In Yale Rep’s next production, competing claims of love and blood are put to the test

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” Bertolt Brecht’s epic fable about a young servant who rescues the abandoned baby of a deposed governor in the civil war-torn country of Grusinia and raises him as her own — and the ruler’s wife who comes to reclaim her child years later — comes to life on the stage of the University Theatre March 20-April 11.

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle” — the next production of the Yale Repertory Theatre — is set against the harrowing backdrop of civil war, and dramatizes a tale in which competing claims of law and justice, of blood and love, are put to the ultimate test. The production will be directed by OBIE Award-winning Yale Rep resident director Liz Diamond. The play is translated from German by James and Tania Stern with W.H. Auden.

Diamond’s other Yale Rep credits include “The Winter’s Tale,” “Happy Now?” “St. Joan of the Stockyards,” “Miss Julie,” “Fighting Words,” “Rice Boy,” “The Cure at Troy,” and the American premieres of “The America Play” and “The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World.” She serves as chair of the directing department at Yale School of Drama. She has directed new plays and classical works at theaters including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Repertory Theatre, The Public Theater, Vineyard Theatre, and Theatre for a New Audience. She has won the OBIE and Connecticut Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Direction. Last year, she translated and directed Stavinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat” in a joint Yale School of Drama/School of Music production at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as Matthew Suttor’s and Timothy Young’s musical adaptation of Blaise Cendrar’s “Prose du Transsiberien” for the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Opening night for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” is March 26.  The cast includes Aaron Bartz, Harry Bouvy, Andrew Burnap, Anne Katherine Hägg, Tracey Conyer Lee, Jonathan Majors, Drew McVety, Brenda Meaney, Aubie Merrylees, Chivas Michael, Max Gordon Moore, Jesse J. Perez, Kourtney Savage, Steven Skybell, Julyana Soelistyo, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Liz Wisan.

The play features music composed by Yale School of Music faculty member David Lang, choreography by Randy Duncan, music direction by Daniel Schlosberg, scenic design by Chika Shimizu, costumes by Soule Golden, lighting by Stephen Strawbridge, sound design by Matt Tierney, vocal coaching by Grace Zandarski, fight direction by Rick Sordelet, dramaturgy by David E. Bruin and David Clauson, and stage management by Shannon L. Gaughf.

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle” is Yale Rep’s 2014-2105 WILL POWER! production. The run includes 10:15 a.m. performances on April 8 and April 9, available only to high school groups. For information on WILL POWER! performances, contact Roger-Paul Snell at yalerep@yale.edu.

Performances for general audiences are at 8 p.m Tuesday-Saturday, with additional performances at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 20; and 2 p.m. on Saturday March 28, Wednesday, April 1, Saturday, April 4, and Saturday, April 11. The Saturday matinees on March 28 and April 4 are followed by a Talk Back with members of the cast and crew; the April 4 matinee is also an open-captioned performance. The matinee on Wednesday, April 1 will be preceded by a reception for seniors at 1 p.m., and the April 11 matinee will be feature audio description.

Tickets range from $20 to $99 and are available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone at 203-432-1234, and in person at the Yale Rep box office, 1120 Chapel St. Student, senior, and group rates are also available.