playbill vip

I am so excited that you are here to see our production of Pilgrims of the Night by Len Jenkin. Thank you for coming.

About the production:

I was hired by Suffolk University to join the Theatre Department in the fall of 2000 two days before the semester began.  I learned auditions for my fall production were scheduled that same week.  I had to choose a play.

I did not hesitate.  I chose the play you are about to see.  I think it’s one of the greatest plays ever.  It can be performed with seven actors but I chose to perform it with thirty-five.  (I believe strongly in providing opportunities.)  Every student who auditioned for me in 2000 and in 2022 was cast in a role.

Veterans of that production have been invited back to see this one…and to see something of their legacy via theatrical time-travel.  The 2000 production was staged in a raw, empty space.  Things are much fancier now.  But I hope they will recognize that the essence of their spirit is alive and flourishing in this production.

About the play:

I first saw Pilgrims of the Night at Theatre X, a celebrated experimental theatre in Milwaukee where I eventually became artistic director.  

My first reaction to the play was this:  I didn’t know you could do that.  

In the many years since that production, I still hold that response as a gold standard for originality and vision.  Len’s work illuminates everything I care most deeply about in theatre.  He has been a major influence in my life and I’m eternally grateful to him.  

What is it about this play?

Pilgrims of the Night is not merely an expression of imagination.  I believe it is the embodiment of it.  But Len takes things many steps further because his plays live in this world, not an escape from it.  His plays are the deepest affirmations of being alive, in this world, now.  They generously invite us (urge us, actually) to do this ourselves.

I wanted to stage the play in fall 2020 but was of course foiled.  Oddly, this was a blessing.

As we crawl out of our isolation and attempt to rediscover theatre, each other and ourselves, I can imagine no greater way back (and forward, ever forward) than Pilgrims of the Night.

- Wesley Savick

PS:  Special kudos to Justin Lahue, our first EVER undergraduate set designer for a faculty production!