by Mimsi Janis

The taking of any recording or photographs by audience is strictly forbidden

March 3 at 8pm* in TheaterSpace

March 4 at 11am** in TheaterSpace

March 4 at 2pm*** in TheaterSpace

*ASL interpreted and Talkback

**Sensory Friendly Performance

***Audio Described

Land Acknowledgement

At the place George Mason University occupies, we give greetings and thanksgivings to these Potomac River life sources, to the Doeg ancestors, who Virginia annihilated in violent campaigns while ripping their lands apart with the brutal system of African American enslavement, to the recognized Virginia tribes who have lovingly stewarded these lands for millennia including the Rappahannock, Pamunkey, Upper Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Nansemond, Monacan, Mattaponi, Patawomeck, and Nottaway, past, present, and future, and to the Piscataway tribes, who have lived on both sides of the river from time immemorial.

THANK YOU, for coming and supporting The School of Theater’s Mason Players. The community of students, faculty, and staff that make up the School of Theater and The Mason Players, strive constantly to grow together and share theater with our larger community. We are happy that you’re here.

As head of theater education here in the School of Theater, theater for young audiences is close to my heart. One of the things that I love about teaching and working with young performers is the possibility to encourage new ways of working, seeing, and being a citizen of the theater community and the world. My greatest joy in developing this piece has been watching them be inspired and excited to share theater with younger audiences.

As much as I thought about and developed the framework, ninety percent of what you will see today was developed by the cast and crew. The specific fairytales, adaptations, jokes, and twists all came from the creative artists that you will watch perform. They devised this piece with humor and care.

The framework for the play began with me reading children’s books. A lot of children’s books. Reading and books have always been important in my family.My grandfather read to us and recited poetry that he had learned as a child. My great grandfather read to him every night to go to sleep until he was around sixteen years old. My father did the same for me. My entire childhood and adolescence I fell asleep to the comfort of someone reading to me.

Fairytales and stories not only bring comfort, but important lessons. They are a road map for life. As Neil Gaimen famously noted, "Fairytales are more than true – not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." Our dragon just needs to go to bed, but he is real, nonetheless.

I invite you to watch, enjoy, and if you are a grown-up – remember what it was like to be a child. Did you want to stay up late, afraid that you might miss the action? What stories did you love? Maybe adventure. Maybe something funny. Maybe something you had heard a hundred times before. Who was there to help you to get to sleep? And what if we lived in a world where a team of people acted out stories just for us? This story is for you. All of you.

--Mimsi Janis

Megan Ayers (she/her)...................................Knight

Andy Brown (he/him)......................................Knight

Peter Dasher (he/him)....................................Knight

Martin Desjardins (he/him)............................Knight

Ella Grant (she/her)..........................................Knight

Elie Griggs (they/them)...............Understudy/Swing

Dyllan Hutchison (she/her)............................Knight

Michelle Rizzo (she/her).................................Knight

Nathan Tilley (he/him)....................................Knight