Peter Scolari Joins The Dreyfus Affair at BAM

The Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC) has announced that Emmy winner Peter Scolari (Girls) will take on the role of Émile Zola in The Dreyfus Affair. Performances will run April 27-May 7 in the BAM Fishman Space.

Scolari, who was most recently seen onstage as the Wizard in Broadway's Wicked, joins a company that was previously announced to include Tony nominee Max von Essen (An American in Paris) as Alfred Dreyfus, Mark Evans as Mathieu Dreyfus, and Meghan Picerno as Lucie Dreyfus, along with Mark Coffin, Dee Pelletier, Mark Light-Orr, Daniel Rowan, and Richard Waddingham. Baritone Timothy McDevitt joins the cast as well in the role of Lieutenant Georges Picquart.

Written by Eve Wolf and directed by Donald T. Sanders, this multimedia production illuminates the controversial story of the 1894 treason conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, which had a decades-long reverberation in the political landscape of France and the rest of the world. The "Dreyfus affair" evolved from the unjust arrest and imprisonment of the innocent Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), a highly decorated French Jewish officer. Traumatic soul-searching ensued, and French society erupted into a fireball of anti-Semitism and political partisanship that called into question the very nature of French identity.

Based on letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, and accounts by the historical figures involved in the Dreyfus Affair, the script includes text from Émile Zola's newspaper article "J'Accuse," a piece of journalistic writing that transformed the private plight of Dreyfus into an "affair" of national and international significance.

The production includes sets and costumes by Vanessa James, lighting design by Beverly Emmons, projection design by David Bengali, and sound design by Matthew Hottinger.

For tickets and more information, click here.