The Arsonists | A Dark Comedy for Combustable Times | By Max Frisch | Directed by Matt Champan | Image: man whose face is hidden behind a newspaper, sitting surrounded by a circle of oil barrels bearing "FLAMMABLE" warning labels.
Admission

Tickets $5-$21.90
Advance Purchase Required

Where & When

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 26 through
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 28
8PM
PIGOTT THEATER
Run Time

This production runs 90 minutes and is presented without intermission. 

Important Info

For safety reasons, we cannot accommodate late admission OR re-seating while the performance is in progress. Please plan on arriving with ample time to find parking, locate the theater, use the restroom, etc.

This production will use water-based haze effects.

Filming Advisory

Any personal video and/or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited and a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law.

Accessibility

Request disability accommodations and access info via Stanford’s online form. Requests should be made by February 20.

Electronic Assisted Listening Devices will be available for pickup at Will Call for all performances.

Sponsors

This production is supported by the Pigott Fund for Drama and the May Ellen Ritter Production Fund

About The Arsonists

By Max Frisch
Translation by Alistair Beaton

There have been a lot of fires lately. Whole neighborhoods are burning down! But surely this strange pair who just arrived has nothing to do with any of it. Surely if we give them a place to sleep upstairs and feed them well, they won’t disturb our peace and quiet! Even if they are arsonists—even if, in fact, they tell us that they are—surely, they will remember that we’re their friends! And we’ll be safe! Let’s just try and get some sleep, despite all the noise up there.

What’s a good citizen to do when potentially destructive thugs are suddenly sleeping in your attic, hoarding gasoline and looking for matches? Join us to find out in The Arsonists—a physical, hilarious, and painfully timely “morality play without a moral.” 

Max Frisch’s The Arsonists premiered as “Beidermann and the Firebugs,” a radio-play, in 1953 and was adapted for the stage in 1958.

The Making of 

TAPS Graduate Student + TABLEWORK Host Marina Johnson interviews The Arsonists Director Matt Chapman on the making of TAPS’s production of The Arsonists.

Production Credits

Director
Matt Chapman

Scenic Designer
Nina Ball

Props Artisan
Christine Edwards

Assistant Scenic Designers
Bren Kekoa Bartol, Noah Delhi

Costume Designer
Becky Bodurtha

Associate Costume Designer
Ezra Melosh

Lighting Designer
Christian Mejia

Assistant Lighting Designer
Raina Yang

Sound Designer/Composer
Sebastian Hochman

Associate Sound Designer
Audrey Hunter

Sound Design Advisor
James Ard

Intimacy Director
Natalie Greene

Text/Vocal Coach
Stephanie Hunt

Stage Manager
Virginia Tipps

Assistant Stage Managers
Emma Hong, Trini Rogando

TAPS 39 Crew
Nadia Chung, Maddie Garfinkel, Ollie Garfinkel, Nala Monet Hamilton, Cathy Zhang

Wardrobe Lead
Leeth Singhage

Laundry Crew
Mikey Mendoza, Yinlin Zhao

Cast

Gottlieb Biedermann
Atman Jahagirdar

Joseph Schmitz
Ben Hollingshead

Chorus/US Schmitz/US Chorus Leader
Blue Kennedy

Chorus Leader
Chloe Molins

Chorus/US Doctor
Ganesh Nair

Chorus/Policeman/US Biedermann
Jack Kirkner

Doctor
Jahfari Maddo

Anna
Jasmine Kang

Chorus/Mrs. Knechtling/US Anna
Lauren Thompson

US Eisenring
Lenny Wang

William Eisenring
Lyle Belger

Babette Biedermann
Valeh Amiri